Every person has their own constellation of life experiences, some that have gone well, and others not so well. The way we unwind and release what’s stuck is equally unique. In an SE® session we follow your organic intelligence and can use any combination of the following tools:
– talking: working with language to describe sensation, etc. can be a very useful tool.
– hands-on work, such as craniosacral therapy or massage: making manual adjustmetns to muscle tone, connective tissue tightness, improving circulation, etc. can provide direct relief and work in a way that verbal communication cannot.
– movement: sometimes the body is able to access completion of stress response cycles through spontaneous or intentional movement.
– breath: is our most basic and important function and can will often inform our work together.
– sensation awareness and tracking: this gives us a map of what’s happening in body as we work, along with helping me track what’s happening physiologically for you, and gives you a front row seat to the changes in your body as they happen.
– images or ideas that come to mind: sometimes the body will speak by giving us images or ideas/thoughts, and those can be very useful to guide us in the healing process.
– orientation to the environment through looking around, listening, and sensing our external environment: when the part of the brain that registers and triggers responses to stress knows you’re safe, you are able to sense your external environment, and feel connected to it.
Even in sessions where there is no hands-on bodywork, we’re always working with the body. Whatever shows up in a session I’m always tracking cycles of activation and deactivation in your nervous system and looking for opportunities for completion and settling.
It’s in the felt sense of safety that the nervous system regulates back to neutral, allowing true resolution of the trauma. You can know in your mind that there’s no tiger in the room, but until your body knows – and relaxes because it knows there’s know tiger – there will always be a kind of constant, usually unconscious awareness of ongoing threat.
