Working
from the Outside-In
Working
from the
Inside-Out
The
tools I use:
EMDR
Guided
Imagery/Creative Visualization
Ego
State Work
Somatic/Body
Awareness – Mindfulness
Energy
Therapies |
Somatic/Body
Awareness – Mindfulness
Peter
Levine, in his book, Waking the Tiger, discusses
how we react to trauma and how it impacts our bodies. One
example he gives is of a bear being chased by a predator
(a human being). The bear reacts from its fight or fight
system and tries to escape the danger. All the energy and
adrenalin kicks into gear and the bear reacts as it should.
In this example case, the bear is overcome by the predator
(who brings it down with a tranquilizing dart gun) and
it goes down. What is observed is that even after the bear
has lost consciousness, its body continues to move as if
it’s running. The body’s natural, innate processes
are working off the excess energy and adrenalin to bring
it back to its balanced starting place.
You
have within you this natural, healthy, protective system
to deal with traumatic events. However, unlike this bear,
often this process is interrupted or shut down. This could
be by some outside influence (such as a parent, our friends
or cultural or societal pressures) or it could be internal
to us, most likely that we’ve never been shown, taught
or modeled how to handle the more difficult or traumatic
events of life…including, in many cases, our own
emotions. So, when they are not fully processed and come
to some resolution, they get stuck. They can then show
up in our lives in the form of ego state or behavioral
patterns as discussed above or they may show up in our
bodies. This may then show up as anxiety (such as panic
attacks or general anxiousness) or depression or illness
or body structure weaknesses.
This
work, usually combined with the other modalities, helps
to increase awareness of how you express yourself through
your body and to release those unfinished processes that
are possibly harming your body…and mind and self. |
