Exploring Body Work
Our bodies seem to be the last place we look for healing our emotional distress. I will often ask people ‘what do you notice in your body’ and see understandable confusion. We aren’t used to turning anywhere other than our frontal cortex for answers. In a world of disembodiment, we are used to thinking through our issues. But by doing this we ignore the largest place for us to hold, block and constrict our emotional pain. Our bodies.
When we are threatened spiritually, emotionally or physically, that memory is held in our body. The good news is your body is capable of repairing emotional trauma, if we take the time to notice what it is trying to tell us. Your body can be a positive resource to you, with a little curiosity and attention.
As you approach your body through somatic exercises please be kind and patient. Asking curious questions with an open state of mind.
Track your body
To begin to understand your body you first have to just noticing what is. Print off this worksheet to be curious about what your body wants to tell you.
Notice You
It’s time to tune out everything around you for a moment and bring attention to your physical comfort. Take your time with each of these steps, so that you spend at least 3 minutes with the entire exercise.
Sit in a comfortable chair, take a moment and notice your overall experience. Lift each foot up and down and let them find a place where they are comfortable, until you really feel connected to the floor.
Now feel your back and bottom on the chair, noticing how the chair supports you. If you are leaning forward trying sinking into the chair and feel its support.
Take a few moments to really enjoy the comfort of being supported by the chair and stabilized by the floor.
Look around your space and find something you really like looking at. A nearby plant, piece of art or something outside the window. If you have any negative thoughts that come in, let them float by, noticing them and set them aside for this moment.
Notice your comfort & savour it.
So, what do you notice now about your overall experience both physically and emotionally?
If you take your time with this exercise, it can be surprising just how much settling you can achieve in your nervous system in the first minute.
Remembering Kindness
Remembering a kindness can settle our nervous system by activating the adaptive side of our brain.
Remember now a time when someone showed you kindness.
Try and remember everything you can about the words, touch, feelings, eye contact that they used to soothe you or just showed up for you and listened.
As you recall what the kind person did, notice what you see, hear, feel on your skin, etc. – as if it is happening now. Connect with your breathing by putting a hand on your heart.
Notice everything about your experience. If you feel happy, teary, connected.
If a negative feeling arises, return to the sensory aspects of the kind memory. Put the negative thoughts or feelings in a container and allow yourself the pleasure of feeling this kindness.
Notice what you’re feeling in your body now and your overall experience.
Unfurling
This exercise will help work with assertiveness and moving towards anything that feels uncertain. The practice of slowly and gentle movement in the spine can help the awareness of the core of yourself.
Before you begin, have a look and answer these questions:
How tight do I feel on a scale of 1-10 from completely constricted to limber?
What holds me back?
What is making me re-coil or shut down?
What I am I afraid of if I open up?
Picture the image of a fern that unfurls from a tightly coiled leaf to fully open & ready to take in the sun. Imagine your body opening up like this fern.
Start in standing or sitting without leaning against anything.
Bow your head to your chest and continue to curl until you are in a ball- like the tightly wrapped fern leaf
With eyes closed, notice what your breath feels like in this tight position.
Think about an impulse to unfurl and open
Now MOVE VERY SLOWLY, imagining that you are the slowly opening fern. Open the spine and lift the head in the last motion. Savour the movement
When you are open and your head up, with eyes still closed, rest in the open feeling. If your arms feel like opening slowly open them to your side and feel the space around you. Your space.
Notice anything that has changed.
Take a deep breath at the top and blow it out. Savour any good feelings that come from this experience.
Answer these questions to finish the exercise.
How do I feel in my body after this movement?
On a scale of 1-10, how willing am I to be open to what has been holding me back?
What do I notice about my body?
What do I know about what makes me close down now?
Describe the experience in one word.
Some of these exercises are adapted from ‘Somatic Psychotherapy Tool Box’ Manuela Mischke-Reeds, MA, LMFT