Rear view photo of person with long hair wearing long sweater and headphones walking along path in yellow grassy field “Mindfulness” is a popular buzzword in therapy and personal-growth circles. Mindful.org defines mindfulness as “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.” In the vernacular, it essentially means “being fully present in the moment.”

Sounds good, right? Well, it’s trickier than it seems. As Peter Levine points out, trauma robs us of our ability to be in the present moment. The threat response in our nervous system gets stuck on “on,” and so we find ourselves automatically preoccupied with the past, or else projecting the past into the future.

Some people do this to such a degree they are not even aware that they are doing it. They have lost track of what it’s like to slow down and pleasantly be in the present moment (or they never learned in the first place). It can be amazing to witness when they learn to just be, to feel the sensations of simply being alive in a living, human body instead of constantly worrying and anxiously scheming.

[fat_widget_right]

The power of somatic therapy is particularly apparent in working with this issue. I define somatic mindfulness as the ability to step back from what your nervous system is telling you. You step back, observe it, feel every bit of it. Then you consciously decide what you want to do instead of automatically falling into long-standing patterns and the behavior they dictate.

Here’s an example, representative of many people I’ve worked with: Bernard grew up in a rough and unforgiving environment. There was no one around he could trust. Many people around him got what they could by whatever means were available to them. He realizes this way of life left its mark on him, so he started working with me and eventually we settled into a productive therapeutic relationship.

One day, not long after we started working together, I rearranged the chairs in my office. I was preparing to start a new group and I needed more comfy chairs. At the beginning of Bernard’s next session, I noticed this caught his attention, so I encouraged him to take in the environmental changes and notice the sensations in his body. His body started to brace and his face became hard. He asked me if I made these changes simply to “screw around with people, you know, to get a rise out of them so they can get their money’s worth out of the session.” He looked as if I’d tried to pull something over on him.

Bernard was projecting his past onto his present, and he was also quite likely using this to make predictions about his future—or at least the future of his therapy with me. Both my training and my humanity encouraged me to be transparent in these matters, so I disclosed the reason for the changes in my office decor. He immediately softened, relaxed, and started to backpedal.

Somatic mindfulness creates mind-body integration where it had been lacking. It allows us to use our somatic responses as one source of information without letting them run the show.

Now we had something to work with: His body had sent out an exaggerated “danger” signal when there was no actual threat, either in my office or in his relationship with me. Had I not been prepared to calmly hold this, it could have unnecessarily ruined the relationship, as well as any benefit he could have obtained.

When we discussed it, he said he felt disoriented as he came in. As I encouraged him to notice his physical sensations, he said he felt a jolt of energy in his body, movement impulses in his arms and fists, a burning in his chest, and anger. In the future, if he can “catch” this automatic body reaction, to sit with it and question it, he’ll have mastered somatic mindfulness. He’ll have developed active control over this threat response. Over time, as his nervous system gets better at distinguishing when the threat response is necessary, it will soften.

These automatic bodily and behavioral responses can occur in any situation, in countless different ways. Somatic mindfulness creates mind-body integration where it had been lacking. It allows us to use our somatic responses as one source of information without letting them run the show. This kind of therapeutic work softens and reduces the hypervigilant threat response and hyperarousal in the nervous system. These old traumatic residues can stress the body and cause burnout. They are also thought to contribute to many physical health problems.

[amazon_affiliate]

Full embodiment in the present moment can be a truly wonderful experience. There’s no way to explain it if you haven’t felt it. I’ve watched it occur many times in my office. Time spent in nature or with animals is often helpful in this quest. When developing this skill, it is essential to work with a therapist or other trusted mentor who has somatic mindfulness training and a stable nervous system.

References:

  1. Levine, P. (1997). Waking the tiger: Healing trauma. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
  2. Mate, G. (2003). When the body says no: Understanding the stress-disease connection. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
  3. What Is Mindfulness? (2014). Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness

Top view of boots next to white and purple flowers“I don’t know why, but every time I start dating someone new, I lose interest after three or four dates—even if they are really cool.”

“This time of year just makes me miserable. I don’t know what it is, but it makes me drink more just to be able to stand it.”

“I’m so discouraged by these panic attacks. I never know when they’re going to hit. They’re ruining my life.”

“I’m 30 years old, and I haven’t ever seriously dated anyone because of my social anxiety. It just gets in the way, all the time.”

These are a few of the typical complaints I hear when I meet with someone for the first time. These problems all sound pretty different, don’t they? Chances are, however, that they share an underlying process. We can credit Dr. Peter Levine, founder of Somatic Experiencing, for clarifying this process for us. His life’s work synthesizes vast amounts of research, therapy practices, and worldwide cultural traditions with his own original contributions. [fat_widget_right]

Dr. Levine calls this underlying process “over-coupling.” Over-coupling takes place when trauma energy sticks two things together that shouldn’t be. Our brain perceives some stimulus, one that could be innocuous to others, and then has this lightning quick reaction based on its learned history: “If there’s this, there’s also going to be that—and that is really bad, so let’s rev up the fight or flight energy!”

