#somatic work

𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘦,

𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩, 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩.

I am here for you and I love you

I am here for you and I love you

I am here for you and I love you

wips:

alex and krista 🌻

“hey, man, if anyone asks, this belongs to us now”

Somatic means "of the body" and in this case refers to focusing on the physical signs of distress/trauma rather than the emotional or cognitive sides.

That means noticing the tight muscles and working to relax, noticing a need for more or less sensory input and filling it, noticing the clenched jaw and working on relaxing it, etc. The whole idea is that these are indicators of the CNS being aroused, like what happens in times of stress (fight/flight/freeze) and recognizing that with trauma the physical arousal cycle doesn't get a chance to finish. There is no physical release and so the body does not get back to baseline. The physical energy of the trauma stays in the body and pops up in the physical sensations of distress that we carry forward with us into new situations.

Somatic work is a whole thing and is generally done with a trained practitioner and has been useful for people with PTSD and it's all pretty fascinating.

Then I got looking at Trauma Tapping Technique - tapping is a form of somatic work that is safe to do on your own because there's a low risk of re-traumatizing (because you don't actually focus on the traumatic experience or the emotions associated with it). Tapping is recommended for helping people refocus their thoughts, to treat insomnia, to help with positive self talk etc. It stimulates the CNS through pressure points in a gentle and calm way, giving a sense of release.

And I am reading this and thinking about it and being a person with ME/CFS and endometriosis and knowing that my CNS fucks up and gets in a state of arousal when there's no need and doesn't get a physical release. And I'm thinking about the "tired but wired" feeling so many people with chronic illness, chronic pain and disability experience because they just can't settle. And I'm thinking about all the times I want to jump out of my skin because things feel bad but there's no cause and no problem and nothing is "wrong", I'm just in a crash or did too much or there was too much sound and or whatever.

And I'm wondering if anyone has studied using somatic work with people like me - people who live with a body that doesn't react the way we want it to because of physical disability or chronic illness.

I want to be clear - I am not in any way saying that the symptoms I, or any other patient, experience are "in our heads" or caused by "bad thinking" or we need to "just be more positive". I am just recognizing that the CNS reactions that people with chronic illness, chronic pain and disability experience have a lot of parallels with the CNS reactions of people who experience trauma.

I'm curious if what has been proven helpful for one might be helpful for the other.

Does anyone maybe have any experience or research or anything about using somatic therapy in this way?

In the meantime, I'm going to start using tapping as a tool when I'm feeling my CNS needs a release, and I thought some of you might be interested in it too.

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗹 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀.

The empath does not meet a monster at the first gate. They meet a mirror that feels familiar. A mirror that recognizes similar wounds. At the entrance it looks like devotion. The Intensity is mistaken for intimacy and the pain is mistaken for depth. The shift is slow… a quiet collapse of your inner world. Each time you descend just a little further you tell yourself it is love, that it is fate and that it will turn out okay in the end, and you believe it. Within this quiet erasure of the self is how the underworld opens. The narcissistic wound does not want to be healed. It wants to be centered. It feeds on your empathy and it shelters itself inside your self doubt. It is a parasitic complex disguised as connection. Your nervous system becomes the offering on the altar, and so the empath descends into Hades, believing they are there to rescue Hades, until one day the realization arrives, You were never meant to save the god of the underworld.