Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Have you every had a good talk with your body? I mean a serious discussion where you really listened and it really told you what was truly going on in that bundle of biological matter? My body talks to me all the time. It's been doing so since childhood, but only recently have I learned to listen.
Somatic Psychology -- the new wave of psychological know-how. It has become more commonly understood, but still in its infancy. Out of somatic psychology has grown an amazing therapy called somatic experiencing. It's not head therapy like typical counseling. It's body therapy. Just for that shell and innerds that most people consider you. The man who created it (Dr. Levine), in my opinion, is brilliant. In my whole experience -- and trust me I've done a lot of therapy -- I have never done anything that heals the stress of the body like somatic experiencing.
Sara Pettitt, the woman who does my SE, is AMAZING at it. She has a way of assisting me in listening to my body so I get way down deep to the root of what's truly going on. One time we were in a session and my right let went numb and tingly. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but I honed in on the sensation. Suddenly a memory of childhood came forward. I had issues with weak ankles, and at only 3 or 4 years old they casted my right leg thinking this might help strengthen them. I remembered being in the cast, and suddenly "heard" my body saying that it learned that it had to remain immoblized in order to heal. When I came to the session that day I was working on a strong aversion to exercise post-aneurysm. Never in a hundred or even 1,000 hours of traditional therapy would I have come to this conclusion. I had all but forgotten the original casting.
This SE therapy is also phenomenal for assisting with eating issues. I've always believed my urges to eat were rooted in a misguided psyche. I have now learned that my urges to eat are driven by imbalanced biology (endocrine system) and overstimulated nervous system. The SE helps the second of these two dramatically. Sometimes I walk out of a session feeling like I've taken valium or had a glass of wine. The calmness is almost surreal.
I feel blessed to have a curious mind that causes me to seek out answers to the issues that challenge me. Being led to Sara was an answer to a life-long quest for healing my eating issues and resolving the multiple traumas experienced by my body. I have a new appreciation for my physical self, and I know over time I am healing a life-long pattern of stressful existence.