1. Enhancing Bodily Understanding
In somatic therapy, we teach clients about body awareness and how to develop it within themselves. This is a key step in bringing about modifications at the cellular level. We will start by recognizing areas of strain and restriction, as well as ideas, emotions, and behaviors that make someone feel secure and relaxed, and bringing these to the surface of the mind. We could attempt something minor such as transitioning from a “slouched” position to a more upright stance to begin the process of body alignment.
You can begin to go further in your journey of recovery by concentrating on feelings in your body and increasing them. This will permit you to go through a transformation that you can sense in your body.
2. Allocating Resources
Anxiety-related issues are a common occurrence in Long Island, and finding a specialist is essential for alleviating them. A professional trained in this field can help identify and manage the symptoms associated with anxiousness. With the right expertise, individuals can begin to find relief and take back control of their lives.
Prior to delving into the therapeutic process, we assess and identify the resources available to you to help create a sense of security and autonomy. This may involve noting important people, relationships, qualities, events, and places that contribute to a feeling of safety and freedom. Additionally, this may involve the practice of constructing a “secure space” – real or imagined – that can help provide a sense of peace, relief and serenity.
By thinking of people who make you feel secure, powerful, and who you trust, we are able to identify “protective figures”, “wise figures”, and “nurturing figures” and then ask your body how it feels to be in its own skin when you recall those individuals.
We capture the emotions, ideas and sentiments related to joyful occasions so the mind and body can access these beneficial states once more when facing difficulty and distress. This act of renewing provides a stable point from which to receive revitalization.
3. Focusing on the Present
The concept of Grounding provides us with the capacity to perceive our complete selves in a manner that is connected and “experienced in an embodied way”.
The basis for mind-body focused interventions is the concept of grounding, which was brought up by Alexander Lowen, founder of bioenergetics. This is a way to live our lives in which we can be wholly connected to ourselves and the environment around us. When we are feeling overwhelmed or overly stimulated, grounding can be employed as a way to help us relax and bring us back to equilibrium.
I habitually take part in a 4 Elements Exercise, which gives us the opportunity to become aware of our environment, including the elements of earth, air, water, and fire.
4. Employing Expressive Vocabulary
The current therapy method of focusing on the body encourages you to be inquisitive, articulate and stay attuned to what is happening both internally and externally. Any tension, apprehension or trauma-related recollections will be handled as long as you are able to identify, describe and permit the sensations to move through you.
A form of therapy that focuses on abandonment issues is available on Long Island. This type of therapy can help those who are struggling with the emotional aspects of being left behind or deserted. It is a way to work through the issues of being abandoned and provides individuals with the opportunity to gain insight into their emotional responses to the situation.
To provide an illustration, when you become infuriated over a situation but don’t wish to remain in that state, you can describe the physical sensations to yourself that can aid you in leaving it.
A feeling of intense heat may be present inside the chest… If you continue to focus on this sensation without delving into the details of the source of anger, you will notice the emotion change. Utilizing descriptive language to further express the experience can be beneficial. Words like ‘warmth’, ‘cold’, ‘tingly’, ‘sharp’, ‘numb’, ‘dull pressure’, ‘ease’, ‘spinning’, ‘lifting’, ‘swirling’, and ‘calming’ can be utilized in this regard.
5. Exercise
The fifth and final component of a healthy lifestyle is engaging in physical activity. Whether it be running, walking, biking, or swimming, regular movement is essential for keeping the body in optimum condition.
The body’s natural way of navigating through challenges, anxieties, past trauma and powerful emotions is to move. Through movement, one can acquire the skills to be present, build relationships and experience greater assurance.
Exercise can stimulate our natural capacity for restoring narratives our bodies carry.
Taking a moment to observe will show that each person holds certain stories and convictions that shape the way they interact with the world and those in it. Their body language, vocal loudness, and how they occupy space in a room communicates their feelings about themselves, what they anticipate, or what they have been through in the past.
For instance, if you feel the need to conceal yourself behind other people or to speak softly, we will observe that urge and remain with it, so you can take on a physical movement that represents this “desire to hide”. That could include crouching down or looking away. Doing this might generate a thought that is connected to this impulse, like “it’s not safe to talk or I won’t be heard” or “I really have something vital to say”. Additionally, you may get an image that is associated with when you realized that you had to “conceal yourself”. All of this information is easier to access, process, and let go of when it is connected to movement.
6. Co-Control and Self Control
The concept of co-regulation and self-regulation can be seen as two sides of the same coin. Co-regulation involves working with others to manage one’s behavior, such as when parents or teachers provide guidance or help to a child. Self-regulation is the ability to manage one’s own behavior, such as when a child is able to resist temptation or stay focused on a task. Both of these skills are essential for developing self-control, which is necessary for adaptation and success in life.