How Over-Coupling Works

Over-coupling involves the parts of the brain known as the limbic system, or our emotional/threat response, and the reptilian brain, which is in charge of body regulation. When these systems perceive a potential threat, they go into a stress response. Trauma can occur when that threat feels overwhelming or bigger than our ability to effectively cope with it, and the energy from that stress response gets stuck in our systems, under the surface. The unconscious layers of the brain and body want to avoid any situation like that ever happening again. So when something feels similar to the big, bad thing that happened in the past, our reptile brains lock into the same threat response as the previous time. This happens whether or not the logical mind is aware of any similarity between the previous and current situations.

That is over-coupling. Like a creaky old suit of armor, it’s meant to protect us, but what it really does is get in our way, preventing us from freely living our lives.

When our limbic, or emotional/threat response, and reptile, or body regulation brains perceive a potential threat, they go into a stress response … The unconscious layers of the brain and body want to avoid any situation like that ever happening again.

Over-Coupling Examples

Let’s explore the above examples with this new awareness of over-coupling.

Since these conditions usually involve the body’s unconscious trauma energies, which can be tricky and powerful, treatment is best left to someone with specific training in this area. Personally, I will always be grateful for my own continued training in somatic psychotherapy and for Peter’s contributions in the area of coupling dynamics.

In a future article, we will examine under-coupling, which occurs when something feels so overwhelming that the body numbs it out. Under-coupling is even more tricky, as it usually takes place beneath the level of the person’s conscious awareness and shares a special relationship with over-coupling. In the meantime, I invite you to start having compassion for any over-coupling you might notice going on in your own system. As frustrating as it might be, it is trying to protect you!

References:

  1. Levine, P. (2010). In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
  2. Practitioner training manual. (2007). Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute/Foundation for Human Enrichment: Boulder, CO: Foundation for Human Enrichment.

Leafy pattern from trees casts shadow over face of person looking out windowAs a therapist who specializes in treating complex posttraumatic stress, I am often asked whether my practice is “depressing,” or whether it brings me down. It’s an obvious question: Along with the victories and the moments of fulfilling interpersonal connection, I am in vicarious contact with intensely difficult situations and stories. Also, practicing somatic psychotherapy develops one’s sense of empathy: the ability to sense what another person is feeling and to also feel it. So I often literally feel, in my own body, the sensations and emotions of the distress experienced by the people I work with in therapy. This is a good thing, as it is a fairly reliable indicator of what a person in therapy may be experiencing. Fortunately, my training affords me the capacity to feel others’ distress without getting stuck in it.

But no, my practice does not bring me down. I am deeply grateful for my training and my entry into this field. I can’t imagine doing anything else, because I believe increasing humans’ capacity for self-regulation is the most important thing in the world.

[fat_widget_right]

That’s a big statement. I don’t make it lightly.

You might be wondering: why self-regulation, of all things? After all, most people don’t even think about self-regulation or how it relates to our individual or collective lives. The topic doesn’t even cross most people’s minds.

As I noted in a previous article, “The term self-regulation means ‘control [of oneself] by oneself.’ It refers to a system taking the needed steps to keep itself in balance.” Specifically, somatic therapy helps people learn to self-regulate the balance of the fight/flight response in their nervous system. This balance can (and should) change moment by moment, depending on the current situation and environmental demands upon the person. In other words, it’s a dynamic balance—and it has to be accurate or there will be problems!

According to Stephen Porges, we have four basic states (like “gears”) in our autonomic nervous systems. Our thoughts and behaviors at any moment are hugely influenced by the relative proportions of each. These are physiological states in the autonomic nervous system. They are:

  1. Social engagement. This state is controlled by the ventral vagal (10th cranial) nerve. In social engagement, a person remains calm. They are truly available to be present with others. They can experience empathy. They are able to hold good boundaries, cooperate with others, and maintain a sense of humor. The key concepts here are calm, flexibility, and empathy. This state is vitally important; it forms the foundation of good self-regulation and, generally speaking, should be the most predominant “gear” in daily life. However, it’s often overlooked, as the public doesn’t tend to have much education about it.
  2. Fight. Usually experienced as anger, irritability, or rage, this state is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). It comes online when the person’s midbrain structures perceive a threat. The more predominantly the person is in a fight response, the more the prefrontal cortex goes offline and the less the person is able to experience calm or empathy.
  3. Flight is usually experienced as fear, anxiety, or restlessness. Also controlled by the SNS, the flight state includes the same loss of cortical function as with fight.
  4. And then there is freeze, which is usually experienced as passivity, low energy, amotivation, dullness, foggy-headedness, and reduced capacity for cognition and emotion (other than fear). This state is also mediated by the vagus nerve—but an older, more primitive portion of it, the dorsal vagal system. Basically, freeze is a death preparation state, and it shows up when the body “thinks” social engagement, fight, and flight would be ineffective.

