Body

Our legs help us defend ourselves, move around, dance in celebration, and connect to the earth. They make up approximately 30% of our body mass, offering a large space to help us manage emotions. Survival responses Our whole body mobilizes in an emergency, including our legs. They might want to kick as part of a… Read More

Our arms reach out to connect to the world and bend in to defend us from threats. We pull in what we want, and push away what we do not want, physically expressing our boundaries. If our efforts to relate to the world are repeatedly thwarted, we unconsciously inhibit impulses, limit movement, and dissociate from… Read More

Support is an ongoing issue for trauma survivors. Lack of support makes an event more traumatic, and there is often inadequate support afterward as well. Trauma leads to dissociation, separating us from sensing internal and external physical support. Many of us think of our spine as the knobs we feel running up the back of… Read More

Your avenue of expression includes your jaw, tongue, throat, and the surrounding muscles and bones that support you in making sound to communicate your thoughts and emotions. Physical movement in your avenue of expression creates sound. Immobility is silent. Essential gateway The mouth is a gateway to breath, nourishment, verbal expression, sensing taste and texture,… Read More

Also see revised version, Protect Your Irritated Nervous System. Your nervous system interprets sensations and enables actions. It contains two parts: Central nervous system – brain and spinal cord Peripheral nervous system – branching network of nerves throughout the body Your nervous system constantly transmits electrical and biochemical signals back and forth between your brain… Read More

Do you inhabit your pelvis, or is it a numb absence at your center? Curious toddlers and maturing adolescents absorb their parents’ discomfort with the pelvic area. Sexual abuse survivors detour around painful memories stored there. Cultural rules encourage us to withdraw awareness from our pelvis except during sex, and maybe even then. The pelvis… Read More

Take a moment to notice your breathing. What parts of your body move with your breath? Did your breathing shift as you observed it? Notice any judgments about your own breathing. Your personal cathedral Shallow chest breathing takes up as little space as possible. Deeper belly breathing pushes out into the world. Back breathing claims… Read More

Physical pain is often a result of trauma, both directly from the event itself and indirectly from ongoing tension. When we relate to pain as a friend bearing a message rather than an enemy to be feared, we can reduce the suffering we experience. Fighting pain We often view pain as an enemy to be… Read More