Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture (Overarching: It’s All One: Seeking the Unity Beyond Trauma)

Based on The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture

Half of North American adults suffer from chronic illness – a fact Western medicine views largely in terms of individual predispositions and habits.

Western medicine imposes two separations, neither tenable scientifically. First, it separates mind from the body, largely assuming that most chronic illnesses have nothing to do with people’s emotional and psychological experiences. And yet, a large and irrefutable body of research has clearly shown that physiologic and behavioural functioning of human beings can be understood only if we integrate our body functions with those of the mind: functions such as awareness, emotions, our interpretations of and responses to events, and our relationships with other people. Second, Western practice views people’s health as separate from the social environment, ignoring social determinants of health such as class, gender, economic status, and race. Such factors, in reality, are more important influences on health and longevity than individual predispositions and personal factors such as genes, cholesterol levels, blood pressure and so on.

This talk shows how a society dedicated to material pursuits rather than genuine human needs and spiritual values stresses its members, undermines healthy child development and dooms many to chronic illness, from diabetes to heart disease, from autoimmune conditions to cancer.

Overarching conference theme:

Therapy and spiritual work both seek the unitary experience of reality and of our true selves. Trauma creates blockages to that truth, barriers that neither therapy nor a spiritual quest on their own is likely to break through. Humans are biopsychosocial creatures, so all dimensions need to be honored for our true nature to reach realization.

Gabor’s presentation will include teaching, participatory inquiry and interactive exploration, all with the intention of creating an experiential setting for deeper self-awareness and healing.

This session will open with a performance by Hungarian folk singer Bea Palya and will be supported by Betsy Polatin, a specialist in breathwork, movement, and somatic approaches to trauma resolution.