As Peter Levine writes, previous traumatically stressful events that have not been fully resolved in the nervous system will disrupt a person’s self-regulation, biasing their response to present-day events. Specifically, unresolved trauma causes the person to respond with excessive fight, flight, and/or freeze response relative to the current situation.

Self-regulation supports cooperation and healthy group norms. I wish we could wipe out 25% of our fast-food restaurants and liquor stores, replacing each of them with a free somatic therapy clinic.

Here is a thought exercise to illustrate the vital importance of self-regulation and how it impacts just about every situation across our human lives—on small and large scales. Imagine each of the following common scenarios. Then, imagine how each scenario could be different if at least one person involved was able to maintain calm social engagement.

Each of the above scenarios illustrates the ripple effect of dysregulation and how it lies at the core of most human problems. There are many, many other examples. Imagined the other way—that is, with the influence of a self-regulated person or people—these scenarios can also illustrate the powerful positive impact of self-regulation: it has a strong tendency to stop conflict and exploitation (due to the presence of empathy). Self-regulation supports cooperation and healthy group norms. I wish we could wipe out 25% of our fast-food restaurants and liquor stores, replacing each of them with a free somatic therapy clinic.

And the thing is, we could—if only there were enough aware, self-regulated people to make it happen.

Until then, I’ll hold off on my occasional daydreams of being a barista, or a nature guide in a sustainability program. Instead, my colleagues and I continue to support self-regulation, one nervous system at a time.

References:

  1. Porges, S. W. (2001). The polyvagal theory: Phylogenetic substrates of a social nervous system. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 42:123–146.
  2. Porges, S. W. (2003). Social engagement and attachment: A phylogenetic perspective. Roots of Mental Illness in Children, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1008:31–47.

Two people stand in garden and do tai chiA racing heart and a roiling stomach. Panic attacks, nightmares, or fatigue. The body has myriad ways to manifest the many faces of trauma and fear. And for many people, getting help to cope with the symptoms of emotional distress means going through “talk therapy”—a kind of psychotherapy based on verbally processing thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

Now, though, the rapidly growing field of somatic psychotherapy is shifting the paradigm from talking to feeling—and this approach is offering new promise for healing trauma through body-centered techniques, such as Somatic Experiencing.

Somatic Psychotherapy Is Body-Centered Psychotherapy

Somatic psychotherapy—also called body psychotherapy—focuses on the complex and profoundly powerful connections between body and mind and how those connections affect how we process and recover from trauma and other emotional distress. Somatic psychotherapy arises from the premise that, along with thinking about the world and how to respond to it, humans engage with others and the world through sensations, movement, and expression.

[fat_widget_trauma_ptsd_right]

In response to situations and stimuli of all kinds, the body’s core response network, or CRN, is activated. This network, which is made up of the autonomic nervous system, the limbic system, and other regulatory functions, is responsible for organizing and generating an immediate response to challenges presented by a person’s environment, such as the well-known “fight, flight, or freeze” response to stressors and perceived dangers.

In that kind of situation, the CRN signals the body to release a flood of stimulant chemicals, such as adrenaline and cortisol, creating a surge of energy that throws the system temporarily out of balance.

When animals are faced with threats—say, from predators—they experience those responses too. But once the threat has passed, they typically discharge that “survival” energy with movements such as shaking, sighing, or stretching before returning to normal behavior. For them, that kind of event is generally experienced as an isolated incident and causes no lingering symptoms.

But for humans, returning to “normal” after a traumatic experience is not so simple. People who experience sudden or ongoing trauma or other kinds of distressing events typically don’t have ways to clear their systems of the survival, or arousal, energy produced in response to those situations. That energy lingers in the body, and if unresolved, may result in conditions including posttraumatic stress (PTSD), depression, phobias, muscle aches and pains, irritable bowel syndrome and other digestive issues, insomnia, and autoimmune disorders.

Somatic Therapy Is Not “Talk Therapy”

The goal of psychotherapy is to help people resolve issues that trigger emotional and physical distress. With approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy, people seeking help are encouraged to talk about their experiences in order to gain insights into patterns of negative thinking, identify harmful behavior patterns, or learn new ways to cope with triggers for stress. This kind of “talk therapy” might also include activities such as journaling, poetry, and other kinds of writing, and even art and drama therapy.

But these approaches place heavy emphasis on cognitive functioning and verbal expression—and while a person in this kind of therapy might talk about physical symptoms of trauma or distress, engaging the responses of the body itself might play a fairly limited role in the therapeutic process.

Somatic Experiencing Brings Completion

Somatic psychotherapy begins with the body, working to discover how and where trauma is being physically experienced—and finding ways to safely “discharge” the energy related to that trauma.

Somatic psychotherapy begins with the body, working to discover how and where trauma is being physically experienced—and finding ways to safely “discharge” the energy related to that trauma.

