Phillip Ludwig

Phillip is no stranger to strangeness. He has been curious about the nature of human experiencing since childhood. As a child, Phillip learned to play with both the psychological and spiritual experiences. This was played as a means of exploring True Nature or True Essence (which is sometimes called God). He also had many “near-death” experiences. His explorations help shape his skills to identify illusions and deceptions. Illusions are sensory processing problems and deceptions arise from wanting and aversion. He knew that his purpose was to fill the roles of scientist and shaman. Many moons later, he learned the basics of science while earning a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology. He attempted to move directly into a PhD but the Universe reminded him that he had forgotten some being human lessons. A doctoral degree would have to wait until he remembered lessons in the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual presences. Therefore, he moved into practical work. This work included working with Hospice patients, with military personal and their families with the chaplain’s office (Ft. Hood), with families in a children’s inpatient psychiatric and residential treatment center, working with chronic and acute pain patients in chiropractor’s offices, and with military and civilian families in private practice. He expanded his schooling knowledge on the effects of trauma on individuals and families. His journey also included mastering the skill set of word smithing (NLP), Ericksonian and clinical hypnosis, and biofeedback. Personally he has been developing his personal humanness, finding out what it means to have a family. Phillip married his Love and shared in conceiving their son. He has learned about the hardships and blessings of family: Love, work, ups and downs, hard times and good times. He also was developing a yoga and Aikido practice. Initially, the focus was on moving shapes (AKA yoga asana or Aikido kata). Later on, he found that spiritual functioning is working within shapes. After 12 years of practice, Phillip remembered again! We live in physical bodies with organs that are influenced by our thoughts. Our thoughts are influenced by Karma (AKA our past and our reactions to our past as humans with cultures). The vicious cycle of Karma and thinking can yield much suffering or much peace! This is evidenced in our emotional states of being. These are also evidenced in the Greater Spiritual Field. Our humanness is accessed by using communication and communion skills. Emotional states (and their related thoughts/beliefs) can be interfaced using standard communication skills (e.g. ES). Clinical or counseling psychology can greatly influence emotional states. The Greater Spiritual Field can be interfaced with communion skills. Yoga and iRest Yoga Nidra can greatly influence both emotional states and Greater Spiritual Field. So, off to school Phillip returned. His PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) focused on how little regimented breath work (Pranayama), using biofeedback, it takes to have an effect on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). It turns out that it takes more than 30 minutes a week. It is highly likely that there is always another complementing factor: It is the provider’s level of personhood brought into treatment sessions. Caring providers impact immediate psychological factors but do not necessarily impact long-term ANS functioning. Breathing disciplines must be either completed frequently and for certain durations. Alternatively, there must be other factors, spiritual/faith factors. Phillip has returned back to professional practice from the ivory tower of science. He started with private practice and moved into systems work. He worked with Administrative Segregation (Ad Seg) prisoners as both a practitioner and as a mental health manager. Then he moved on to working exclusively with veterans and their families. His current areas of expertise are in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and mood dysregulation. He still utilizes evidenced based trauma treatments, such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Processing Therapy, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, and Trauma Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. These treatments require use of wordsmithing but do not address one of the largest concerns of PTSD: moral injury. Moral injury not only engages the physical, thinking, and emotion levels, but it also engages the spiritual level. Here enters sharing his personal yoga practices into his shamanism: iRest Yoga Nidra and Restorative Yoga. These practices are embedded into the core of his non-profit’s foundation, From Wounded 2 Warrior. This agency is about creating community – a place for communion – for veterans, first responders, and their families to recovery from woundedness into warriorhood. Additionally, he cares for civilians and their families on a limited basis.