When someone is feeling disconnected, co-regulation is a way to help them find equilibrium. Attachment-focused therapies rely on the use of mirror neurons to assist the client in calming down. Connecting with someone else’s sense of comfort, compassion, and steadiness can help regulate our emotions.
Developing our own methods to soothe ourselves is known as Self Regulation. It is essential that we acquire both; being comforted by those close to us and our personal capacity to regulate our emotions. In therapy, Self Regulation tools are taught to help us manage and control our emotions, while Co-Regulation techniques are used to demonstrate how we can use our relationships to assist us in regulating.
7. Titration and Swinging
The process of titration and pendulation are alike in a way that they both involve a series of measurements and adjustments. However, titration involves measuring the amount of a particular substance in a solution, while pendulation is the process of measuring and adjusting the balance of a system. Titration is typically used to determine the concentration of a particular substance in a solution, while pendulation can be used to adjust the equilibrium of a system.
The body can manifest a variety of sensations when experiencing trauma, panic, fear, terror, anger, frustration and depression. These might include feeling overheated, trapped, frozen, disconnected or completely lost. However, when dealing with these emotions, it is important to be cautious as attempting to face them all at once can be overwhelming and have a damaging effect on the mind and body.
Healing from a body-focused perspective necessitates a considered pace and monitoring process so the body can manage the distress and facilitate the release of any relevant emotions. Two terms regularly associated with this pacing and tracking are titration and pendulation.
Through titration, we can handle distress in small doses, with the intention of dissipating the tension in the body. This is completed by means of pendulation, which involves alternating focus between stressful content and something calming or soothing.
When dealing with something important, concentrate on the stressful sensation that appears. Subsequently, gradually alternate between that feeling and a source which is calming, such as a trusting relationship or a confident conviction. This process of shifting between the two helps the body to let go of the tension in a balanced manner.
8. Achieving Victory
A feeling of accomplishment and joy is experienced when a feat of greatness is achieved.
A concept defined by Pierre Janet, act of triumph, is often employed by Peter Levine and Pat Ogden in the practices of Somatic Experience and Sensorimotor work. This term is utilized to refer to an event or trauma in which the body needed to activate a defensive mechanism, however it was unable to.
Employing somatic techniques can aid in renegotiating traumatic experiences at a physical level, enabling the individual to find relief.
These memories from the past can become lodged in the body and manifest themselves in the form of unwanted memories or pictures, worrying or anxious thoughts, tension, fear, disturbed relationships, and a feeling of gloom or desperation.
For instance, in somatic therapy, if you were in a difficult or precarious spot, we would guide you to tune into the sensation of the event nonverbally; without delving into too much discussion. We then attempt an experiment in which you physically do what you need to do to escape – you could move your feet as if you are about to take off, or reach out to somebody who could have taken you out of the predicament.
An achievement might be pushing against something like a cushion or wall, feeling the power in your arms, being able to set a boundary or say “no” to whatever you were unable to in the past due to a lack of strength or uncertainty. Even though you are no longer in that situation, your body still has a link to that event, and if you take part in a triumph, your body often experiences a profound sense of serenity and relief on a cellular level that it wouldn’t have just by discussing the event.
9. Ordering
The arrangement of items one after the other is known as sequencing.
The body-based tension starts to dissipate with a first movement, sensation, or emotional reaction. It’s like a chain reaction that begins with a few dominoes, and then the rest of the body follows. For example, the tension may start in the belly then move to the chest and arms, making them feel heavy.
During the practice, you could sense a throbbing sensation in your throat or a feeling of constriction in your head or around your forehead. In some cases, you might even experience trembling in the hands and/or legs, which indicates that the tension is gradually being released from your body.
The human body is capable of transitioning through sequences in various ways; for instance, tension can be released from the crown of the head, soles of the feet, fingertips, or arms. Depending upon the individual, this process can take a few seconds or several minutes.
Sequencing can lead to other forms of relief; one may express their emotions through crying and letting go of sadness that had been bottled up. A deep breath may be taken, allowing for more comfortable breathing, or the feeling of a weight being lifted from the heart may be experienced. It is not uncommon for clients to feel a sense of lightness after their body has been able to process an event or emotion.
10. Defining Limitations
Boundaries play a significant role in the healing process. By exploring boundaries from a somatic perspective, you can recognize which boundaries are being communicated verbally and non-verbally. During therapy, individuals may practice using words such as “YES”, “NO”, “STOP” and “OKAY” to express limits, as well as nonverbal cues and movement. Establishing boundaries is a reliable way to feel secure and balanced in both your skin and your everyday interactions.