While traditional “talk therapy” encourages people to think about traumatic experiences and express their feelings in words, the somatic approach focuses instead on fully feeling the body’s sensations and the emotions that accompany them. People are encouraged to engage with the body’s responses to memories, experiences, and surroundings. Somatic Experiencing, created by Dr. Peter Levine, is one somatic psychotherapy modality.

In recent work published in Frontiers in Psychology, Levine, in collaboration with Somatic Experiencing practitioners Peter Payne and Mardi A. Crane-Godreau, reviews the broad range of applications for this approach and its potential for supporting recovery from trauma caused by combat, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.

Somatic Experiencing employs three core strategies for resolving trauma-related energies:

Mindful Movement Supports Somatic Therapy

Somatic psychotherapy often incorporates movement to help regulate the autonomic nervous system and bring about a state of “biological completion” in which trapped arousal energy has been resolved and the system is restored to balance. Breathwork and “moving meditations,” such as qigong, yoga, and tai chi, can help to engage the vagus nerve and ease bodily symptoms of trauma, such as muscle pain and headache.

Somatic psychology draws from ancient mind-body practices as well as ongoing research in psychology, biology, and the neurosciences. With the support of new insights into the intimate and profoundly powerful connections between the body and brain, the field of somatic psychotherapy continues to grow, creating more opportunities to help the body heal itself from trauma—one step at a time.

June is National PTSD Awareness Month. For help with trauma and related issues, contact a therapist in your area.

References:

  1. Barratt, B. B. (2013, January 10). The emergence of somatic psychology and bodymind therapy. London: Palgrave McMillan.
  2. Gold, P. (2014, November 1). Somatic psychology: The complementary nature of qigong and counseling. Retrieved from http://www.portlandtherapycenter.com/blog/somatic-psychotherapy-the-complementary-nature-of-qigong-and-counseling
  3. Ogden, P., Pain, C., Kekuni, M., & Fisher, J. Including the body in mainstream psychotherapy for traumatized individuals. Retrieved from https://www.sensorimotorpsychotherapy.org/article%20APA.html
  4. Payne, P., Levine, P. A., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2015, February 4). Somatic experiencing: Using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy. Frontiers in Psychology. Retrieved from http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00093/full
  5. Payne, P., Levine, P. A., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2015, April 14). Corrigendum: Somatic experiencing: Using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy. Frontiers in Psychology. Retrieved from http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00423/full
  6. Somatic Psychology – Body Psychology. Retrieved from http://usabp.org/somatic-psychology-body-psychotherapy/
  7. What Is Somatic Psychotherapy? Retrieved from https://www.ciis.edu/academics/graduate-programs/somatic-psychology

Person sitting on end of pier at lake reading a bookLet’s sit down and have a conversation, perhaps over a cup of tea. You know, the way people used to connect. We’ll sit together and enjoy the taste of the tea, the afternoon gently gliding by into the golden light of early evening.

How’s your life going? I’ll ask.

As you mull this over, I’ll continue:

How much of the time are you aware of feeling happy?

Are you in charge of guiding your life? Or is it running roughshod over you?

Do you feel your life is flying by quickly? Are you savoring it?

[fat_widget_right]

If you could live in any way you wanted, how would you live?

Are you living in tune with your natural rhythms? (If not, how long have you been putting that off?)

Like many of my writings, this article is about the interplay between internal and external: how our inner selves respond to the outside world.

As a somatic psychotherapist, I have spent thousands of hours tracking and supporting the innate rhythms of the human autonomic nervous system. In our natural state, our bodies (and entire beings) move in rhythmic waves.

One well-known example is circadian rhythms: the daily biological cycle of wakefulness and sleep, highly dependent on interaction between the environment (sunlight) and our nervous system.

On its own, a well-regulated nervous system will experience more subtle ebbs and flows throughout the day. There will be gentle cycles of expansion and contraction. Expansion involves experiencing more energy, more outward focus, a sense of alertness and/or well-being. Contraction involves feeling less energetic, our focus turning inward. During the normal, gentle periods of contraction, the body can rest, digest, and repair. (Harsher periods of contraction may indicate grief, depression, or the freeze response, usually reactions to traumatic circumstance.)

These cycles are reflected in many cultures’ practice of the afternoon siesta, in which businesses shut down for a few hours. People relax, nap, eat a leisurely lunch, or talk quietly with loved ones before returning to the afternoon’s work. This practice is an outward reflection of the dynamic interplay between sympathetic (fight and flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) branches of the autonomic nervous system.

Changes to this internal rhythm of ebb and flow often come from the environment. Jet lag is a disruption in our circadian rhythms, in response to our day/night clock being reset by long-distance air travel. Another largely nonthreatening example is that of a friendly neighbor knocking on the door just before bedtime, asking to borrow a cup of rice. This requires a small amount of energy to respond to, but is not a crisis.

On the one hand, it never hurts to help someone increase their resilience and capacity for joy. On the other, therapists do people a disservice if we “patch ’em up and get ’em back out there” without examining all the factors that contributed to their symptoms in the first place.

