Healing From Emotional Abuse and the Physical Injuries of Domestic Violence

Each time I encounter the body’s ability to heal itself, I’m in awe. And to witness the role of intention in this is even more mind-boggling.

As domestic violence survivors, you know the scars and wounds of battering. Did you know you can have a very active role in healing these injuries?

I’m going to insert an earlier writing of mine in which I’m reflecting on a milestone in my own process dating back to 1988, because it says it from that battered place common to domestic abuse survivors. This piece is entitled “The Silver Lining, Laced with Gold.” Allow me.

The Silver Lining Laced with Gold

The ropes, pulleys and metal held my vertebrae ever so still in cervical traction. Nurses, doctors, police, social workers and clergy rumbling about, and me wondering how did I get here. A cervical spine injury brought me here, an injury resulting from a domestic abuse altercation over my intervening between a violent father and a wounded child. That’s how I got here. The question is where do I go from here?

My upper body so compromised I couldn’t lift a cup of tea, much less my arms over my head. The days were long and the pain was relentless, with shots of fire going down my arms day and night. After many months of physical therapy and this half-life in between, I yearned for a more expedient recovery and I longed to rid my mind of flashbacks.

Where was the space between the images of black and blue bruises across my baby’s face and the sounds of violent roars directed at me? “I’m going to break your neck…I’m going to break your neck!” No wonder I could not recover; there was no space.

The healing energy is the space between the thoughts, Deepak Chopra reminded me. Now it was my job to allow it in. Daily meditation had been a way of life for much of my life and the time came to invite it back into my routine.

It was through meditation that I discovered the magical space between my thoughts…that gap…a sanctuary of still, sweet silence. It is here where all is, and becomes, well.

From here my body mended and my heart healed. There was self-renewal, exquisite peace, expanded vision and divine communion. It became my inner sanctuary. It was the silver lining, laced with gold. I knew from here on as long as you have your soul, you have everything you need to re-create your life. (J. King, 2004)

Healing for Your Emotional Abuse and Physical Injuries

If I only had time to share one thing that will unequivocally move you to recovering from emotional abuse and physical injuries of domestic abuse, it would be learn to meditate.