The perks of connecting to your body: Learn through Somatic Experiencing

Often, our body is trying to communicate with us through sensations, emotions, vibes, hunches and gut feelings—pleasant as well as unpleasant. The body is constantly striving to find balance and maintain homeostasis. It is signalling what is good or what is detrimental to our health. Our body lets us know if there is a dip in sugar levels or it’s lacking salts or there is an imbalance in acidity or alkalis. Unfortunately, we don’t give enough credence to the body’s wisdom nor pay heed to its warning signals. This leads to a communication gap between our thinking mind and our wisdom mind or our inner knowing.

Body Oriented approaches like Somatic Experiencing® (SE), together with fluidic movement practices like Tai chi and Qigong, value the importance to connecting with the body and it’s wisdom for healing. Tai chi and Qigong help balance and regulate the Qi (energy) circulation in the body and bring about rhythm and harmony between the body and mind. Practices like cavity presses/ Qigong massage (manipulating acupressure points in the body) help connect to the body externally as well as internally. They facilitate strengthening of the immune system and enable smooth functioning of the internal organs. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, each of the internal organs correspond to an emotion (Heart-Joy, Liver-Anger, Lungs-sadness, kidneys-fear). Qigong practices help balance the energy between the internal organs. For example, too much excitement can cause a heart attack. Too much anger can disrupt the functioning of the liver. Through the somatic healing practices we connect with body externally as well as internally and regulate emotions. These practices have enabled several of my clients to listen, move and connect with their bodies and heal from trauma and numerous ailments. Most of them understand the need to slow down and rest when their energy levels are low. They pay attention to pain or discomfort manifested is the body. These practices, combined with some dietary and lifestyle changes have worked wonders in treating several psychological as well as physiological health challenges without medication.

The perks of connecting with the body are innumerable. As one becomes more attuned to the body, they are able to check in with their inner landscapes and notice overwhelm or dysregulations and bring back coherence and flow between systems in the body. They tune in to the body’s requirements and needs become adept at detecting early warning or ‘dis-ease’ manifested in their body, for instance, the onset of migraines — they capture early signals like wobbliness in legs, waviness in the head, congestion in the stomach etc and find resources, and at times, simple ways to ease their body by stretching their back, lie down or being in a dark room etc.

As one gets more attuned to their body, they allow an easy flow of information between their gut and brain. They are able to navigate and steer their body back to safety and wellness. From this harmonious space many disorders, both physiological and psychological, and even the deepest wounds from the past or present can be healed.