Other events are more demanding, particularly those perceived to have a direct or indirect threat to our well-being. Of course, it is normal to have our natural rhythms disrupted by environmental demands. That’s why we have a fight-or-flight nervous system. Animals go through these threat response cycles every day in their eat-or-be-eaten world, but they tend not to be traumatized by this. The question for us, as humans, is this: How often and intensely is this threat response happening in our bodies? Are we allowing ourselves to go gently into those down cycles of rest or leisurely enjoyment as we are biologically designed to do? It’s easy for the nervous system to become stuck on “on.” If we are disconnected from our bodies and their needs, we burn out eventually, and our health or emotions crash.

When I was growing up in the 1970s, I remember watching a futuristic cartoon called The Jetsons. The cartoon depicts a future where people have more leisure time because machines take care of everything. Robotic maids bring food automatically dispensed from the wall. In our reality, though, people have become busier than ever. In your daily life, you might notice some signs of this acceleration:

In therapy, we spend a lot of time supporting the cognitive process, the meanings we make of our daily experiences, to become better adapted to external conditions—even if current conditions are undesirable. Or, in somatic therapy, we support the resilience of the nervous system to deal with challenges.

On the one hand, it never hurts to help someone increase their resilience and capacity for joy. On the other, therapists do people a disservice if we “patch ’em up and get ’em back out there” without examining all the factors that contributed to their symptoms in the first place. Sometimes in life, you have to “just get through it,” but sometimes the healthiest thing to do is find a better, more supportive situation. Some circumstances simply are not healthy to continue living in. So, part of therapy is helping people sort through what they want and don’t want for their lives, and how to self-advocate to steer themselves in a more desirable direction.

And so I ask, rhetorically: Are you living in accordance with your body’s needs and your natural rhythms? Do you listen to what your body is telling you? If you were really, radically committed to supporting yourself and living a life of joy and meaning, what steps would you take to get your life into better alignment with what you want? Would you be willing to defy convention, or other people’s expectations, in order to get there? What is stopping you?

Reference:

Circadian rhythms fact sheet. (2012). Retrieved from https://www.nigms.nih.gov/education/pages/Factsheet_CircadianRhythms.aspx

Water pouring into glass from above and overflowing down the sidesSomatic psychotherapists often use the informal metaphor of a “container” in describing a person’s state of overwhelm or resilience.

It’s a simple concept: If Janelle is experiencing a lot of stress, and/or her system isn’t very resilient, then one can say her container is overflowing, or close to it. On the other hand, if she successfully deals with her feelings and the external situations that cause them, she would create more “room” in her figurative container and she wouldn’t be so vulnerable to becoming stressed out. She could also work with a therapist in order to develop affect tolerance and self-regulation. She would then be making her container larger and less brittle, increasing her resilience across many life situations.

The container can be filled by our response to events earlier in our lives that we’ve repressed and not dealt with. Researchers and clinicians working with intergenerational trauma believe our containers hold the trauma passed down to us from the experiences of earlier generations. Such experience includes but is not limited to systemic racism and oppression. The field of epigenetics looks at changes in gene expression (which pieces of our DNA strands are being expressed, and which aren’t). These changes are thought to be responses to the environment, either current or historical. On the other hand, our containers can also be filled by present-day, acute stressors that we’re all too aware of. In practice, it’s usually a mix of both, and they can be interrelated.

[fat_widget_right]

Sometimes it isn’t immediately evident how full the container is becoming, because we are experts at hiding this from ourselves and the world. When talking about this with a person in therapy, I’ll often use the metaphor of my coffee cup. It’s a metallic travel mug, and when I hold it up, you can’t immediately tell how full it is. It could be nearly empty, or it could be close to overflowing. (It’s just a visual example. No fair trying to gauge my mood in order to figure out how much coffee is inside me rather than still in the cup!)

If the level inside the cup gets too close to the top, it overflows easily. This overflow would represent having a “meltdown”: panic attack, relapse into addictive behavior, major depressive episode, etc. Sometimes this surprises the person, as they hadn’t been consciously aware of the rising level in their container.

Psychology is the study of human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It shares some overlap with sociology, political science, anthropology, etc. However, most clinical psychology focuses on the individual and their cognitive, developmental, marital, or family dynamics. After many years in this field, I would guess that the majority of what’s discussed in therapy rooms does not focus on larger cultural, sociopolitical, large-scale economic, or environmental factors. Or such factors may be acknowledged, but therapeutic interventions usually focus on the micro (person/family) rather than the macro (environment). In that sense, therapy can be a bit myopic at times.

If the level inside the cup gets too close to the top, it overflows easily. This overflow would represent having a “meltdown”: panic attack, relapse into addictive behavior, major depressive episode, etc. Sometimes this surprises the person, as they hadn’t been consciously aware of the rising level in their container.

