Meditation and PTSD: What No One Warned Me Of

I have very severe PTSD that I have worked through over the years. And while I'm a lot better now there are still things that really set me off or that happen that honestly I just don't expect and that can set me back anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to a few days or even weeks in my healing as I sort through this intrusive trauma that decided to appear.

When you are in the spiritual space one of the things that you notice will constantly be touted as a "cure all" of sorts is meditation.

And while I agree that meditation has it's benefits it's also important to point out that there are times or certain types of people that meditation really is actually NOT always good for and you need to adjust and adapt accordingly to get the same result.

And one of those groups of people is those of us with PTSD.

No one warned me that meditation could cause severe flashbacks to those of us with PTSD.

In fact I started a meditation practice a couple years ago while taking an online spiritual development course and ended up relapsing into my alcoholism as a result of it and the flashbacks that I was getting.

10/10 do NOT recommend.

And guess what? When I mentioned that I don't think this meditation is benefical to me because it's triggering my PTSD to my "spiritual teacher" she told me to...just keep meditating and it will "resolve itself."

Terrible, terrible advice and highly recommend you do not take it.

But that's the thing about this community is that sometimes they are very disconnected from the reality of things like mental or emotional health. And when you think that meditation is a cure all to all your problems this is what happens.

I don't share this story to scare those of you with mental illness or PTSD. I share this story to say that yes meditation can be beneficial. But so are nature walks. And so is reading a good book. And so is playing with your dog or going camping.

The spiritual community has really boxed themselves in in terms of what "meditation" is. You have to sit down with music, or none, with inscense burning, or none and "make your mind blank" and that's meditation.

I disagree.

Mediation can be being in the moment as your walking your dog in the morning on a nature trail.

Or observing your surroundings and being grateful of how far you have come while you are out camping in the wilderness.

I can be losing yourself in a good book that you forget what time it is.

All of those things are just as powerful and meditative as sitting in the lotus position with binaural beats in the background burning palo santo is.

Don't underestimate those things.

And don't be hard on yourself if you struggle with balancing the concept of meditation with your mental health.

It's okay.

You aren't the only one.