After reading an article on yoga and autoimmune disorders she found her first yoga class and discovered Ayurvedic medicine, a sister science of yoga.  According to Ayurveda, autoimmune disorders are contributed to undigested anger. But, Dr. Keesha didn’t feel she was an angry person.  She delved further and realized that if autoimmunity is the body attacking itself, then she was committing suicide in a societally acceptable way!  Then she thought, but I don’t want to die.

Then in meditation, she remembered that as a 10-year-old she was sexually and verbally abused by the vice-principal of her elementary school.  It was that little girl who wanted off this planet and it was these repressed memories that were her indigested emotions leading to her disease.

Once Dr. Keesha started healing her past trauma, her health improved, her bones got better and her autoimmunity went away.  Twenty-six years later she has no relapse and no medication.

As in Dani Williamson’s interview, Dr. Keesha discussed both big T, Capital T Traumas, and little t, lower case traumas.  Capital T trauma is what most people think of when discussing trauma, like sexual or physical abuse.  But lower-case t trauma, like feeling rejected, constant overwhelm, or chronic stress has the same effect on the brain as big T trauma.  Functional MRI scans of the brain, in both cases, show shrinking of the pre-frontal cortex, where we process information and make decisions.  Also, there is an increase in volume in the right side of the amygdala, where we store negative emotions and wonder: “Am I safe?”, “Am I still part of the Tribe?”. “Am I respected?”.

In Ayurveda, when we are running and running to be productive, we get out of balance.  It is called Vata imbalance and can lead to brain fog and brittle bones.  We need to stabilize Vata with a contemplative practice and feel that we are OK without achieving anything.