However, just because we’re repressing something doesn’t mean it’s not affecting us and filling our figurative containers. The emerging fields of ecopsychology and ecotherapy assert that humans have an ecological unconscious. That is, since we are born of earth and our entire existence depends on our fragile biosphere (and the other species we share it with), anything threatening our planet causes stress and anxiety in us. Just about everyone I talk with has tremendous anxiety about the future of our environment, and for good reason. This often invisibly adds to the total “volume” inside our containers; and since people often tend to feel helpless about large-scale events, it may increase their tendency toward immobility and dissociation.

For some people, it might be a useful exercise to write out a list of all the things they can think of that could be impacting their stress levels. However, for many other people, if their container is filling up, then the exercise of looking at everything at once could send them into depression, immobility, or even panic (“Oh, my god, it’s so much worse than I’d thought!”). Somatic therapists are trained to gauge a person’s autonomic stress response on a moment-to-moment basis and intervene as needed, coaching the person in taking on a manageable amount at any one time, and using that experience to grow stronger.

In my opinion, the goal of therapy is to increase a person’s self-regulation, which increases coping, health, joyfulness, and myriad other desirable outcomes. People who are able to self-regulate tend to be more aware of their overall stress levels, including “whole-world issues.” They may be less prone to anxiety, depression, and immobility, so they can engage in effective self-care, including taking action to better their lives and the greater world.

References:

  1. Bell, A. (2016). What is self-regulation and why is it so important? Retrieved from https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/what-is-self-regulation-why-is-it-so-important-0928165
  2. Sashin, J.I. (1985, April). Affect tolerance: A model of affect-response using catastrophe theory. Journal of Social and Biological Structures, 8(2): 175-202. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0140175085900089
  3. Shulevitz, J. (2014). The Science of Suffering. New Republic. Retrieved from https://newrepublic.com/article/120144/trauma-genetic-scientists-say-parents-are-passing-ptsd-kids
  4. Smith, D.B. (2010). Is There an Ecological Unconscious? New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/magazine/31ecopsych-t.html
  5. Weinhold, B. (2006, March). Epigenetics: The Science of Change. Environmental Health Perspectives, 114(3): A160-A167. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1392256/

Person's face with eyes closed, mouth open in a screamThe term self-regulation means “control [of oneself] by oneself.” It refers to a system taking the needed steps to keep itself in balance. Many different systems can self-regulate, including businesses, communities, financial institutions, political campaigns, and industries. In biology and somatic psychotherapy, self-regulation refers to an organism (a biological creature) being in a state of balance.

Self-regulation of biological creatures (such as you and me) occurs on many different levels. For example, someone who has good emotional self-regulation has the ability to keep their emotions in check. They can resist impulsive behaviors that might worsen their situation, and they can cheer themselves up when they’re feeling down. They have a flexible range of emotional and behavioral responses that are well matched to the demands of their environment. Thanks to neuroplasticity, the adaptability of our nervous systems, humans are fortunately able to improve their emotional self-regulation over time.

[fat_widget_right]

Our bodies also have the capacity for self-regulation. There are many examples. On a purely biological level, a well-functioning pancreas keeps our blood sugar in the range our body needs in order to function optimally. Our heart rate speeds up when we exercise, and our muscles need more oxygen and sugar. The heart rate slows when we are in a state of rest, and the muscles need fewer supplies from the bloodstream.

Similarly, the autonomic nervous system works to keep order below the level of our awareness. It regulates and balances many automatic functions of our bodies, including emotions. One of the most important (and frequently overlooked!) functions it regulates is our automatic, instinctive response to perceived threats in the environment. Our threat response system determines whether we are angry and want to fight, or scared and want to flee, or hunker down until the threat passes (freeze). This is known as the fight, flight, or freeze response.

When these responses are out of balance with our environment, we are not self-regulating well and we experience symptoms. This is why self-regulation is so important.

The fundamental goal of somatically based psychotherapy is to restore healthy self-regulation, resilience, and the capacity to be fully present in the moment. By integrating somatic tools into therapy, it is possible to work directly with symptoms “where they live”—in the person’s body and nervous system.

When our fear response is out of proportion to the current situation, we call that anxiety. It would be appropriate to experience a pounding heart, rapid breath, jitteriness, and intense fear if a grizzly bear were trying to attack us. On the other hand, these same physical symptoms are excessive if we are grocery shopping, conversing with a friend, or at home reading a book.

Here’s another example: When Jill was a little girl, her father often had bouts of rage. Since Jill was very small, she was incapable of standing up to him to actively protect herself. Had she tried, his rage likely would have increased, and she would have been physically overpowered. As a small child, she was dependent on her parents; she couldn’t flee by getting a job and moving. She learned that becoming still and quiet was usually effective in avoiding his attention and anger. As an adult, she still tends to “freeze” in many situations where being more active and assertive would be a more effective response. She also may experience fear and anxiety when there is no actual threat to her safety. We can say that because of Jill’s early upbringing, her capacity for self-regulation was disrupted. Now she needs support to develop improved self-regulation skills so she can function better and increase her enjoyment of life.

