ADHD, trauma, the pandemic and Vata
I have been pondering the increase in the number of adults currently self-diagnosing or professionally diagnosing ADHD while simultaneously witnessing an increase in clients working through trauma created by, or aggravated by, the pandemic.
ADHD is something I have explored previously because of my concern about my youngest son Eben, who displays various symptoms. However, I have come to recognise that for him at least, the restlessness and hitting (to effect a dopamine hit), are probably due to birth trauma, which has negatively affected his nervous system and indeed his root chakra and fundamental feeling of safety - he has an inherent distrust of doctors, which has not come from us, but possibly from the way he was treated upon brith with invasive procedures within hours of birth and a separation from me and lack of initial human touch.
Furthermore, there are times when I have questioned my own restlessness and impulsivity, but can also trace this back to a traumatic event in my childhood where the behaviour of a neighbour caused a deep fear to take root in my mind which has led to all sorts of issues over the years - you can read more about this in my book, From Darkness Comes Light.
This experience, while destructive, has been useful in helping me to understand more of the manner in which our mind can create our suffering, because of its response to events in our life, and the way the body keeps score of this and the implication then for our nervous system and energy body, the root chakra especially.
From an Ayurvedic perspective ADHD is an indication of a Vata imbalance. Vata’s elemental makeup consists of air and ether. The common translation of Vata is “that which moves things.” Vata is often referred to as the vayu (wind) in the body, and it is the primary motivating force of the doshas—without it, the other doshas are unable to move. Vata is responsible for our mental and physical adaptability. It is the energising force of the body and mind, and it governs our nervous system, our bones, and our senses of touch and hearing.
When Vata is in balance for our prakruti, or constitutional nature, it is balanced in body and mind and in our response to stimulation, allowing us to more easily navigate our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Furthermore, our breath effectively supports our nervous system, and there is homeostasis between tissues and organs. The movement of our life force (prana) is regulated by Vata, and this function allows us to “inspire” (inhale) easily and to surrender (exhale) with ease as well.
The actions of Vata dosha in the body/mind include creativity, joy, communication, hearing, touch, breathing, heart function, circulation, menstruation, birth, orgasm, elimination of wastes (urine, faeces, sweat), all physical movements, movement of thoughts and feelings and general functioning of the nervous system.
Examples of Vata dosha in excess or in an imbalanced way include dry skin, irregular appetite “grazer”, cold hands and feet, dry cough, constipation, horse throat, restless legs, tapping fingers, pulling hair, tics, hiccups, belching, stiff muscles and joints, anxiety, tinnitus, vertigo, difficulty remembering, trouble getting to sleep/staying asleep, fearful dreams, hyperactivity, cracking joints, loss of menstruation, delusions, disassociation, shortness of breath, excessive talking, bone density issues, flatulence, tremors and trouble swallowing.
From a medical perspective ADHD is viewed as a developmental disorder, and there is an understanding that it cannot develop in adults without first appearing during childhood. The main characteristics of ADHD appearing in childhood include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness, which are said to manifest differently in adults - for example hyperactivity tends to decrease in adults, while inattentiveness tends to remain as the pressures of adult life increase. Adult symptoms of ADHD are also understood to be more subtle than childhood symptoms.
Some specialists have suggested the following as a list of symptoms associated with ADHD in adults:
carelessness and lack of attention to detail
continually starting new tasks before finishing old ones
poor organisational skills
inability to focus or prioritise
continually losing or misplacing things
forgetfulness
restlessness and edginess
difficulty keeping quiet, and speaking out of turn
blurting out responses and often interrupting others
mood swings, irritability and a quick temper
inability to deal with stress
extreme impatience
taking risks in activities, often with little or no regard for personal safety or the safety of others – for example, driving dangerously
In many ways I can look at this list and see Vata imbalance and also some Pitta imbalance too. Certainly from an Ayurvedic perspective we can treat to these imbalances through a combination of changes to diet and lifestyle and with the help of medicinal herbs. Of course undertaking somatic healing work can help too, to go deep into the body and try and feel into, and heal, underlying trauma - Yoga therapy and Reiki is of course amazing at this, but massage and SHEN will help enormously too.
