The Energy of Coping, Fight, Flight, Freeze!

The September Frequency Forecast shared the image of the “cotton plant”, as the symbol that represents the energy aspects that are happening in the human energy field. The cotton plant is super strong, resilient, and up to surviving the harshest weathers and the strongest winds. This was spirits way of saying to us, you know how to survive! You have withstood so many of life challenges and found creative ways to survive those challenges. Those creative ways are called, coping mechanisms, and survival tools which are energetic patterns to help you deal with all that life throws at you. These energy patterns are developed by first observing how your parents coped with life. You are able to witness which of your parental patterns work and do not work. You adapted your own survival tools to specifically fit for you. Other coping survival mechanisms were created to help you to deal with traumas in your life, to place them into a system of locking away, avoiding, understanding and /or learning from the hardships.

Imagine you are born as a brand new baby with a bright soul light into the world, into your family and ready to take on all the life experiences destined for you. You will maintain that bright spark of light for several years, depending on the life you were born into. However, your family is like an energetic puzzle and each member of your family is a puzzle piece that makes up the family puzzle. When you are born, those energetic patterns get shifted around just simply based on the high frequency vibration you brought to the family. The family dynamics are going to change because of the healing light you brought to it. Those changes might be for the better, but your energetic spark might just trigger shadows hidden in the family patterns, that can start a cascade of relationship collapses as well. Some family members can not handle the heightened level of light that a newborn baby brings into the family. Yet, other families may have struggled and adding a new spiritual light to the family unit can strengthen your family. Regardless, you the fresh newborn, must fit into the puzzle and adapt your energy field to fit in. We all have energetic family systems that we are born into, and some beliefs would say that we spiritually choose the circumstances so we can best learn the lessons we came to learn.

In this blog post the focus is on the energetic patterns of fight, flight or freeze as a coping mechanism. Coping mechanisms are normal body reactions to feeling threatened in life. Whether the threat is real or perceived. Your nervous system is firing on all cylinders, your adrenal glands are producing high cortisol and your human side is going to survive at all cost. All 3 of these coping mechanisms share one similar pattern and that is the pattern of your spirit leaving your body. Whether you start fighting as a way to respond, take off and leave the situation as a way to respond, or freeze, become numb, or absent, as a way to respond, the common pattern is that your spirit leaves your body, and then your body responds/reacts to the situation. Your physical body has a strong survival reaction, your spirit shoots out of your body to exit the situation and your energy field gets into one of these positions of fight, flight or freeze. It all can happen so much faster than what I just wrote here. This is why it can be such a challenge to manage. What is even more incredible to know is that your entire spirit and energy field knows far ahead of time that you are going to have a response soon and begins to prepare for it. Sometimes, you may start to feel it coming up even a few days ahead of time. This is why intuitive/psychic development is so vitally healthy to know for self-coping and management. Click here to read more about what exactly happens to your nervous system.

FIGHTING as a coping mechanism can be a range of responses that use fighting energy as your mode of defense. 1. Looking for something wrong. You might walk into a room and energetically prepare yourself for a fight. Why? To feel in your strength, you want to trigger that strong red energy so if you can find fault somewhere, then you can give yourself a reason to spark the red to feel like the strongest person in the room. The 3rd chakra flies open to be the dominant energy, the power energy, and the red surges like blood coursing through the veins. This fight sets you up to let everyone in the room know you are not to be messed with. Yet, your spirit is NOT there, it is far away from your body. 2. Shark attack. In this fight energy response, you will find the weakest energy field in the room and move in to take it down. I call this the shark response because a shark can smell a fish in distress from miles away and go after it as an easy meal. This type of energy field hangs around perceived weak energies as a way to feel false strength. 3. Cornered Wild Cat response – this individual can be the nicest person in the room but if they feel they are being targeted, cornered, or picked on, they can come out with claws sharpened and take down every single person in the room. Every single issue they ever had with you in the past is not off limits. This energy response is does not calm down until everyone is bloodied from their scratches. Again, in all 3 situations the spirit is no where near the body, this is a full on reactive response of the energy field. 4. Blind murderous rage – this response you will rarely see until the person experiences the final last straw. They have stuffed their rage, over and over again, until they are like a volcano ready to explode. When this fight box breaks open energetically, the individual will struggle to put all the pieces back together again, like humpty dumpty who fell off the wall. It can take days for the person to feel like they can get their emotions back under control. When they do come back together again, life is not ever the same, in a good way. Meaning, once they experience the power of their ability to stand up for themselves, they do not go back to stuffing it anymore.

