Somatic Resourcing for Trauma Healing
There are two kinds of somatic resources: survival resources and expansive resources. These resources emerge from the physical experience in the present moment.
We could think of survival resources as the typical trauma responses to overwhelming stimuli: fighting, withdrawing, running away, dissociating, freezing, or over-attaching/submitting (fawning).
When we cannot take any more stimulation, we turn to these automatic survival resources for support. They are survival responses rooted in the nervous system.
And as distressing as they are, these survival responses are life trying to support life. They are ancient responses that existed before humans even existed. An innate somatic intelligence that is an effort toward survival and preservation of life. There is something here to be deeply trusted.
Water expands when it freezes. Perhaps the trauma response of freezing is also expansive in the way that it supports us to survive in circumstances that are perceived as unsurvivable.
Expansive resources are resources that we can learn to cultivate that can support us to thrive, rather than just survive. You could think of an expansive resource as a tool to help you remember your true essence underneath the trauma.
Expansive somatic resources support you to feel creative, empowered, connected, relationally-oriented, explorative of new boundaries, etc. These can be cultivated through practices of grounding, breath, orientation to your immediate environment, and various mindfulness practices such as self touch, movement, using the voice, or even imagining a safe person or place.
There are many options and avenues to touch into a somatic resource that anchors you and acts as a counter to the hopelessness, terror, and overwhelm associated with trauma.
Because our brains are wired to pay more attention to threat than safety, we must cultivate these expansive resources. It takes the brain a fraction of a second to register cues of threat, and takes about 20-30 seconds to register cues of safety. So healing from trauma requires intention.
Uncoupling the raw sensations of the trauma response from the fear, and trusting the innate somatic intelligence of the body's response is key. And it usually requires a safe container of the therapeutic relationship of a trusted companion who has the capacity to really be present with you and allow the body to ride the waves of sensation, emotion, and movement in a safe space to allow for the completion of the energy that became truncated in your body during the trauma.
One of the key aspects to this process is slowing down and being with the somatic resources. Exploring the survival trauma-based resources your body already automatically draws from by slowing down and being present with what's happening, while it's happening.
You can couple the awareness of the survival resource with any kind of expansive somatic resource that works for you. That could be feeling the comforting gravity of your feet on the ground, sensing the way your body softens when your furry animal friend is resting on your lap, or noticing the expansive feeling in your chest when you watch the sun rays come in through your bedroom window. Anything at all that supports you to feel safe sensations in your body.
This process interrupts and introduces new information and experience to the repeated, distressing experience of the sensations and symptoms of trauma, providing an avenue for healing, thriving, and more choice in the choice-less overwhelm that so many of us know all too well.
This month's somatic practice will be focused on somatic resourcing, and will involve more gentle movement than the last two practices that have been more meditative.
What we will practice:
Setting a personal intention, and finding a pleasant sensation in your body to provide a structure and touchstone of safety for your practice.
Utilizing the tools of breath, self-touch, and gentle, intuitive movements to bring awareness to the places in the body where the endocrine glands and nerve plexuses meet at focal points along the center-line of the body from head to pelvis. (These are the places where trauma often gets stuck in the body.)
Supporting you to experience these focal points in your center as points of intelligence within your body that can internally resource you, and enhance your capacity to experience sensations in your body through a lens of safety and curiosity.
We will also use the resources of the breath and our connection with the earth to lean into greater rhythms that can hold and support you in moments of distress.
