AND MY JOURNEY THROUGH SOMATIC THERAPY.

It’s been almost 5 years since I started my healing journey. I had been freshly re-traumatized and it had never been more clear that I needed to start finding my authentic self and putting myself first. Too many times had I been forced to abandon my core needs in favour of others and I lost myself in the process. I have been in survival mode my entire life and at the time I still had no idea how to meet those needs. I hated who I had become. I had a safe foundation in my new home & relationship and so I finally faced it. I started digging deep, peeling back the layers of why I had become the way I was. I started to learn how to make conscious choices in order to move towards the person I wanted to be for Matt and our future children. We are someone before the world decides for us. Who we become is 100% result of our childhood circumstances and experiences. Our beliefs about ourselves start at age 4. I had finally tuned in to hear my inner child screaming for help, acting in ways she thought she had to in order to survive and have her basic needs met. It was my relationship and becoming a dog parent that caused me to open my eyes and seek my truth, before becoming a parent myself.

It is along this journey and bi-weekly psychotherapy sessions that I have come to realize there are two parts to healing – logically and physically. I have discovered that you can become enlightened, aware and use the logical tools you’ve been given to make different choices and to rewire the neural pathways in your brain. While that logical part will benefit you greatly, the bottom line is – trauma lives in your body.

The next phase of my healing journey is incorporating somatic therapy into my solid foundation of psychotherapy treatment.

So what is somatic therapy? It is a therapeutic approach that places importance on what we experience in the mind and the body as well as the connection between the two. It operates under the belief that trauma and emotions become trapped in the body when not processed. Somatic Therapy is becoming aware of when our bodies are telling us we’re stressed or triggered. Some of these indicators are: muscle tension (specifically in the neck, shoulders, back and hips), stomach aches & digestive issues, headaches & migraines, shallow breathing that makes you feel like you cannot catch your breath or personally for me – chest pressure.

What can you do to process this energy?

• Find a therapist, coach or workshop that is designed to safely guide you inward. Focusing on your body and revive memories of traumatic experiences while paying attention to any physical responses you have once the emotion is experienced or the memory is recovered. 
• Stretching techniques
• Breathwork
• Meditation
• Intentional body movements
• Dance
• Cold Plunge
• Sauna therapy
• EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques)

To start to experience the benefits of somatic healing, one place you will want to visit is Othership – or so we hear – where you can dip your toe into some of these techniques – they offer 75 minute guided or self-guided sessions that take you through cold plunge and sauna therapy, towel waving and aromatherapy.

We have our first session booked and promise to give you all the goss on this trendy healing space and the rest of my journey to inner peace.