Flight as a coping mechanism also has a range of responses that can look different for each person who uses it. 1. Making excuses as a way to take flight. In this energetic situation the person has become uncomfortable, their spirit leaves their body because the discomfort is rising to the surface. The individual will suddenly make an excuse that they have to leave because they just forgot they need to be somewhere. 2. Avoidance as a way to prevent triggering the flight response. The individual knows from past experience that they might feel uncomfortable in certain situations and will probably want to run away, so they avoid even going to the events, so they do not have to run away. 3. Any conflict can spark the flight response so the person will literally walk out of the room or drive away in their car when the energy rises sparking the fear response that the energy might get out of control. 4. Literal running, as a flight response. The body needs to be constantly moving giving the sensation of running so the body feels calm. When challenges arise, walking, running, working out as a way to discharge the flight response, but again, the individual will keep that movement going, such as cleaning the house, planting large gardens to tend, as a way to remain in movement to satisfy the flight response. Again, in each situation the spirit is way out of the body and not in charge of the flight.

Freeze as a coping mechanism also has a range of responses that can look different for each person who uses it. 1. It is called freeze, because in this first case the individual literally freezes and can not move, speak, hear, respond, or function. In some extreme cases the individual may become catatonic and unresponsive to even someone trying to talk to them. 2. Robotic energy is another form of freeze. The body responds but nobody is home and often there is an absence in the eyes as they say things like; Sure no problem, I get that, I can agree with that, I can help with that, I do not mind and I hear what you are saying. The person interacting with the individual who is frozen does not see the absence and appreciates the agreeable nature of the individual. The freeze response is total fear of upsetting the other person. 3. Freezing and just sits while the other person scream and yells, fear of being the target, fear of triggering other people, so just sits, listens and takes on the energy in the room and of the other individuals. Again, in the freeze response the spirit has left the body and left the room.

Yes, you can have all 3 types of responses as a coping mechanism, but most people tend to lean more towards one type. It is important to know that the coping mechanism is valuable, valid and important to help you to “COPE” with the circumstances you are in. When threatened you MUST be able to fight for your life, run away, or freeze like a rabbit so you are not harmed. However, if the grocery store is out of your favorite ice cream that might not be a good enough reason to fight with one of the clerks, run out of the store upset, or freeze unable to move until someone looks all through the freezer section in the back to find it. The longer you hold on to these outdated coping survival skills past their expiration date (meaning you no longer need them) the more deeply ingrained they become infused and stuck in your energy field. The best healing tool you can use when you find yourself triggered is the grounding technique. Practice by using our grounding technique every single day in meditation, while driving your car, shopping at the store, having coffee with a friend, or working out at the gym. You will want to practice in all situations during times of feeling calm, in control and in a non-threatened state. When you feel like fighting, taking flight or freezing, then stop first to ground yourself to the center of the earth just like you practiced. This will help your spirit remain in your body and when your spirit can remain in your body you are no longer sparking a reaction but engaging in a response to the situation. Does this mean you will no longer get angry, feel like fighting, running or being paralyzed with fear? No, but when your spirit remains in your body no matter what is happening, you can remain in the present moment and respond appropriately to what is happening.

It can take years to dismantle the energetic patterns of old coping patterns that still have a strong hold on you. Once you become aware of your patterns, you can see it and once you can see it you can change it. Then the next time it happens, you can say to yourself, oh I see what is happening here, I know this story and this has nothing to do with anyone but myself. You can begin to take responsibility for your reactions and improve your relationships on all levels. Yes, seeing a therapist who is skilled at helping you let go of broken coping mechanisms and replace them with healthy ones is very beneficial. Your body loves to participate in becoming healthier. Spiritually, we teach intuitive meditation techniques to help you to dismantle the energy patterns held in the aura and chakras. So you can begin to break down this contracted states and be more in the flow of any environment you are in with grounded calmness knowing life can throw anything at you and you can respond in a way that helps you feel totally in your strength.

What can you do when you find your spirit has left and your body is now in fight, flight or freeze mode? When I work with clients and students who get super triggered, the first thing I ask them to do is to state the Monday, day and year to get their energy field into the present moment. The second thing I do is ask them to state their current age because often old outdated coping developed in childhood, so reminding yourself that you are now an adult can help you to shift right back into the moment. Taking nice deep breaths in and out, counting 1, 2, 3, 4, breath out 1, 2, 3, 4, breath in 1, 2, 3, 4, and repeat the breath slowly. When you feel yourself, your nervous system start to calm, then you can ground yourself to the center of the earth and invite you spirit to slowly move back into yourself. Over time, you will want to seek support from a therapist, a healer, a coach to help you to dismantle old outdated coping and replace it with new fresh healthy supportive coping. Remember, simply recognizing, bringing your triggers and behaviors into your consciousness is the first step to being able to heal it. We are resilient, we can thrive and managing the reactions of our bodies is a good place to begin. Click here to read my blog posts on body time and spirit time as another tool to help you when coping with current events.

This month of September is all about letting go of the hard shells that helped us to grow in strong and resilient ways but now we want to get to that soft inner cotton of light mindedness and light heartedness. You can do this, your were built to survive and now it is time to live to thrive!!!