Reflections ~ Spirit Embodied As he was settling down to sleep, my six year old son was hugging my arm like a teddy bear and whispered, “I love you, Mom. If you weren’t here I wouldn’t be quite the same.” … Continue reading
I am an integrative psychotherapist (body, mind and soul support) and a mom of an 8 year old boy. I have been practicing therapy for 12 years and I love supporting new families. Becoming a parent, as I imagine you … Continue reading
Ceremony is glue; the glue that makes this life cohesive. Often life doesn’t make sense or feel fair. Being in Ceremony brings the pieces together, making a mosaic, an image that can be looked at, admired, and even bring joy in the most difficult of times.
What kind of Ceremony? you may ask. Or, you may ask, How? With whom? Can I lead it, or does someone else have to?
My answer, It doesn’t matter! Just do it.
Humans have been on the planet a long time. Certain elements have withstood that span of time: AIR, FIRE, WATER, EARTH and The MYSTERY. Those same elements are the foundation of Ceremony. Bring those forward and you are on your way. Add to your hearts desire and intention, gratitude and offering, and Magic begins to happen. Stuck places move, grief is released, songs emerge, rhythms rise to the surface, movement happens. A lightness follows. A deeper trusting in the Mysteries unfolding of your and my experience. Listen to your hearts’ calling and give yourself the gift of Ceremony.
The best way to describe why Somatics I have found is to talk about what happens when a door slams. First, we jump or startle, heart rate increases, we become more alert. Second, we feel fear, excitement, confusion. Lastly, we ask, what was that? who could that be? friend of foe?
The body is the first to respond, then the emotional self, and only then, the thinking brain.
So, if in therapy, we only address the thinking brain, we have left out the root response to whatever situation was stressful when we were little. If you come in with anxiety and all we do is talk ABOUT the anxiety, likely, you will feel more anxious after you leave than when you arrived. Conversely, if we begin to feel HOW anxiety is experienced in the body, then the mind can begin to regulate the intensity of the feeling and not get so wrapped up in the story of it.
Body awareness slows the whole process down. The key is not just paying attention to the body, its staying AWARE of what the body feels like when you are in a triggered state. Slowly over time, the intensity of the trigger can decrease. This happens through resourcing the body, understanding what the body is communicating, and re-wiring the body and the brain to respond to present moment circumstances. This rewiring is rooted in the present moment, not old patterns .
As a child, you organized yourself as a means of survival. It was a brilliant survival strategy. Now its time to create new strategies that serve the adult you are today. But, we gotta start with knowing, loving and deepening our relationship with the survival strategies.
Often times, you know in your mind what you need to do, or how you need to be, but your body and emotions keep taking you to places or experiences that don’t serve you. This is body memory and it has a way of persisting through even the most insightful therapy.
Through paying attention to ‘how’ this programming happens, becoming mindful of what the triggers feel like inside, we can create pathways to change those patterns. Somatic psychotherapy gently helps free up those stuck patterns and invites in new healthier ways of living.
