talkin about a r/evolution
by Christina Ryan-Stoltz
“Soul and body, I suggest, react sympathetically upon each other. A change in the state of the soul produces a change in the state of the body and conversely, a change in the state of the body produces a change in the state of the soul.” --Aristotle
Somatic movement offers us an opportunity to practice embodiment. Most of us, at this point in human history, live predominantly in our minds, unaware of exactly how to explore and express our whole selves, our wholeness. It’s not ‘our fault’—we have learned this through cultural conditioning, societal norms and expectations about how to move and behave, in ways that assure our belonging. Belonging feels more essential to our survival, and so, over time, we train ourselves, unconsciously, to hold everything inside. Starting as children, we are subjected to punishment when our little bodies have big energy that needs to be released. Take for example a tantrum, which is simply the result of an overwhelmed nervous system, saturated with energy that a little person hasn’t yet learned to release in a socially appropriate/conforming/conditioned manner. They don’t have the inhibition or restraint that comes with time, from watching those around us & meeting expectations.The inherent wisdom of a tantrum is that we, as animals, are biologically hardwired to release energy that doesn’t belong to us, or has run its course through us. If you observe animals in the wild, or even a domesticated pet canine, you will notice they “shake off” frequently. They are dis-charging that energy, releasing it from their body, and moving on. We could all be doing this, but somewhere along the way, someone decided this was foolish or shameful, and we became people that do not release pent up energy, instead, we store it, in our body, which actually limits its capacity to function optimally.
As humans, we are also natural story tellers—its how we connect, how we belong, how we communicate. Yet, the stories we tell ourselves & others, about the things that have happened to us—the Big T or little t traumas, the losses, rejections & failures, live on, in our bodies, through the repetition of our stories. The mind reaffirms the energy held in the body about the stories~ whatever we felt when a thing happened, energetically lives on with the story. Over a lifetime, we accumulate stories, stories held/stored, in the body & the accumulated energy stagnates, blocks & limits our body, disrupts our flow, dysregulates our nervous system and imprints our belief systems. The same is true for the untold stories—those we suppress—that stay trapped in our bodies because we don’t want them to be seen, heard, felt. Yet the body truly keeps the score.
Our nervous systems are always responding on our behalf and are never wrong. What it perceives as a threat, is a threat—to some version of you, from some time in your life story. For, although it is never wrong, it is not designed to be fully present in the now— it is scanning and orienting to the inner & outer environments at all times. It is protecting us based on our internal belief systems, stories held inside & life experiences—and, according to epigenetics, our nervous systems may also be responding to inherited or ancestral traumas. Epigenetic research correlates how the stories from past generations imprint the cells of future generations~ not because of DNA changes, but because of energetic ones. (It’s fascinating and I encourage you to go down that rabbit hole as your time allows!).
Essentially, the nervous system is responding to what it has in its files.
If we want to have a more responsive nervous system than a reactive one, we must begin to learn how to engage in a collaborative relationship with our internal systems & to orient ourselves to being more present with the body. The body and the nervous system CAN BE symbiotic. We know this because our nervous systems already co-regulate with the nervous systems we surround ourselves with~ when someone is anxious, our nervous system feels that, engages & produces anxiety for us through the activation of our sympathetic nervous system to match up/ co-regulate with our environment. When we are around a person that is calm, our nervous system senses safety & shifts into a parasympathetic state, where it can rest and digest. Our heart beats co-regulate too—people that live or spend a lot of time together, experience this (as long as there aren’t prohibitive medications or health conditions present).
