Mary's article deals directly with several types of triggers that bring about psychic power, including child abuse and near death experiences. It's an unfortunate comment that I've experienced many of these triggers. As a child I experienced various forms of ongoing abuse and trauma. As an adult I experienced a near death experience as a reaction to chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. As Mary states, many instances of trauma have opened people up to psychic experiences. I am no different in that regard.
Trauma experienced during child abuse often is a catalyst for psychic abilities. An estimated 30-50 percent of psychics have reported incidents of childhood abuse and 75 percent have experienced a form of trauma in their lives. Children experiencing violence and abuse often protect themselves by dissociating their bodies from their consciousness of pain; they do this by entering a “trauma trance,” an altered state of awareness. Adrenalin pushes them into an “out of body” survival mode that often opens the third eye.
I had several paranormal experiences as a child. One occurred within a couple days of my step-grandfather dying. We were very close and used to do many things together, including the day he died. He wanted me to go to the horse races that fateful day, which was a common occurrence, but my stepmother's decision to send me to school instead probably spared me from witnessing his death directly. A couple of days after his death I had an out of body experience. The most memorable part of this was the realization that I was on the ceiling and seeing my little 11 year old body sleeping on the bed. The thoughts that went through my mind included wondering how this happened, and more importantly at that moment, how would I get back into my body (hint: head first worked). While this experience didn't include my step-grandfather, the timing of his death and this experience is something I've always associated and fits my view of Mary's altered state trauma. I had a couple more brief interactions with my step-grandfather after his death, including a phone call.
My original career choice was in nursing, where I spent about 15 years working in hospitals and medical offices. With a few years of overlap, the last 15 years or so have moved me towards an eastern medicine philosophy. I have owned my own massage business and taught massage courses, as well. Later, I earned a BS in Metaphysics and an MS in Holistic Ministries and worked towards integrating mind, body and spirit as a Holistic Life Coach.
More recently, in 2007 and 2008, I went through chemotherapy and radiation therapy as a breast cancer patient. Early into the chemotherapy treatment I had a bad reaction to a steroid given to me to help relieve nausea. I spent several days in the hospital, nearly died at one point, and took a strong heart medication for the following year to correct the issues the steroid created in my system. Mary's article covers this incident with this portion of her article:
One enters an altered state of consciousness; events become heightened in the mind and one gets a slow-motion recording of the experience in the brain. Simultaneously, the mind registers a form of detachment allowing it to watch without emotion as though the event were happening to someone else. The altered state is the body’s way of coping with the trauma; it provides one with a kind of alertness, edge, hypersensitivity that enables him to survive the danger.
In my case, my perception of what happened during the several minutes where my heart was seizing and the Doctors and nurses were surrounding me differs quite a bit from what my husband witnessed. We have differing stories of what occurred during those minutes, my version of me being very animated and talkative, his version of me being very nervous and barely responding as emergency procedures and injections were taking place. While this alone does not indicate a paranormal experience, there are subsequent issues in my life that began to take place shortly after this incident.
These incidents and several others in my life have become the starting point of my venture into paranormal investigations and the creation of Indiana Paranormal Investigators.
Thanks again to Mary Desaulniers for her article: Psychic Power and Trauma, available at http://www.suite101.com/
