Mansi Poddar- Trauma Informed Psychotherapist Working Globally

psychotherapist in India by Mansi Poddar

Spiritual trauma is a deep, often invisible form of wounding that disrupts an individual's connection to their inner truth, voice, vitality, and sense of sacred self. It occurs when our essential identity or aliveness is denied, suppressed, or punished-often in the name of culture, family, religion, or morality.
Unlike physical or emotional trauma, which may be more visible or diagnosable, spiritual trauma is subtle and soul-deep. It can take the form of chronic self-doubt, internalized shame, loss of meaning, or a disconnection from one's body, voice, and desires. For many women raised in patriarchal cultures like India, spiritual trauma is not caused by one singular event but by a lifetime of being silenced, shaped, and shamed into compliance.

The Gendered Roots of Spiritual Trauma

In patriarchal systems, a woman's value is often defined in relation to others: as a daughter, wife, mother, or caregiver. Her worth is linked to how well she serves, sacrifices, or conforms. The system rewards docility and punishes defiance. Expressing anger, saying "no," or asserting desires becomes risky. Over time, this leads to a disconnection not only from her relationships, but from her own soul-her deepest truth, intuition, and aliveness.
Spiritual trauma arises when this disconnection becomes internalized. When a girl learns to censor herself to be loved. When a woman feels she must betray her truth to maintain harmony. When silence becomes a survival strategy. This is not just emotional conditioning-it is soul loss.
In Indian culture, this is amplified by layers of tradition, morality, and familial duty. Girls are taught to suppress their emotions, defer to elders, hide their bodies, and avoid bringing "shame" upon the family. Questioning authority, speaking out, or choosing an unconventional path can lead to isolation, rejection, or ridicule.

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Manifestations of Spiritual Trauma in Indian Women

Spiritual trauma doesn't always look like crisis. It can look like a woman who is high-functioning but deeply numb. A therapist or healer who struggles to set boundaries. An artist who stopped creating because her art was once dismissed as "self-indulgent." A mother who feels invisible in her own home. A girl who never learned to trust her own voice.

Common symptoms include:

- A persistent sense of not belonging or being "too much"
- Fear of being visible or heard
- Difficulty making decisions without external validation
- Disconnection from intuition and desire
- Body shame or discomfort with sensuality and joy
- Cycles of burnout, overgiving, or silence
These symptoms are not personality flaws. They are adaptations-responses to systems that taught women to prioritize survival over authenticity.

The Spiritual Dimension of Silencing

When a woman is silenced repeatedly-whether by parents, teachers, religious authorities, or cultural norms-she starts to silence herself. Her inner voice becomes faint. Her soul begins to whisper: "There must be more to me than this."
And she's right.
The feminine soul is not meant to be hidden or muted. It is wild, wise, and deeply expressive. But many Indian women have learned that safety comes at the cost of expression. They carry the grief of what was never spoken, the weight of ancestral silence, and the ache of a truth that longs to be named.
This is spiritual trauma: not just the pain of silence, but the exile from one's own sacredness.

Healing as Spiritual Reclamation

Healing from spiritual trauma is not just about feeling better-it's about **coming home to yourself**. It's about remembering the voice you had before the world told you to be quiet.
Spiritual reclamation involves:
- Reconnecting with the body and breath
- Releasing inherited beliefs around shame, duty, and visibility
- Tuning in to intuition and internal guidance
- Expressing through voice, art, dance, or ritual
- Creating safe spaces where truth is welcomed, not punished
It also involves grieving: grieving the years lost to silence, the words swallowed, the parts of self left behind. And from that grief emerges clarity, purpose, and power.

Final Words

To heal spiritual trauma is to reclaim the sacredness of your voice, body, and truth. It is not rebellion-it is remembrance. It is not selfish-it is sacred.
You are not too much.
You were never meant to be silent.
Your voice is not a threat.
It is a prayer, a fire, a homecoming.
Let your truth rise.
Disclaimer- the narrations are not based on a particular persons life. They are the descriptions of how trauma and healing manifest in first person voice.

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