“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” ~ James Baldwin
It takes a lot of courage to move out of our bracing, survival strategies, into resilience. It takes a lot to even come to a website like this and consider that more is possible. I’m here to say that there is so much healing that can happen when we face these difficult moments with awareness. I’m here to support you on that journey.
The quote above captures the power of somatic (body-based) therapy’s ability to move from “bracing to facing,” a term used by my teacher in Natural Processing, Craig Penner. Through somatic (body-based) EMDR therapy such as Natural Processing and the Hakomi Method, we can open doors to help you show up in the world in the way you want, rather than living in knee-jerk reactions to stressful moments in life.
The traumas we experience leave imprints on our body. From the way we hold tension in our posture, how we fidget, make eye contact (or not), and even breathe, these small imprints carry signs that a part of us is still reacting to and responding from a moment from the past that did not get resolved. When we bring awareness to the physical sensations, the awareness of these sensations will help your nervous system work through things that your thoughts don’t often touch. When we sustain awareness longer in difficult sensations, it will give what’s possible a chance to happen.
By listening to and tracking the sensations, energy and movement in the body, you can become even more aware of what has brought you into therapy, and be able to be with yourself more. Together we will work to help you regulate your own nervous system, access deeper meaning and healing, and manage the intensity of emotions you may be holding in the present, from the past, or even from something that got passed down to you. Together we will discover a path to healing the issues you are grappling with, consciously or unconsciously.
“Trauma, decontextualized in a person over time, looks like personality. Trauma, decontextualized in a family, looks like family traits. Trauma, decontextualized in a people, looks like culture. When we heal our own trauma, individually and collectively, we don’t just heal our bodies. By refusing to pass on the trauma we inherited, we help heal the world.” ~ Resmaa Menakem
Below are some resources for trauma:
The Heart of Trauma by Bonnie Badenoch
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
In an Unspoken Voice by Peter Levine
Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman
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