You may have heard that if you put on a happy face, you’ll actually start to feel better.
But did you know that the physical patterns of our body not only reflect how we’re feeling inside but can actually cause those feelings?
When it comes to working with trauma patients, noticing patterns and changes in body language gives us greater insight into what patients are experiencing. We can also use these observations to develop healthy body
exercises that patients can use to help manage their symptoms.
Pat Ogden, PhD, is the founder and director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, which provides training in somatic and body-based approaches to trauma treatment.
Please check out the video below for one way to work with the body in the treatment of trauma.
The effects of trauma run so deep that they often become ingrained in our patients’ body language.
By using a body-oriented approach to treatment, we can recognize and use these body patterns to help people further understand and explore their trauma.
To what extent do you use a body-oriented approach when choosing interventions for your patients? Please leave us a comment below.
I am very interested in Trauma Therapy. The Wisdom of the Body is veey important to explore.
Thank you, Debora Cole
Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thank you so much, However I
am having difficulties with your RSS. I don’t know why I can’t subscribe to it.
Is there anyone else having the same RSS problems? Anyone who knows the answer will you kindly respond?
Thanx!!
I love this…. the impact and comfort measures that the body finds is amazing. I have dealt with someone hugging themselves as a means to find comfort when they become anxious and feel vulnerable …
I have recently unearthed a childhood trauma that has affected my whole life, I am fully feeling my traumatized 6 year old and the extent of the anxiety I have lived with, it is ongoing, during the first onset a full blown anxiety attack I thought I was dying..fortunately I was with someone who intuitively began to stroke my forehead just as my mother used to do through out my childhood, she passed 21 years ago.. I am 57 years old and as my body began to recognize this touch as my mothers hand on my forehead I came back into my body, calmed and fell asleep..this cannot be underestimated.
As a Reiki Master Teacher, I use touch and energy in my coaching practice all the time, precisely because it opens avenues that talk alone cannot access. It is a mystery to me why so many healers do not think of the fact that you cannot pull apart the mind, body, heart and spirit. These integrations are inescapable and when attended to, we can truly provide more holistic and therefore, long-lasting solutions and tools for our clients.
Excellent points.
I usually pay attention to physical expressions of my clients however I did not think to be that specific.
I notice myself that when I am in any form of distress, I embrace my body and then I feel more self-soothing, warmer and safer. I guess I did not pay attention that some of my clients may feel similarly.
What a great way to get a person’s attention to their physical needs and perhaps at the same time take their mind off of the traumatic memory.
Jadwiga
Thank you Ruth and Pat – a nice reminder of this very important aspect of therapy intervention in helping manage trauma
Thank you, Pat and Ruth! I’m very aware now that working with the body is so important, especially in trauma therapy, but I’m still needing more ways in which to do that. So far the breathing techniques I do with clients are very helpful. It was helpful for Pat to give us a concrete example of how to make use of body language. More concrete examples would be so helpful. At least now I’ll be more observant of client body language.
One simple strategy anyone can do, is to focus one-pointedly inside the eyeballs, while simultaneously listening to the rate of the breathing and the heart beat. This engenders a stress-free flow state, effortlessly.
I participated in a workshop this weekend on the wisdom of the 5 energies. Three ties to my past trauma came to life. It will provide information to work further on.
I have worked as a school counselor specifically with at-risk kids in alternative schools in the Miami-Dade public school system for the past 22 years and it soon became evident that all the fighting was a result of fear (as well as childhood and developmental trauma.) Kids would come into my office after a fight and their hands would be still clenched in anger. Once they felt safe enough to talk – and after they had allowed me to guide them through deep breathing practice to help them calm down, they invariably cried (the girls mostly, but surprisingly the boys would often drop a tear or two, too) and allowed the fear to be exposed. Their entire demeanor changed from feral cat with fur standing up to docile, domesticated and open once again for affection.
Once I saw that connection of anger being a cover for fear, their fear seldom scared me again (unless desks were flying!)….
Interesting concept; I have noticed that I often roll one thumb around the other, this is something that my mother used to do, so I have always thought that maybe it was a family thing. Now I can maybe think that this is a comforting activity reminding me of my mother. A patient in one of my groups also commented one day that I must have a good relationship with my immediate family as I tend to twist my wedding ring around my finger, maybe this is again gaining strength and comfort from my family in stressful situations.
