Why Somatics + Embodiment Matter in Therapy
February 7, 2024
The body gets to count in therapy too.
Somewhere down the line, our Western culture created a narrative of a mind and body split. The human mind was the part of us that was most divine, and the body became the “bad” part of us that needed to be controlled, subdued, and managed.
However, with this framework we lost sight of a valuable source of data. Our bodies are our biggest source of information, communicating likes and dislikes, insight about safety, and giving us clues about what might be unfinished from our past that still needs to be expressed. The body is our primary source of wisdom and healing, yet we swim in a cultural story that tells us being a body is dangerous.
As tiny babies all we have is somatic awareness. We spend many years of life, particularly in the early months having the experience of, “omg I have a body”. If you watch a baby they are completely mesmerized as they explore this process completely without words. In order to maintain this embodied self-awareness and for it to continue to be available to us, the cells need to be stimulated into continued existence. Meaning the cells require us to have sustained practice and connect with this type of awareness regularly. Unfortunately, the culture we live in today ignores and minimizes our vital connection to our body.
Distance from our bodies can happen early in life when our bodily experiences are discounted. When we get messages that reject what our body is feeling, we begin to turn away from our body, learning that it is untrustworthy. If we can’t rationally and logically explain why we feel the way we feel, then we cannot and should not take it seriously. Experiencing trauma, physical pain, stress and overwhelm can also cause us to believe that the body is a problem and a source of pain.
We begin to live in our minds, believing that our selves exist mostly, or only, in our thinking and that our thinking happens in our brains. We frame a concept of ourselves through the narrative of our experiences, based in language and abstract thoughts. Our Western culture promotes living in our left brain as we face the overwhelm of day-to-day responsibilities, with emphasis and glorification in productivity, procedure and getting things done.
One of the common barriers we run into in therapy is that the thinking brain tends to prioritize feeling in control over telling us the “truth” of our experiences and moving us away from sensation and emotion. This becomes problematic because healing cannot and does not occur in isolation. The work of healing is held in a web of wisdom from both brain and body. Integration, interconnectedness, and wholeness happens when the brain and body can tell a story and agree with one another.
The goal for every individual is that in our human life we can tolerate the sensations of all our experiences in real time and make meaning in a way that helps us evolve. To have a rich, satisfying life, we must find ways of digesting every experience we have from the happy, mundane, tragic and everything in between. We are not meant to be managed. Getting our ego out of the way helps us become more human allowing for spontaneity and creativity in the healing process. Life happens in and through our bodies. Our bodies have a voice that is worth listening to.
If you are curious about bringing your body into the therapy room, be aware that it may hold tremendous repression and suppression of distress. It is very common to experience some resistance. It is important to work with a therapist who is familiar with somatic therapy or embodiment practices to ensure tolerable steps are taken when working this way.
If you want to enhance your embodied self-awareness, it may be worthwhile to take a few moments to assess the ways in which you occupy your attention daily.
Here are some things to be curious about throughout your day.
Are you aware of stress or tension in your hands, arms, back, belly, neck, legs, or anywhere else as you go about your day?
Do you grip the steering wheel tighter than necessary, or stretch your neck forward when trying to read a computer screen or have restless legs?
Do you change your movement or posture to alleviate stress on your body or do you just keep working?
How much time in your day do you spend in your thinking brain?
Can you talk about your emotions easily or do you push them to the side?
Aside from sleeping at night, do you ever rest during the day?
Embracing the power of integrating the body into therapy, with the guidance of a skilled somatic therapist, can be a profound step into deeper self-awareness and inner wisdom. By honouring the body’s cues and sensations, we unlock a pathway to deeper healing and greater ease in our lives.
Written by Vanessa Spinarsky