A Mindfulness tool for your Mind After Sexual Trauma

This blog post contains material related to sexual abuse. If these topics are sensitive for you, please read with care.

This post aims to offer compassion, support, and practical strategies to integrate into your healing journey whenever you feel ready. It was created to remind readers that you are not alone in healing, while offering gentle understanding and a supportive coping skill along the way. Wherever this blog post finds you, I hope you leave it feeling encouraged by your own strength and hopeful for the future. 

Sexual trauma and Rape recovery is an overwhelming journey. Sometimes, it means reassuring your body that it is safe, even when it remains on high alert. You might experience flashbacks or nightmares that intrude on daily life, forcing you to push through the day. Some days, emotions may be intense, while on others, you might feel numb or disconnected, and dissociation often serves as a form of self-protection. Talking about your experience may feel impossible, as if it’s “too taboo or too much for others to handle or understand.” Although every recovery is unique, nurturing hope throughout the healing process can be helpful. 

You may wonder where to begin your healing journey. Taking those first steps, such as starting counseling, joining support groups, or exploring trauma therapies like EMDR and ART, can help your mind process and heal. After those first action steps, when you feel ready, practicing mindfulness can be helpful. 

Here’s how I break it down: 

R – Redeemed / Radiant / Restored / Reclaimed (the word you choose)

A – Above 

P – Powerful 

E – Entanglement 

Starting with the last letter, E – Entanglement refers to whatever feels like it’s wrapping around your recovery, like a web. For me, it was the person. For others, it might be a place, flashbacks, or something else that stands out and holds your mind tightly. Identify what that entanglement is for you. 

Next is P – Powerful, it asks: what gives that entanglement its power? What makes it feel so strong or hard to break free from? Identify the power behind your entanglement that is possibly making it feel very strong or intense. 

Then comes A – Above, my personal favorite. This is the reminder that something exists above your powerful entanglement. The entanglement does not sit at the top but truth does.

Finally, R – Redeemed or another word. This represents the reminder that you are redeemed above anything else that may try to entangle you. Or that you are radiant, your story is restored, and you can reclaim those parts of your life you feel that you may have lost. 

Putting it all together: picture your entanglement and what gives it power. Then draw a line over it labeled “Above,” and place your redemption story on top. This shows that your struggles do not define the highest truth about you, there is something greater above them. 

So what does it look like to live in redeeming moments of joy, even after sexual trauma? You might ask yourself: what about me is radiant? What parts of my story show redemption? Maybe it’s that you left the situation. Maybe it’s that you can still feel joy in small moments. Maybe it’s the people in your life who you love and trust. What would it look like to live in those redeeming moments as you continue to process your experience, holding onto hope as you process your grief and trauma? 

*Disclaimer: Sexual trauma and Rape recovery is a journey, and it is not this simple. This is simply a tool to insert when the hard moments feel overwhelming. It is to be placed alongside your recovery, as a coping skill as you lean into healing.