Somatics is a lens or approach for working with the body’s subconscious and autonomic (automatic) reactions in the form of sensations, movement, visuals, beliefs and various other types of communication that generally skips conscious processing. As a model of practice, it guides us (incrementally) towards a reclamation of our body’s natural ability to come back to a healthy baseline after intense or traumatic events. It’s also an aspect of our experience that is always impacting how we feel, what we think, what actions we take, and how we show up in relationships. Learning how to venture into this terrain and the tools for navigating in a way that feels supportive is essential for healthy living.
Somatic Savvy is a four-part series that is dedicated to teaching and guiding through experiential learning so that you can understand how and why this practice is beneficial for your health and well-being. Consider that your identity or sense of self is an amalgamation (and occasional high-jacking) of a multitude of parts, versions of you from your lived experience, or a living mosaic of you, past and present unfolding in the now. Parts of you were constructed as far back as you're willing to consider or entertain, as you are shaped by your primary relationships, the experiences you lived through and what you made them mean. Whatever patterns and reactive habits you currently have will be the first line of defense when your body is sensing danger-signals. So, understanding how to notice danger signals and access more safety signals is a priority, and, awareness of how your system is currently organized will glean insight into your protective strategies and how to work with yourself to access choice rather than the black and white perspective inherent in impulsive reactions.
When we align with the paradigm of a multiplicity model of mind (aka parts work), we are also invited into an exploration of who is the leader in this internal system? What do we anchor to so that we have a deep inner-stability amongst the constant change and living mosaic of all our parts?
There is the multitude of parts, perspectives, states, and aspects of one’s experience, and then there is the relational stance one has with what is here. “Who’s leading?” is a reminder to pause, to get curious, to notice your current moment experience or what you are aware of, and to step back to assess and practice, “how am I am being with this?”. Who has the wheel right now? Who has the microphone? Who’s on the soap box? And rather than pushing a part down, engaging with “power over” to take control, suppressing, avoiding or distracting, what happens when you remember to expand beyond what’s here so you can turn towards it with sentiments of welcoming and allowing.
This reminds me of one of Alan Watts quotes that stopped in my tracks a couple of decades ago, when I was just starting my inner work. He said something along the lines of how the problem is not worry or worrying, it’s that we worry about our worrying, and then we worry that we are worrying about our worrying. This is the relational dance. Pause to notice how you are being with your experience, and recognize that our true power resides in our recognition that change and healing happens in relationship.
A loving relationship with every aspect of your experience, and trust that the change we seek will unfold when meet what’s here with love and the notion that “I don’t need you to be any different than you are right now, I don’t need you to change, and, if you want to change that’s okay too.” We are shaped by how we are met, and I am here to support myself and others in feeling the love of presence so the field in which we are shaped is one held by love.
Somatic Savvy begins in February. Curious to learn more? Check out this link