Mindfulness and Somatic Interventions
Your life is meant for more than just surviving!
Mindfulness and Meditation
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Over the past decade, there has been much research on the connection between mindfulness meditation and trauma. Both are concerned with the nature of suffering, both are grounded in sensory experience, and while trauma increases stress, mindfulness is meant to reduce it. So, what could go wrong?
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Plenty, it turns out. For trauma survivors, mindfulness meditation can exacerbate symptoms of traumatic stress by asking survivors to pay focused sustained attention to their internal experiences, thus bringing traumatic memories to the forefront, increasing flashbacks and present emotional arousal. Often, this leaves the survivor feeling shame and embarrassment for being unable to master this skill.
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However, when practiced with care, mindfulness can be a valuable asset to trauma survivors, enhancing present moment awareness, increasing self-compassion, and strengthening one's ability to self-regulate.
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Trauma-informed mindfulness meditation helps to bridge the gap and allows survivors to reap the healing benefits this technique has to offer.
Your body is your best guide.It constantly tells you, in the form of pain, pleasure, or sensation, what is working for you and what is not.
- Hina Hashmi
Somatic Therapy and Body Work
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Somatic therapy is a holistic approach that emphasizes the connection between mind and body, especially in regard to psychological past. The word somatic is derived from the Greek word Soma, meaning living body. The theory behind this approach is the assumption that trauma symptoms result from instability of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), as past trauma disrupts the ANS.
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Somatic practices acknowledge the ways our bodies hold on to past trauma, which is reflected in our body language, expressions, posture, and in some cases, physical symptoms like pain, digestive issues, hormonal imbalances, sexual dysfunction, depression, anxiety, and addiction.
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Somatic practice confirms that the mind body connection is deeply rooted, demonstrating how the mind influences the body, and how the body influences the mind. This approach allows the ANS to return to homeostasis by recognition and release of physical tension or discomfort that may remain in the body long after a trauma has occurred. This involves tracking ones experience of sensations throughout the body, and may take place in the form of developing awareness of bodily sensations, learning to listen to the divine wisdom of the body, breathing techniques, physical exercise, and experiments in movement.
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Introducing somatic practices into the therapeutic framework helps to reframe and transform negative experiences, either past or present, allows one to develop a greater sense of self and feel connected and present within the body, and builds confidence, resilience, and hope that there can be more to life than merely surviving.