The reason I am sharing all this with you is because I have noticed over these last few months that the effect of trauma caused by the pandemic is showing up for healing both in myself and in clients. Without doubt the pandemic caused a trauma to our collective root, all of a sudden our foundations were shaken, as if the rug had been pulled, and many are only just coming back to earth now.
For those of us who chose not to vaccinate, the persecution felt very real and I certainly experienced a wounding from this, as we turned on one another for holding different opinions around what we might put into our body. I can’t help thinking that this feeling of persecution lays deep in our cells and DNA, especially for those old souls amongst us who may have lived previously through the witch trials that were conducted from the 15th century until the 18th century.
I don’t know why, but this seems to be in my orbit currently, so setting the scene a little, the rise of the Roman Empire caused Christianity to become increasingly popular and with this Paganism and Pagan rituals were outlawed (392 C.E.), which led to the murder of those following Pagan ‘religions’ (worshipping the Mother Goddess for example) before the ‘real’ witch hunts and trials began.
In short, Pagans were murdered for refusing to convert to Christianity and their beliefs. The Roman Empire attempted (and succeeded) in taking over Paganism by replacing Pagan holidays with their own, which was done intentionally to make it easier for Pagans to convert to Christianity. The Church also destroyed Pagan worship sites and built churches over the top of them - we have classic examples of this here on Guernsey with two incredible Goddess menhirs at the sacred sites of what are now Castel Church and St Martin’s Church and there is a Christianised menhir at St Saviours Church which was also another significant sacred site.
The next step was to destroy and replace Pagan beliefs especially about women, and Christianity at that time taught citizens that women had no souls (!) which made it easier to remove guilt over killing them. Women who were healers and midwives were classed as ‘witches’ and were persecuted for having knowledge about health, well-being and healing. These patriarchal views eventually led to the rise of men dominating the healthcare field as doctors - even today I am always amazed by the number of male gynaecologists, for example.
From what I can gather, Pope Gregory IX authorised witch hunts to take place in the 1200s but these hunts didn’t take off until 1484 when Pope Innocent VIII declared witches as a threat and the inquisition was involved. Paganism diminished under the Roman Empire, but had a resurgence around the Renaissance era (1500s) which threatened Christianity again. Thus witch hunts took place again during this time as witches were linked to Paganism.
Some of the key beliefs in Paganism include women having knowledge and power and Pagans worshipping a ‘Mother Goddess”. Women were often viewed as divine because of their power to create new life - hence why the power centre in women is often viewed in the sacral chakra, the yoni, rather than the solar plexus. Pagans believed in equality between men and women whereas the Romans devalued women within their patriarchal society and Christianity adopted the Roman view point into their belief system, devaluing women in the process.
Not only that but Christianity devalued several Pagan practices, deeming them sinful - Reiki is still viewed as sinful by many Christians and I cannot teach Reiki in St Martin’s Community Centre even now, for example, as the land is consecrated. What’s particularly sad is that Pagans celebrated the sexual union of men and women (and fortunately we still have many neolithic structures evidencing this), because they revered fertility and a woman’s ability to produce new life, whereas Christianity devalued this ability as simply part of women’s role and saw sex as sinful and as a necessary act for reproduction, but now I am going off on a tangent!
So returning to my point, I can draw parallels in how so many were treated during the pandemic, not by Christianity - please note that this is definitely not about Christianity versus Paganism, I am just sharing what happened - but by Christianity’s replacement, in the form of science. Whether we want to believe it or not there is no denying that science is now viewed on a God-like platform; unless something has been proven scientifically then it doesn't exist and during the pandemic especially, politicians were incapable of making a decision that wasn’t backed by science, and even now they will use science as their defence.