Whether or not it’s overtly stated, the goal of most therapy is to restore balance—self-regulation—in an individual, couple, or family. Since the threat response and related emotions are biological in nature, it is often useful to include awareness of the person’s bodily responses during the therapy session. For example, a person who has learned to notice when their heart rate is increasing and their jaw is clenching can take specific actions to stop a rage or panic attack before it really gets rolling.

In somatic psychotherapy, the therapist and person in therapy attend to the latter’s history, thoughts, emotions, and relationships, and the relationship between person in therapy and therapist (therapeutic relationship), just like in “regular” therapy. However, they also include a moment-to-moment awareness of what the person’s autonomic nervous system and body are “saying.” The person learns to have two-way communication between mind and body, which is often effective in restoring self-regulation and relief from symptoms.

The fundamental goal of somatically based psychotherapy is to restore healthy self-regulation, resilience, and the capacity to be fully present in the moment. By integrating somatic tools into therapy, it is possible to work directly with symptoms “where they live”—in the person’s body and nervous system. Over time, these efforts to restore self-regulation allow the person to move on with their life, stronger and more resilient than ever.

References:

  1. Cook, J. L., & Cook, G. (2009). Child development principles and perspectives (352-355). New York, NY: Pearson.
  2. Definition of neuroplasticity. (n.d.). MedicineNet.com. Retrieved from http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40362
  3. Perry, B. D. (n.d.). Self-regulation: The Second Core Strength. Early Childhood Today. Retrieved from http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/self_regulation.htm
  4. Self-regulation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/self-regulation

GoodTherapy | Core Energetics: What Is It and How Does It Work? was created by John C. Pierrakos in the 1970s. Pierrakos was a student of Wilhelm Reich and worked closely with Alexander Lowen. After jointly creating Bioenergetics, Pierrakos split with Lowen to create his own unique way of working with his patients. Influenced by the work of Carl Jung and his wife, Eva Pierrakos, CE evolved to include not only the roots or Reichian theory, but also an eclectic mix of energy psychology and consciousness theory.

There are three primary tenets to Core Energetics. The first is that humans are inherently psychosomatic beings; the body and the mind of the individual are inseparable. Second is that the ability to heal what is necessary to heal, comes from within. Unlike traditional allopathic medicine, where a person relies on the healing of the physician or medication, in Core Energetics the belief is that what is required to heal is already present in the person. Third is that “all of existence forms a unity that moves toward creative evolution, both of the whole and of the countless components” (Pierrakos).

In CE, healthy functioning is characterized by a balanced flow of energy through the five fundamental levels of being: the body, emotions, mind, will, and spirit. This energy is similar to the chi of traditional Chinese medicine, the Indian prana energy, and Reichian orgone energy. In fact, Pierrakos was the first Western scientist to bring together energy, spirituality, physics, and psychiatry (Chubbuck).

When energy flows evenly and unobstructed, there is health and optimal functioning. When the energy is weak, or blocked, health is lacking. Such deficiencies can be seen in areas of the body where there is too much or too little energy. Affecting not only the body, energy dysfunctions can also impact psychological functioning, and result in character structure types found in the work of Reich and Lowen (schizoid, oral, masochistic, psychopathic, and rigid).

One of the most basic principles in CE is that every person has a unique and predictable ability to love, grow and evolve to limitless potential. These abilities form the life force, or primal energy, found in each of us. The capacity of the individual to be in touch with and to allow this energy to flourish is what determines one’s level of health or suffering. It is through the body, mind and spirit that this energy flow can be observed, and is ultimately accessed in therapy (Chubbuck, 1999).

Another integral concept to CE is the belief that we are made up of layers of energy. At the core is our life force, the energy of life that moves, evolves and creates. As already mentioned, when we are aware of and allow this energy to flow, we are in balance and find health. Surrounding the core is the lower self, formed when we are unable to express negative and/or painful emotions. This defensive layer, the shadow self, serves to protect us from the potential consequences of authentic emotional expression. This layer of unexpressed emotional energy becomes fixed, and hardened and literally shapes our physical structure (Chubbuck, 1999).

CE interventions focus on working with energy blocks and deficiencies in the body via physical exercises and breathing techniques. The goals of such interventions include increasing or decreasing energy in various parts of the body, grounding energy, and clearing blocked energy. Interventions include hitting pillows, kicking, and role play.

CE also uses specific equipment to work with the body. The roller, for example, is a tool that is used to work directly on the body. Basically, a large and thick rolling pin, it is used to smooth out muscles on the feet, torso, and large muscles of the legs.

Touch and massage, both by the therapist and by the individual, are used extensively in CE, again to work with the body and energy. Locations throughout the body common to blockages, including the eyes, the jaw and the diaphragm, are often the focus of this bodywork.

There are four primary stages in CE. The first, penetrating the mask, focuses on increasing the person’s awareness of their own character structure, and defensive armoring. This is done using extensive physical exercise, which serves to increase a somatic awareness of the self and begin, releasing authentic emotionality. “The therapist helps the patient to move from the conscious into the unconscious, and ultimately to reach the core of his being” (Pierrakos, 1990, p. 213).

