Religious Trauma Guided Meditation Practice

By Holly Madden

This guided meditation acknowledges, honors, and holds space for the experience of religious trauma. It takes you through a space of learning to trust and listen to your body, to open yourself up to receive healing, and to see yourself as an extension of that healing in the world.

Trauma Training Takeaways: This practice is designed to center you personally to the present and to your own body. Like any mindfulness or meditative practice, be gentle with yourself if you find yourself feeling triggered or are processing through trauma impact on your body or mind. If you are using any of these techniques with someone in your world, be aware that the activity of slowing down and being still can bring repressed trauma to the service. Be sensitive to trauma responses. As always, mindfulness, grounding, and meditation is never a replacement fo therapy, and pursuing help with a licensed practitioner should always be encouraged and supported.

In the Christian tradition, a common belief that is taught is that the body belongs to the world and that the world is separate from God. This can lead to disassociation (a disconnection) from the body due to a struggle to trust the body and a struggle to listen to the body (1). Psychotherapist, Dr. Peter A. Levine, describes disassociation as “one of the most classic and subtle symptoms of trauma…in it’s mildest forms, it manifests as a kind of spaciness. At the other end of the spectrum, it can develop into a so-called multiple personality syndrome. Because disassociation is a breakdown in the continuity of a person’s felt sense, it almost always includes distortions of time and perception(2). This disconnection Religious trauma is incredibly painful to often acknowledge and to see oneself as worthy of healing.

(1): Caitlin Moretz, LICSW. “What Are the Signs of Religious Trauma? ┃ 11 Signs You May Have Experienced Religious Abuse.” Satya Wellness Collective, October 25, 2022. https://www.satyawellnesscollective.com/blog/what-are-the-signs-of-religious-trauma#:~:text=You%20may%20dissociate%20or%20feel,and%20fear%20of%20upsetting%20God.

(2): Levine, Peter A., and Ann Frederick. Walking the tiger healing trauma: The innate capacity to transform overwhelming experiences. Berkeley, Calif: North Atlantic Books, 1997.