Yet science doesn't know everything. Science likes to pull apart and dissect but it cannot know the human soul, anymore than it can understand the workings of the mind, or indeed our spirit. Science has limits, yet we were all subjected to its supposed knowledge and wisdom during the pandemic with the medical world viewed as our saviour through the invention of the vaccine. The persecution which then ensued for those who asked questions felt very real and reminiscent of times passed.
So of course this may well have aggravated existing trauma around fear of safety, which so many carry - incarnation also can cause quite some trauma, let alone the effect of our medicalised approach to birth and the ‘children are resilient’ notion and whatever cultural bias is in place at the time, whether that be ignoring the emotional body, being over zealous in health and safety, or suffocating with helicopter parenting, all of it can cause trauma, even if well intended.
This is of course in addition to the fear that was created throughout the pandemic generally, not least the fear of contracting Covid but the fear of carrying Covid and passing this onto others. I was doing some work for Guernsey Mind during this time and people were literally paralysed by fear, totally out of their body, their connection with the earth cut and their root chakra diminished. One lady appeared wearing two face masks such was her fear of contracting Covid and others were terrified of unintentionally killing family and friends.
Furthermore, there was shock for many, not least the loss of family and friends and the awareness that people were dying on their own and birthing without partners, but also at the way people so easily gave up their freedom. The fear for many was so great that they readily handed their lives over to scientists and politicians, doing exactly what was asked of them without questioning it, and believing that those who did question it were mad and irresponsible and didn’t deserve the right to live.
Those who were questioning it were very aware of the hatred towards them - of people thinking them selfish for caring about their health and not therefore wanting to wear face masks or vaccinate - and had to deal with their own fears around loss of freedom, forced-vaccination and loss of autonomy of their body, not traveling ever again etc.
I could talk about sitting either side of the fence, but it wasn’t entirely divisive. Personally I have no issue with people vaccinating or wearing face masks, but I did have an issue with not having choice around that. My bias is always towards freedom and choice.
But alas, people did jump one side of the fence or the other and there was a deep fear as life changed overnight for many and this undoubtably agitated the nervous system and indeed the immune system to say nothing of the heart break many experienced with the loss of a way of life previously lived, a grieving then for what came before and may never come again, and while yes, many were contented with the changes, change is change and can create a restlessness regardless of how we experience it.
I have a sense that we are only really just coming to terms with this now. Many are experiencing increased ADHD symptoms and while I know that ADHD is very real - please don’t think I am suggesting it is not real, I know it is very real - I do wonder if it is exacerbated by the pandemic and the shock to our systems. I wonder then if treating any underlying Vata imbalance may help to ease the symptoms and lessen the restlessness, impulsivity and loss of focus that is inherent in our lives today - not helped of course by being online, which, when done to excess, will also create a Vata imbalance!
And so maybe all these ADHD diagnoses are helpful in raising awareness of our inherent collective restlessness and trauma and our acknowledgement of this, so maybe as we do the deeper healing work that the moon is encouraging as it builds to it’s 18.6 year major standstill, we will collectively and positively change the vibration on this planet into something more stable - at least within ourselves. Then outer world is anything but stable and as I have said before, really the only change we can truly make is within ourselves, but with conscious action on the outside.
From an Ayurvedic perspective, there’s all sorts of things we can do to ease a Vata imbalance, such as getting low to the earth, of eating warming and nourishing soups, stews and curries, of staying hydrated, of massaging the body, of resting in baths, of wrapping up in blankets and keeping warm, of reconnecting to earth energy and letting it ground you, of being around trees, of getting hands in the earth and making food consciously, with loving hands, and slowing life down, of long and slow breaths and of doing anything which calms an agitated nervous system.
I don’t know, it’s just something that was coming through and I felt to share. I’m curious, maybe you intuit similarly, or maybe you have a different sense of things. I just feel we need to be super kind to ourselves, we’ve been through a lot and we need to simplify and calm things down, taking responsibility and making decisions with the next generations in mind - allowing greater love, equality and freedom in the process.
Enjoy the wax, Equinox next week!
Love Emma x