WEBVTT - Meditation and PTSD

0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:08.920
<v Speaker 1>Stay Calm as a production of I Heart Radio. Hi.

0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.479
<v Speaker 1>I'm Bob Roth, and I've been teaching people to meditate

0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.840
<v Speaker 1>for fifty years, helping them to stay calm under pressure,

0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:19.440
<v Speaker 1>reboot and re energize their lives, and basically be a happier,

0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.599
<v Speaker 1>healthier version of themselves. And now I want to help

0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.440
<v Speaker 1>you do the same. Welcome to Stay Calm, your daily

0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.960
<v Speaker 1>dose of calmness. Every weekday morning, I'll share a meditation story,

0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:34.320
<v Speaker 1>offer a simple practical tip about how you or loved

0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:37.000
<v Speaker 1>going can stay a bit calmer in your life, and

0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.320
<v Speaker 1>then we'll end each episode together with a moment of gratitude.

0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:42.720
<v Speaker 1>My hope is that I can share what I know

0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:47.519
<v Speaker 1>to anyone who needs it. Ready, sit comfortably, take a

0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:52.599
<v Speaker 1>few deep breaths, and let's begin today's journey. I want

0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:55.560
<v Speaker 1>to tell you the story about Luke Jensen because Luke's

0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.120
<v Speaker 1>story is indicative of what's happening in our society today,

0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.920
<v Speaker 1>as more adults and children are being exposed to such

0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.880
<v Speaker 1>traumatic events that they suffered the nightmare of post traumatic

0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:12.080
<v Speaker 1>stress disorder or PTSD. Luke grew up in a military family.

0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.479
<v Speaker 1>One grandfather was Navy, the other grandfather was Marine. Corps.

0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.000
<v Speaker 1>Luke knew at an early age he wanted to go

0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.000
<v Speaker 1>into law enforce. Me wanted to get in the military.

0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.000
<v Speaker 1>So the first thing he did was he joined the

0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.720
<v Speaker 1>Army Reserves as military police. Then he got a job

0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:29.920
<v Speaker 1>in a local police department, where he spent two years

0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:34.200
<v Speaker 1>doing undercover narcotics work. Luke was a tough guy. In

0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.840
<v Speaker 1>two thousand nine, he got deployed to Afghanistan, confident that

0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.040
<v Speaker 1>he could really serve his country well. In about a week,

0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:45.160
<v Speaker 1>everything turned south. He said. For the first week, there

0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:51.040
<v Speaker 1>was so much artillery fire, so many sirens, rockets, attacks nearby.

0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.520
<v Speaker 1>He never slept the first week, he was asked to

0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.640
<v Speaker 1>investigate the death of a little girl. She was the

0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:01.120
<v Speaker 1>same age as his daughter. He held his little girl's

0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:05.320
<v Speaker 1>body in his arms, and he said, something inside of

0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.320
<v Speaker 1>him snapped. He realized, I'm never going to make it

0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:13.840
<v Speaker 1>home to my family alive. He sunk into a depression.

0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:19.400
<v Speaker 1>The depression turned to thoughts of suicide. Within a few months,

0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.400
<v Speaker 1>he found himself in a truck parked outside of the

0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.840
<v Speaker 1>camp with a rifle pointed at his head and his

0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:30.560
<v Speaker 1>fingers trembling on the trigger. He said, at that moment

0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.440
<v Speaker 1>when he was prepared to pull the trigger. A truck

0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:35.919
<v Speaker 1>pulled up right next to him with two army rangers.

0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.120
<v Speaker 1>They never looked at Luke, they just looked straight ahead.