To build capacity for the regulation & resilience of our nervous system, we must have a starting point; we begin by establishing safety within. Not everyone feels safe or at home in their body. Aforementioned Big T & little t traumas play a significant role, as do epigenetics—and all our held stories. Breathwork offers us an opportunity to experience comfort zones AND the edge of comfort, with the safety coming from “playing” in that field of possibility, beyond what we “know” about ourselves (limiting beliefs). When we utilize breath, we are always in control (inner authority) of the speed, depth, and pattern of our breath (inner resourcing). Noticing & responding with appropriate changes builds trust between the body & the nervous system. As we continue with our breathing, we practice pendulating between comfort and the edge of comfort-- through learning to sit with the feelings & sensations that arise— which hold information about the needs of our body, so often overruled by the mind. When we pendulate—back and forth like a pendulum—we are toning our nervous system, specifically, our vagus nerve, the nerve responsible for regulating our breath, our heart rate, hormonal distribution, for communicating between gut & brain, and so many other vitalistic jobs. Toning here is akin to toning anywhere~ we are strengthening it through using it, collaborating with it, rather than being at the mercy of it.
Once we establish safety within, called inner resourcing, we can begin to go deeper into body based practices. Here, the goal is to become curious explorers of the felt sense—the bodily knowing—which is not the same as what the mind knows. Unlike the nervous system, the body lives ONLY in the present moment. The body does not exist in the past or present, only now.. and now… and now. To become present with the body, we need to begin to inquire with how it feels and what it senses. This is not what we think about how we feel—this is how the body feels. Tension in the trapezius, then, is described as burning, dense, tight, full~ rather than “well it’s probably because I saw my ex and went into fight or flight mode because I felt triggered”. It isn’t that this is not true~ we are not disregarding the stories, nor bypassing, denying, ignoring. We are simply not interrupting the body when it “speaks”(through sensation and feeling)— nor are we engaging with the mind to identify/relate to every feeling the body feels & then build a story that will live on in the body. We are not finishing the body’s sentences. We are developing our listening skills, and the body is developing its communication skills, as it is not used to being heard. We are asking what the body feels so that we can begin to give it what it needs. The mind gets in the way, it likes to boss the body around. The body is a workhorse, it does what it’s told. When we tell it to push, force, keep going past its limits, it will do so, for as long as it is able. But if we instead cultivate a dialogue where the body can communicate what it is experiencing, this is the path toward embodiment.
Somatic movements/postures/gestures are for the body—where as psychotherapeutics are for the mind (the top down approach). We are both releasing the energetic charge held inside the body, as well as calling in the energy needed for repair and restoration of the nervous system, through movement, mediation, breathwork, mantra, somatic postures, and affirmations/ mantras. This is known as a bottom-up approach-- where we aren’t working with the stories/traumas at all & we are truly asking the mind to take a seat~ to take a rest, while we practice being in our bodies, and being with that emotional residue that has been in long term storage inside of the body. This work can stir things up~ by design. It took a long time for your body to accumulate all of that emotional residue! When you begin to finally feel what you have denied, suppressed, repressed, and held onto, when you allow the body to speak to you in earnest, it will likely have a whole lot to say. The mind will try to project & protect you from feeling all of this or make you think about it all and make meaning. It takes great courage to persist, to learn the language of your body. It is like choosing to learn sign language because some one you love can not hear. It is devotional. But it leads to true freedom~ it leads to a body releasing what it is holding, which allows it to function at a more optimum level. Over time, through repetition, the nervous system and the body are able to practice & remember what it feels like to be in a parasympathetic and ventral vagal state~ that is—calm, at ease. When it remembers, it begins to weave a new pattern thru embodied practice. When we are able to listen and respond, listen and collaborate, we can begin to experience self-agency, self-sovereignty—we live into our wholeness, expressing fully & authentically, and we begin belonging to ourselves, which is embodied living.
“In Somatics I experience a felt shift from I have a body, to I am my body” —Susan McConnell
Somatic R/evolution is a fun, innovative, & non-invasive way to practice embodiment. Combining breathwork, meditation, somatic postures, mantras, & expressive movement, with playlists that help foster the release/calling in of energy, these experiential & exploratory offerings are for anyone with a nervous system (modifications available for anyone who needs them!)-- and for anyone that wants to build a better relationship with their body.
Christina, a master bodyworker since 2002, brings a depth & breadth to her trauma informed somatic and breathwork practices from over two decades of body based practice.
