Vairagya: Non-attachment to Trauma Narratives

Vairagya—non-attachment or dispassionate clarity—complements abhyasa in Patanjali's system. For C-PTSD, this means releasing white-knuckle identification with trauma narratives: "I am damaged," "I am a survivor," "I am broken." These stories, once protective, become prisons. Vairagya is not denial or spiritual bypassing; it's the capacity to hold trauma history without being fused to it. Patanjali describes it as "the consciousness of mastery in one who is free from craving." In trauma work, this manifests as: acknowledging what happened without being defined by it, grieving losses without despair, and accessing inner resources independent of external validation. For C-PTSD survivors bound in hypervigilance and shame, vairagya opens possibilities: the ability to witness one's past, honor one's survival, and simultaneously inhabit a larger identity unbounded by trauma. This creates psychological freedom within the context of integrated memory.