0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:42.920
<v Speaker 1>Luke felt so embarrassed about what he was going to

0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.079
<v Speaker 1>do that he put down the rifle and drove back

0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:50.880
<v Speaker 1>to camp. He told his superior officer immediately had a

0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.560
<v Speaker 1>meta fact. Back to the United States, Luke felt confident

0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:56.680
<v Speaker 1>that when he got back to be with his wife

0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:01.359
<v Speaker 1>and two children, it would all be okay. It's never okay,

0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.480
<v Speaker 1>not when you have trauma. One afternoon, his wife and

0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:09.000
<v Speaker 1>daughter came in and he screamed, I'm going to kill myself,

0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:14.200
<v Speaker 1>But just seeing the eyes of his daughter and his wife,

0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.720
<v Speaker 1>he dropped the gun, collapse in his bed, and slept

0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:22.920
<v Speaker 1>through the night. The next morning, he realized, with more

0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.440
<v Speaker 1>conviction than ever, he had a second chance. He was

0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.760
<v Speaker 1>going to make the best of it. Our paths crossed

0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.560
<v Speaker 1>when he learned to meditate. It's not the answer to

0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.840
<v Speaker 1>to all problems, but it helped him a lot. My

0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:40.320
<v Speaker 1>point here is Luke had a second chance. So many

0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.960
<v Speaker 1>of our men and women and children who suffered from

0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:47.200
<v Speaker 1>post traumatic stress never get that second chance. Today, the

0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:51.080
<v Speaker 1>nurses and doctors and orderlies and custodial staff that are

0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:55.240
<v Speaker 1>on the front lines living the hell of PTSD. And

0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:59.720
<v Speaker 1>there's another term, it's called complex PTSD. That is, you

0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.640
<v Speaker 1>been a home where your mother or father or brother

0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:09.120
<v Speaker 1>or sister has PTSD and it's contagious. You begin to

0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:17.640
<v Speaker 1>experience the same symptoms irrational thinking, depression, anxiety, impulsive, violent behavior.

0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:23.320
<v Speaker 1>Trauma doesn't go away over time. Trauma doesn't go away

0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:28.680
<v Speaker 1>by ignoring it. It's a disease. There's so many things

0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:30.839
<v Speaker 1>that need to be done to help a person who

0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:35.280
<v Speaker 1>has PTSD. They need to have the right therapist, they

0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:42.040
<v Speaker 1>need to have a support system. What can you do?

0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:44.919
<v Speaker 1>What is the tip I can give you in a

0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:48.080
<v Speaker 1>long list of things that need to be done for

0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:50.800
<v Speaker 1>the loved one that you're supporting. You need to be

0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:55.159
<v Speaker 1>able to listen without judgment, not coming at them with

0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.600
<v Speaker 1>you're going to fix everything for them, and not minding

0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.839
<v Speaker 1>if they don't want to talk. You can save a

0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:05.440
<v Speaker 1>life when you listen. The other thing I will tell

0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:11.640
<v Speaker 1>you is find help. The National Association of Mental Health NAMI.

0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:16.479
<v Speaker 1>Google it. They have a hotline. If we want to

0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:21.159
<v Speaker 1>keep calm within ourself and people around us as the

0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:30.880
<v Speaker 1>world gets more intense, Listen, communicate, support each other. All right,

0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.280
<v Speaker 1>let's end this time together doing something that I think

0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.360
<v Speaker 1>should be a feature of our everyday life, and that's

0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.479
<v Speaker 1>appreciation and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds of quiet,

0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.880
<v Speaker 1>thirty seconds to take a break, just take a moment.

0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:46.400
<v Speaker 1>It turns out when we do that, it's good for

0:05:46.400 --> 0:06:18.920
<v Speaker 1>our health as well. I'll be right back all right.

0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:24.000
<v Speaker 1>Thank you for joining. This is Bob Roth. Keep calm,

0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.960
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening today. I hope you heard something that inspires,

0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.040
<v Speaker 1>that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into your

0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:35.680
<v Speaker 1>own life. Until next time, remember, meditate, be kind, and

0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.800
<v Speaker 1>be true to yourself. Hey, all of you out there,

0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.080
<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.920
<v Speaker 1>your stories, your questions, or anything else on your mind.

0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.320
<v Speaker 1>Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at

0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:53.600
<v Speaker 1>Meditation Bob. You can also send me an email at

0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:58.080
<v Speaker 1>meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com. I look forward

0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:03.839
<v Speaker 1>to hearing from you one