S.A.P.I.E.N.C.E.
States, Active and Potential;
Innate Elementary units of iNteraction;
Characteristics of Expression
and trauma recovery
The important role of
SAPIENCE Capacities
in recovery from trauma
Sapience, definition:
“Wisdom” found in the ability to apply knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense or insight.
Here, it is the applied wisdom of "biological intelligence".
Lots of people talk about the amygdala as the part of the brain that attaches threat to objects, people and events, causing fears and phobias. If I see, or even imagine a snake, for instance my amygdala may activate, causing fear.
But what if I were a snake handler or someone who's turned on by risk? If I feel or believe I have the capacity to handle a situation, fear may not arise.
The beliefs that count are unconscious. Even when my mind knows I am capable, and there is no risk or danger, I might still experience fear.
We are born with inherent SAPIENCE Capacities that are the basis of our ability to interact with the world and its inhabitants. Over 90 have been found. They include abilities or feelings like anticipation, pattern recognition, excitement, anger, ah-ha!, letting go, winning, love, safety, escape (and feeling free) and completion. Many relate, in some way, to survival.
The failure of one or more of these capacities to keep us safe, as inevitably occurs in physical or emotional pain, failure or stress (trauma), may result in distrust of one or more of these capacities.
The Sunya Way uses methods that discover the dis-trusted capacities, and helps the brain to reintegrate (reboot) them. This allows the missing capacities to become available to the parts of the brain that predict likely outcomes of unfolding events and metabolically, mentally, and muscularly prepare us for difficulties like we had in the past. Unrecognized by other healing systems, reintegration of these capacities can be crucial to complete recovery from physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual trauma.
Having all necessary capacities available is key to feeling ready and at ease in our lives. When memories of pain and trauma are activated (consciously or unconsciously recalled) a reminder that a capacity that failed during the trauma exists helps to update and resolve the memory. In effect it can then be removed from the brain's to-do list of priorities to look out for in order to be safe.