Read time : 2 mins
How would it be to check in with your body over the next week, and ask : ‘Do I need to rest?’
The simple things aren’t always easy. But, we can keep anchoring back into them.
I find a useful question : 'do I have capacity for the thing, at this moment in time?'
We can listen to how our bodies are responding each moment, to give us clues here.
And get better at shorter, more intentional periods where we're really focused, and more intentional rest, where we're really resting.
This way, we can help support our stress and not train levels of stress which leave us on a knife edge.
Just asking : 'Do I have capacity (simply meaning : space) for this thing, in this moment?' can be life-changing.
Whether that's a project, commitment, meeting, social event?
In Somatic Experiencing, we practise feeling the responses that come up from the body. This can take some practice.
Body Responses - in a nutshell
No
In anticipation of something, do you constrict (tension, bracing, pulling inward)
Yes
or do you relax and expand (feeling ease, even joy, relaxation)
Maybe
Hesitation, response unclear.
Simply put, if we don't have capacity for something and we over-ride the signals from our bodies, and do it anyway, gritting through, our bodies may constrict as a result. This can lead to physical symptoms like migraines, digestive issues, anxiety, aches, pains, tension amongst other things.
If we do have capacity for something, we can meet it with presence and energy and even enjoyment.
The thing is, trauma, in essence, disconnects us from our felt-sense, and our ability to accurately sense our environment. In order to reconnect with ourselves, we can make a regular practice of tuning in to the felt-sense of our bodies, and then following any impulses that we have from our bodies, as promptly as we can after noticing them. For example, if we’re working and typing away, and we notice we’re wiped out, ask ‘what do I need?’ Here, we might notice for example we’re thirsty, need to go to the bathroom. So we have some water, go to the bathroom, and have a quick stretch break. Then, go back more refreshed. The alternative here would be to ignore our need to go to the loo, ignore our thirst, and keep ploughing away for hours. If we do the latter, we actually train a nervous system state called the freeze state, which takes us away from presence, and makes it harder to notice and respond to our boundaries. The more we listen in and respond to our body needs, the more we move out of a place of disconnection, freeze, and breaching our body’s boundaries.
It’s not always easy to notice in the moment when we do need a break. If you relate to this : Somatic Experiencing® therapy helps us to reconnect with our felt sense, and get a more subtle and refined connection to the felt-sense of our bodies. Over time, SE helps us to form a greater connection with ourselves, so we can respect our body boundaries, and move from less of a fixed or rigid place to more flow. We have more easy modulation of effort, more choices, and will be less likely to deplete our energy. Peter Levine says ‘All symptoms are about fixity, and healing is about moving from fixity to flow’.
Wishing you a week of listening and responding to your needs.
More next week….
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Take care and thanks for reading / listening
Charlotte