Part I: Karma, The Body, & The Cosmos

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Two frameworks have shaped my work as a trauma-informed practitioner more than any others: the ancient Vedic knowledge and the emerging body of research in somatic experiencing to process trauma. What has surprised me most is not how different they are — but how clearly they speak to the same truths.Both traditions understand that the past lives reside in the body. Both acknowledge that certain experiences are meant to occur — not as punishment, but as opportunities for healing and growth. And both provide practical, embodied tools for engaging with what emerges, rather than just enduring it.This is a special edition of five-part newsletter series: Karma, The Body, & The Cosmos. We examine the four types of karma through a trauma-informed perspective, connecting each to what we know about the nervous system, somatic memory, and planetary timing. I have combined classical Jyotish sources — especially the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and the Bhagavad Gita — with the work of Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, Dr. Peter Levine, and Dr. Stephen Porges, whose research has revolutionized how we understand the body's connection to experience over time; along with my own personal experience as a trauma survivor and the work that I have been doing with clients for the past 25 years. 

This five-part series is divided into:

Part I — Foundations This bridges Jyotish and somatic trauma science by beautifully mapping the Polyvagal hierarchy (Porges, 2011) onto planetary Dasha periods, offering an insightful explanation of how planetary transits act as cosmic triggers—similar to the trauma-trigger mechanisms.

Part II — The Four Karmas: Sanchita (accumulated karma) connects with intergenerational trauma, ancestral body-inheritance, and the Gayatri Mantra remedy, creating a bridge to understanding our deep-rooted histories. Prarabdha (fated karma) is linked to relational templates, our nervous system, pendulation practice, and remedies involving Saturn and Ketu, guiding us through our predetermined paths. Agami (future karma) relates to neuroplasticity, conscious intention, safety practices, and remedies involving Jupiter and Nishkama Karma, empowering us to shape our future positively. Kriyamana (present karma) focuses on response flexibility, tolerance, breathing, and remedies with Mercury and Mars, encouraging adaptability and mindful action in the here and now.

Part III — A seven-row transit-trauma table mapping specific Gochar (transits) configurations (Sade Sati, Rahu-Ketu transits, eclipses, Mars-Rahu conjunctions, etc.) to their somatic trauma responses and healing entry points.

Part IV — A five-category Upaya (remedies) table integrating Mantra Japa, Dana, Puja, Tapas, and Seva with their neuroscientific mechanisms.

Part V — A complete morning and evening daily practice framework.

This is a map of compassion for the self, for the history we carry, and for the extraordinary resilience of the human body-mind across lifetimes.

PART I: FOUNDATIONS

The Convergence of Two Healing Sciences

Jyotish — Vedic astrology — and modern somatic trauma therapy seem, on the surface, to be separated by thousands of years and different methods. One uses the language of Grahas (planets), Nakshatras (lunar mansions), and Dashas (planetary periods). The other focuses on the autonomic nervous system, the vagus nerve, and the polyvagal hierarchy. Yet at their philosophical core, they share a radical and liberating premise.

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"The body keeps the score" - Bessel van der Kolk, MD (2014)

"The Jivatma (individual soul) incarnates in a human body and lives according to its Karmas." - Sage Parashara, Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, Ch. 2

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Dr. Bessel van der Kolk's groundbreaking research showed that traumatic experiences are not stored as a clear story in the brain, but as fragmented sensory and bodily memories — images, sensations, and physical states that stay under conscious awareness and are triggered by cues in the present environment (van der Kolk, 2014). 

In Jyotish, this is the domain of Prarabdha Karma: the part of past-life experience that has matured into the current incarnation, encoded in the birth chart and activated through planetary timing.

Dr. Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing (SE) model also emphasizes that trauma isn't in the event itself — it's in the nervous system's incomplete response to threat. "Trauma is not what happens to us," writes Dr. Levine, "but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness" (Levine, 1997). In Jyotish terms, the "empathetic witness" is the Jyotishi who reads the chart with compassion rather than prediction — and the Upayas (remedies) are the embodied practices through which the nervous system, over time, learns to complete what was left unfinished.

The Polyvagal Framework & Karmic Time

Dr. Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory (1994, 2011) offers a neuroscientific map that closely aligns with Jyotish's understanding of karmic phases. Porges identified three evolutionary layers of the autonomic nervous system, each activated in a specific hierarchy of safety and threat.

Ventral Vagal State (safety and social engagement): We can link this to periods of Jupiter, Venus, and waxing Moon Dashas: expansion, grace, trust, and connection.

Sympathetic Activation (fight/flight): Aligned with Mars, Rahu, Sun, and Saturn Dashas representing mobilization, urgency, aggression, or striving.

Dorsal Vagal Shutdown (freeze/collapse): can relate to Ketu, 12th house Dashas, and heavily afflicted Moon — withdrawal, dissociation, spiritual bypass, or depression.

Understanding which planetary period — or Dasha — is active provides crucial context for why a particular trauma response is online at a given time. Planetary transits (Gochar) serve as environmental cues: just as the sound of a car backfiring can trigger a combat veteran's nervous system, a Saturn transit to the natal Moon can activate the stored fear response held in the body from an earlier period of abandonment or isolation. The trigger is cosmic — but the material being triggered is somatic and biographical.

Stay tuned for our April newsletter: Part II: The Four Karmas

In our April newsletter, we will continue exploring the fascinating connections between Vedic Astrology, Karma, and trauma release. We will share insights on how the four types of karma are described in various classical Vedic texts, all from a compassionate, trauma-informed perspective.