Patanjali's concept of mental fluctuations (vritti) as the root cause of suffering, directly applicable to understanding how trauma fragments consciousness into reactive patterns.
In Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, vritti refers to the fluctuations and modifications of the mind that obscure our true nature and perpetuate suffering. For trauma survivors, these mental fluctuations manifest as intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, and emotional dysregulation that seem to arise involuntarily. Patanjali teaches that these fluctuations are not the self but disturbances in consciousness that can be observed and gradually stilled through systematic practice. Understanding trauma through the vritti framework transforms it from an identity into a pattern of mind-activity that can be witnessed, regulated, and eventually resolved. This perspective offers trauma survivors a path from reactivity to observation, from identification with symptoms to awareness of the witnessing consciousness beneath them.
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