TRAUMA INTEGRATION
IN THE NEONATAL
INTENSIVE CARE UNIT:
SENTIENCE & ENERGETICS
A Forthcoming Reference Manual
for the Transparadigm NICU
by Zephyr
The foundation of working with babies is sentience and energetics.
Sentience is consciousness that exists apart from the biologically-
dependent, developing mind. Sentience can be met verbally,
somatically, and energetically. When babies are weak or
fragile, energetics may be the primary option for making
human connection.
Birth story is often the greatest event occupying prenatal sentience.
As with any person, the neonate needs to tell their story and be
heard. Failure to recognize sentience results in denial of birth
story, which has the potential to impair autonomic function, motor
function, feeding, sleeping, crying-settling cycles, and bonding
and attachment—all of which impinge upon healthy physiological
and neurological development, which will set the foundation for
a lifetime. For babies in the NICU, respect for sentience, accurate
reflection of birth story, and a resonant caregiver field are gentle,
non-invasive, and humane neuroprotective responses that we are
morally obligated to offer as part of evaluating the need for
technological and pharmaceutical interventions, which induce
iatrogenic trauma and negatively impact the neuroprotective agenda.
Optimal care in the NICU requires the synergistic application
of allopathic medicine and energetic healing arts. Trauma Integration
in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Sentience & Energetics is written
for both allopathic and energetic practitioners, providing language
and context for transparadigm care: allopathic-energetic care. After
building a common foundation, this reference manual addresses
twenty aspects of care in the NICU and modes of energetic
connection. Each of the twenty chapters are grounded in vignettes
of Zephyr’s sessions with babies in the NICU. Supplemental
discussion appended to many vignettes includes explanation
of the energetics in a manner appropriate for allopathic practitioners
and laypeople, advanced energetic commentary, and relevant
material from masters, with emphasis on the work of Ray Castellino.
Parents and laypersons may wish to focus on the core of the vignette
and be selective as to the appended material, enjoying what they
find accessible and skipping the more technical.
Stories from Zephyr's personal experience are juxtaposed with
the babies’ stories. The depth of Zephyr's experience as the
client on the table receiving a craniosacral session illuminates
the value such therapy has for neonates and infants. Zephyr's
journey to integrate their own prenatal and perinatal trauma
illustrates that the experiences, feelings, and expressions of
the adult are the same as those of the neonate and infant,
and that baby and adult have the same
need to be seen and heard.