The second stage, releasing the lower self, is divided into five parts. First, much like penetrating the mask, the therapist and individual continue to increase awareness and knowledge of the “attitude of denial,” the mechanism that is the defensive structure. Second, the meaning of this attitude is uncovered. In short, how does having this specific outlook on life impact other aspects of being? Third, the intent of this attitude, how it is used and why, is uncovered. Fourth, the cause, the original wound, or the defensive reaction is revealed. And finally, work to uncover what is referred to as the mask, basically the face we have shown the world for much of our lives. This is working with the lower self. The next step is bringing the authentic self back online, then, in the context of a safe and unconditionally accepting therapeutic container, the negative and painful emotions that have been guarded and held within, are released and allowed to have expression.

Stage three is called centering in the higher self. CE “continues where other therapeutic approaches leave off, after the resolution of the dysfunctions. The third and fourth stages, then, are devoted to evolving the person’s path toward unification with all of existence” (Pierrakos). It stage three, the primary work is to increase trust in living from the authentic self.

The fourth and final stage, uncovering the life plan, is characterized by a meditation process consisting of four focuses. The first focus is on inner truth, which “helps the patient see who he or she can be and accept the effort it will take to evolve.” The second focus involves placing the truth uncovered in the first focus on the inner core, itself. The third focus is about where life is taking the person, where they are headed, and uncovering the uniqueness of the core. And finally, the fourth focus is about trusting that the world, the universe, can and will hold the evolution of this new, unique core self.

A typical CE session lasts about an hour. A person might wear tight-fitting clothing, or even a bathing suit, to allow the therapist to easily assess and intervene with the body. As already stated, early interventions serve to increase the person’s awareness of their body and their structure by increasing and working with energy. This is done with breathing exercises, postures, touch and other physical interventions. Sessions typically include intensive bodywork, movement and touch, in order to directly access and facilitate the release of held energy. It is quite common for such release to result in intense and cathartic emotional expression (Chubbuck).

One primary intervention common to CE is the use of staccato breathing. In his observation of newborns, Pierrakos noticed that while nursing, babies tend to breathe in short nasal sniffs. He hypothesized that by engaging in this primal, nurturing breathing method, one might reconnect with a lost sense of connection and love. He thus created the staccato breathing technique which served to release multiple muscular blocks as well as optimize the flow of energy through the body, balancing both active and receptive capacities (Wilner).

There are two ways energy moves through the body. Active energy occurs when we engage with something, when we act on something. It tends to flow posteriorly from bottom to top. Receptive energy, flowing anteriorly, allows us to receive love and engage spiritually. If the posterior flow is stronger, we tend to be less able to be compassionate, and feel things superficially. When the converse is true, we tend to struggle with doing, planning and completing thing (Wilner).

Common to Reichian and Bioenergetic theory, the body is divided into seven segments which include ocular, oral, throat, chest, diaphragm, abdomen, and pelvis. Staccato breathing simultaneously brings a flow of energy through all seven segments, in a figure eight pattern, crossing at the diaphragm (Wilner).

Staccato breathing is broken into three stages which include expansion (active), contraction (receptive), and pausing (relaxation). During expansion, the person lies down on their back with their knees bent. The back is arched as they close their eyes and take in five short, strong breaths through their nose. The person then holds their breath on a count of three and then exhales. During the exhalation stage, the person exhales forcefully through the mouth, as they allow their back to relax from the arching. The shoulders are raised and the tummy is tucked, as their body moves into a contracted posture. During the third phase, the body is allowed to relax for several seconds before the entire cycle is repeated (Wilner).

In conclusion, Core Energetics is a form of somatic psychology that brings together body, mind and spirit. At its core is the premise that all beings are born to give and receive love, and evolve to limitless capacity. Love, here, is life force, the core, authentic self that was covered over and protected early in our lives. Through the body-focused, cathartic interventions found in CE, the shadow, or lower self, which has restricted our movement, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, is removed. “When the core, or authentic self, is no longer overshadowed by the destructive characteristics of the mask, or lower self, love is free to nourish people and help them transform their lives (Wilner).

References:

  1. Chubbuck, P. L. (1999). Core energetics. In N. Allison (Ed.), The illustrated encyclopedia of body-mind disciplines.  New York: Rosen Publishing Group.
  2. Pierrakos, J. C. (1990). Core energetics: Developing the capacity to love and heal. Mendocino, CA: LifeRhythm.
  3. Wilner, K. B. (1999). Core energetics: A therapy of bodily energy and consciousness. In D.J. Wiener (Ed.), Beyond talk therapy: Using movement and expressive techniques in clinical practice. Washington: American Psychological Association.
Important Notice

GoodTherapy is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, medical treatment, or therapy. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding any mental health symptom or medical condition. Never disregard professional psychological or medical advice nor delay in seeking professional advice or treatment because of something you have read on GoodTherapy.