This article is by request, based on a brief talk I gave in November. A friend’s insight also enhanced it.
This fall, I finished the theory part of my somatic therapy training. The next step was to do practice sessions on fellow students to prepare for certification.
I have lots of practice at conceptual work like designing, writing, and studying, but a formal healing role is new territory. I’ve done collective healing work, but not like this.
In a couple of practice sessions, fellow students walked me through the process to clear resistance to the work, including some ancestral persecution. But a related class reframed the process, making the energetic distinctions very clear.
First, it’s good to understand that the body is only ever in the present moment. If we’re not in the present moment, we’re probably in the emotions or mind. The mind is always in the past or the future. That’s its job. When the mind imagines a potential hazard, the body experiences this as happening now, and responds, potentially going into a threat mode (fight, flight, freeze, fawn). This reaction confirms the minds fears, and the cycle feeds on itself.
Perceived threats from our worries can habituate the body to a sustained state. Then we live in an ongoing stress-response mode with an unregulated nervous system. It’s our normal, and often the normal of others around us, so we may not even realize it until it causes health issues. Yet it was never more than perception, worries stirred up by unresolved emotion.
Inversely, the body naturally heals when it’s given the chance; when it relaxes, and feels safe and present. Then, the nervous system shifts into the parasympathetic “rest & digest” mode. For some people, they’re so rarely relaxed that it’s a foreign experience.
This state is feminine or Yin energy, flow. Maharishi called this “Mother is at home.” It’s why meditation can be very healing, as a side effect.
If you go into the average hospital and many doctors’ offices, they’re very clinical and procedural. There’s a big focus on technique, on modality, on pills, on linear process. This is very Yang, masculine energy, dominant in our culture. It’s oriented to mind, getting it done, and results. This is great for studies or running an office but is a fail for healing. Most people find medical places stressful.
But this doesn’t mean we should go all feminine. Masculine can bring structure and stability. Feminine brings ease and care. If we can support both and balance them, the masculine (presence) provides the safe container, and the feminine provides the sense of care and support. They can support each other. Together, magic happens.
Feeling OK is very helpful, but ideally, we learn to shift into the body and to be present too. This means we have a regulated nervous system. Calm. Then we can give the body the signal that it’s safe. With that, we can step into our unresolved sensations and emotions. Being seen, they can be processed and released without us being drawn into it. The presence keeps us a step back, and we can deeply allow whatever arises and process it. Often the release comes with a sense of its origins. We heal our present and our past.
If we’re helping others, we can use co-regulation. When we’re calm and present, our clients can entrain and settle themselves. They feel safe and can step into it. Healing goes deeper and fuller.
I’ve been giving practice sessions to fellow students. It’s like a shared meditation and exploration. It’s surprising what can arise. We can accept and heal ancestors, past lives, our pre-cognitive childhood, our angry teen, or any other of our various orphaned (rejected, traumatized) parts.
When we can be present for them, and for ourselves, we create a safe space and the body can get the message and let go. Magic. This is the key to deep healing. The more we clear, the more room there is for the light to come in.
Davidya