How to Transmute Your Pain and Past Trauma

Don’t become a slave to it.

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I’m finally reading Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now. Many of my readers over the years have suggested I read him, and now I understand why. His writings and mine are aligned.

In this book, ways of approaching emotions and thoughts with non-attachment are described in detail. These ideas are nothing new, as they have shown up in philosophies from around the world since the beginning of time. It all relates to mental freedom. But I just love the way he explains the “pain body” and something started to happen to me after I read his words about it.

He explains that we should bring the pain body into the full consciousness of now, and then it dissolves. You can transmute your pain very simply — but most of us just give into it and let it take hold of our actions. But we don’t have to let it have control of our lives. It can become a normal process to acknowledge the “pain body” as it arises and face it full-on so that it can’t have power anymore. I’d like to share how this has been happening for me.

Emotions Leftover From Past Trauma

I’ve been practicing awareness of my thoughts and emotions for a while (after all, I am a meditation instructor), and for me, minor stressful situations often don’t ruffle my feathers as much anymore. However, strong emotions that stem from my past trauma and my fear of abandonment, distrust of others, and anger about what people are doing to me still arise and take hold pretty quickly because they are stronger than the smaller, similar emotions. And they are stronger than my conscious thoughts of equilibrium and joy that I may normally have.

These very strong emotions related to past trauma are the ones I target with this practice of transmutation.

I had a boyfriend who died a couple of years ago. And I am still healing and working out the trauma that caused in me. There are many emotions attached to grief. They are hard to sift through at times. I try to identify them as best I can — anger, fear, sadness — and they come at me without notice at the drop of a hat. New experiences like the one I am about to describe can call up my trauma…