Somatic Resourcing for Your Nervous System
Prolonged stress can put our bodies in a heightened state of arousal and that can have long-term effects on our health. The tricky part of this statement is that “prolonged” is relative, we are taught to overlook health, and few of us actually know what our bodies are trying to tell us. We are conditioned to use each other to feel loved, normal, and valued. This conditioning happens to us as children. We lose touch with our instincts and become adults that depend on coping mechanisms. We build our entire life so that others can be proud of us. Sometimes it’s for people we don’t even know.
This conditioning leaves us feeling overworked, under-loved, and sick. Stuck in a cycle of trying to get somewhere.
How would I know this?
I have lived it.
San Pancho, Mexico June 2019 * A date my body will never feel the same about again.
The reason I say “prolonged” is relative is that your response to stress is different from everyone around you. It can be hard to discern how long you have been in stress response, especially if you were raised in a dysfunctional family system, and often the way we live in prolonged stress is to ignore its existence and its impact.
Beliefs We May Carry:
Others have it harder than me.
What’s the value of looking at my past? What’s done is done.
I turned out ok, and my past made me who I am today.
These thoughts are rational AND sometimes we use them to escape our reality. The past isn’t asking to be dwelled on, it’s asking to be validated, accepted, and put in the past (along with any programmed coping it created). You’re a deeply compassionate person so feeling that others have it worse may feel true. However, that objection can actually prolong stress. Believing that others have it worse isn’t mutually exclusive from whatever happened to you was bad. It can be used at times as a tactic to not look at and accept your personal experience(s) of trauma. Lastly on the topic of “prolonged stress”, the past does shape us into who we are today. Gratitude is a powerful tool! But sometimes we use the thought of “I turned out ok and my past made me who I am “ as a way to hide from the pain and validate harsh behaviors and addictions. Most people are not even aware that this is happening. I’ve never met anyone who chooses to be an addict. It can also be used to force us to accept stressful environments as the norm and subtly shame ourselves or others that we should be strong and resilient.
In my experience, we have to be willing to compassionately hold our life stories to have a pathway to get to know our bodies.
Knowing Your Body
We are creatures that work hard. At times that can mean ignoring signals from our body that it needs rest, a stretch, water, food, a hug, or medicine. As children, we learn to forgo our instincts and desires to keep up with the demands of those around us. We live in the 21st century so many support systems that are designed to help the collective nervous system are extinct such as community, real food sources, collective rest, and a love for nature. Another life skill that’s extinct is knowing ourselves as capable to heal. A deep trust in our bodies’ knowings.
If you think of a classroom, a five-year-old may feel the need to stand up and shake their legs. What we now know is that telling them to sit down and stay still kills off their brain’s ability to absorb content because they are flooded with sensations from the undischarged energy in their body. Now, classrooms work to accommodate movement. If you were born before 1995, you did not have this environment in most classrooms. The point here is that our body is wise. we know what we need and are taught to lose touch with ourselves. Then we spend adulthood looking to someone else to make us feel good. Anyone who has been in an intimate relationship gets this.
Somatic Resourcing for Your Body
To bring this all together, we have obstacles in this life. Unavoidable, rich, and rewarding obstacles that when normalized and shared become lighter. A curious heart can leverage a world of resources to somatically tune into your body and learn to regulate your nervous system. Then you can use your body as a guide for health. If you have not read the book, The Body Keeps the Score, I highly recommend the work. It shares modalities for doing the work to heal from trauma (pro-longed stress is trauma: examples, COVID, parenting, financial hardships, a divorce, betrayal, grief).
This process takes time. But I am a living testament that it’s worth it. It’s not me waving from a mountain top saying I have arrived and I feel nothing but joy. It’s me saying I can find relief from my mind when I choose to. I have a loving relationship with my body and although it feels great to be loved by the people in my community, I don’t define my life through their needs. This life journey is so short and you deserve safety and love as you live it.
On August 24th, 2022 I am hosting a free 60-min zoom class on Somatic Regulation Techniques. It will cover learning about your body, nurturing yourself through the process, and provide an overview of somatic regulation techniques.
This 60-min class via Zoom will provide an introduction to understanding somatic regulation techniques. The recording will be available to all registered parties.