“The effect of traumatic events is that we disconnect from ourselves, our sense of value and the present moment.” ~ Dr Gabor Maté
When you are in fear, and feel under siege, your body reacts in unconscious ways that we are not aware of – it is always trying to protect us. We all have an internal protector whose job it is to protect us from feeling hurt, overwhelmed, powerless, or disconnected. We are hardwired to seek safety.
Our personal protector is our fight/ flight/ freeze system. It evolved over thousands of years to keep us safe from physical threats and it is lightning fast. Our protector has one job – your safety.
This is problematic in modern life. Our culture has shifted dramatically in the past hundred years. Our internal protector does not recognize the severity of emotional and social threats, and tries to keep up us safe during times when we may not need it to, resulting in accumulated stress and anxiety patterns. We’re stuck with a tool inside of us that is outdated and no longer appropriate for the job.
Our internal protector uses evidence from the past and assesses risk in the present moment. This system can cause us many concerns in our day-to-day life in the form persistent symptoms of anxiety, stress and overwhelm.
When we are children, we feel safe when we are in connected environments at home, with friends or at school. We gradually develop the internal resources to be self-reliant. When we miss out on this sense of internal nervous system connection as children, we don’t develop these internal resources and, as adults, we rely more on our primitive safety system of fight/ flight/ freeze.
We can get stuck in chronic nervous system overload – feeling chronically anxious, stressed or overwhelmed.
This is important because it identifies the underlying mechanism of disconnect and the pathway to healing. Body-focused somatic inquiry can allow us to stay present with what arises that feels uncomfortable and to notice the actual process of disconnecting from our internal sense of ourselves.
As we become more familiar with our experience of feeling threatened, we can update our internal program to use our whole body, not just the unconscious programming from childhood. We notice when we are triggered into fight/ flight/ freeze. This is how we increase our capacity for being connected. This is how our internal protector becomes more skillful. This is how we heal and show up fully in our lives.
The Somatic Experiencing process emphasizes the importance of not getting drawn into the trauma vortex. It is not usually useful to dredge up old trauma scenes and get lost in re-living them. This can reinforce old neural patterns, increasing our tendency to re-visit and identify with trauma states. What is generally more helpful in resolving and integrating old trauma is to orient primarily to our sense of support, safety and resource in present time and from this place, mindfully touch in on the trauma memories.
In this more resourced state, we can recognize the trauma as something that happened in our past and negotiate its current effects on our nervous system, psyche and behaviour. Remembering what we can feel grateful for in this moment and remind us that in this moment, we are safe.
If you’re feeling emotionally overwhelmed, chronically anxious or stressed, or struggling in your relationships with your partner, family, mother or father – get in touch. As the new year approaches, it may be time to be uncover unconscious themes – to begin a practice of body-focused somatic awareness, and a path of healing family system imprints and chronic stress patterns.
Because of your willingness to stay with, breathe into, and explore the uncomfortable places in your body and psyche, a new light emerges. Out of chaos, clarity is born.
Everything is waiting for you.
Somatic Body Learning & Practice and Somatic Experiencing Trauma & The Body sessions are available for you now. Waking you up to the innate wisdom of your body, healing inherited trauma patterns, feeling yourself below the level of thought, and accessing your full beingness in flowing, fluid motion.
When we can feel ourselves, we are able to detect and understand the sensations and emotions our bodies signal to us – and we can connect with ourselves and others from a place of felt honesty and sensitivity, set better boundaries, and make clearer decisions about our interactions.
The Anxiety, Stress & Trauma Restorative Clinic:
Creating Well-Being Through Nervous System Regulation.
Heal Relational Trauma – Break the Cycle of Inherited Family Trauma.
Nurturing Connection, Restoration & Building Resilience.
Easing the Body ~ Calming the Mind ~ Opening the Heart.
Somatic Experiencing ~ Somatic Practices ~ Touch ~ Movement.
Virtual, online sessions are available for those who travel regularly, have a busy schedule, live far away from the office, or prefer to work from your own home.
Fiercely commit to every moment
inhabit it. Awareness is one
it is as important as the
