Page 126 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 13

nearly a century, and before that, all religious their emotions. By facilitating them to a more
and non-Western healing practices. emotionally connected place, the sleepiness
“The simplest and most direct of all prayer- disappears and I find myself alert and attentive
projects is the healing of the body. The body is again. Using my own body to mirror my client’s
indeed a laboratory exquisitely adapted to the unconscious process is linked to the notion of
working out of the power of God.” 7 syncing which I will describe later in this arti-
cle.
As I’ve studied different modalities such as
Somatic Therapy and Somatic Techniques Voice Movement Therapy and Core Energetics,
In somatic psychotherapy the transformation it seemed difficult to find a comprehensive list
is often led by a ‘felt-sense’ in both the client of somatic therapies and techniques. To better
and the therapist. The client may report pain understand the range of what belongs in the
that is unexplained by medical tests or sym- field of Somatics, I have created a table of those
ptoms that confound medical doctors. Explo- somatic psychotherapies that require a clinical
ring the client’s unprocessed past starts with license to practice, and the more prevalent so-
questions such as ‘where are you feeling that matic techniques which are practiced by non-
in your body?’. Helping a client understand the clinicians. (See at the end)
connection between their emotions, thoughts
and sensations can more effectively lead to the Breath
awareness of what needs attention and eventual Almost all therapies and techniques have the
release. Essential to this process is exploring the commonality of attending to the breath. This
breath, the trauma history and wider family hi- is one of the fundamental starting points in ex-
story, and like my own experience above, what ploring how one is embodied at any given time.
memories are held in the body that may not be Focusing on our breath helps us to realize Mary
readily available to the mind. Whitehouse’s statement that ‘the body doesn’t
Sue was a middle-aged single woman who was a lie’, though our minds can unconsciously enga-
successful career woman. She would often yawn ge in any number of cognitive biases. (For an
repeatedly when I invited her to connect to interesting list click here.)
what was happening in her body. As treatment Breath is the bridge between our emotions,
progressed, she stated one day how she felt suf- our bodies and our spirits. It is essential to life
focated by an early experience. Her earliest bo- and health. Disturbances in our breath point to
dily pattern was based on the thought that she distress in our systems. Recently I underwent
lacked oxygen. When she was able to relax her surgery that initially caused me incredible pain.
guard, that physical pattern reemerged. Proces- I suddenly thought, ‘Now I understand why
sing the memory that led her to feel suffocated, dogs pant when they are in pain. This is hard
led to a dramatic end to her repeated yawning work!’ Bringing attention to my breath helped
in session. ground me in the present moment. This created
The somatic therapist also tunes into her body enough of a shift away from the fear-based con-
to help the client’s process. In many sessions, striction in my tissues, so I could experience a
I will feel my breath becomes shallow or that slight lessening of pain.
my heart feels heavy just before a client enga- Working with clients I will often notice a release
ges with emotionally difficult material. At other is starting to happen when I observe a sigh or
times, I may find myself very suddenly sleepy. an easing of their breath. Our capacity to rest is
After nearly 25 years as a therapist, I understand deeply linked to our breath. One of the simplest
that this lethargy in my body is most often in and most common ways to fall asleep is using a
response to a client’s strong disconnection from breathing technique such as breathing in, hol-
ding one’s breath, and releasing one’s breath,
each for a count of four. I was recently remin-
ded that this emphasis on breath has deep spiri-
7 Sanford, Agnes. The Healing Light. New York: Ballanti- tual precedence. Exodus 31:17 states “For in six
ne Books 1972, p.9.
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