Thank you, so powerfully attuned with the person’s whole experience.
Thank you. I have trained in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and found it really effective for my clients.
Thank you for these informative segments. I am currently working with Indigenous children in a school in the Northern Territory in Australia where many of my students have been traumatised. I keep looking for more information and ways to help them. You always seem to offer insight and wisdom. I see a great deal of grief and despair. You seem to offer light at the end of the tunnel.
Thanks Ruth and Pat.
I observe my patients body language a great deal and have
often found it very insightful.
My DID client used to often flay her arms upward when telling me something important from childhood or when trying to convey emotion.
One day I said do you realise you often do (and described and demonstrated her body movements). She looked shocked went quiet and looked at me and cried. Once she was more composed she said “I used to do that to stop from being hurt”.
I often observe and note body language of my patients. It really helps them reflect on themselves and helps me gain more insight.
Hope you will sponsor a course with Pat Ogden. She is so inspirational. I engage in 3 body stances with clints that feel empowered. Thanks for another gift from Nicam
Very interesting information I did not think of in the past.
I change my bodily position frequently depends on the level of tension in my body. When I am on my ight side, I am more relaxed however when I switch to my left side, I feel more tension.
I wonder…is this a way of compensating… ???
I tell my clients to look up. When we are worried or vexing through a problem, it is pretty typical to look down at the floor or ground. In looking down the facial muscles more resemble the muscle profile of frowning. In looking up the facial muscles more resemble those of smiling. When you train yourself to just stop and look up on a regular basis you are training yourself to strike a positive muscle posture, which seems to allow for a more positive mental posture. The bonus is there seems to always be something up there worth seeing – the moon in the day time, some lovely cloud formations, a bird winging its way past or just an expanse of blue sky. For that minute it changes everything.
This is fascinating. I fold and unfold things or smooth things down–table napkins, the hem of my cardigan, place mats, pieces of paper, bed sheets, whatever I can lay my hands on–when I’m trying to talk to someone about a difficult topic or ask for help (which I’m getting better at doing, but it still causes me a very high level of anxiety). I don’t know why this action is soothing to me, but it must be on some level because I find myself doing it every time I’m nervous to talk about something. I think it helps me create smoothness and order in my mind when I’m trying to express something that’s difficult for me to say. I carry around a handkerchief a friend tatted for me for this very purpose. It has served me well. My counselor also commented once about how many times I had smoothed out the front of my sweater during a session. She didn’t address that physical action at the time, just the subject matter, so it never occurred to me until I saw this video that my body is unconsciously already doing something to help calm itself. I’m sure there are other things I do along this same line, as well, but that’s the most obvious one. Thank you for sharing this great insight!
Yes -the body holds its own wisdom -and each body is unique. It is important to both observe movement/body behavior and to respect that the same movement may have different meaning for different people -as Pat says one must check out with the person what are his/her own thoughts/experiences of the movement. Observation of the elements of movement -space, time, force and flow also give further understanding about any posture or gesture. Dance/movement therapy is a field that developed in the 1960’s and continues to this day to train people to use movement elements as the basis for psychotherapy. As a licensed and board-certified dance/movement therapist every moment of my work contains the belief and practice in the wisdom of the body. An example -many times children who struggle with regulation may choose to “hide” -under tables, behind desks, in small corners, following outbursts/aggression -whether verbal or physical. By responding with recognition of the wisdom of this -the child has found a safe place, the child is taking space to calm after her/his anger -the child can feel affirmed that they do have good inside themselves -they can be and are wise -even if they have really messed up. This helps a child to save face, further calm, and be ready to move on.
It would be great to have a video clip of a dance/movement therapist talking about her or his work. The American Dance/Movement Therapy Association has a website -ADTA.org which contains links to talks about our work as does the website for the private non-profit where I work -Hancock Center for Dance/Movement Therapy.
Absolutely the Best Information I have come across acknowledging this type of illness and or
Permanent Injury. Thank you, Brenda L. deGraw
Love this. Re-discovering the wisdom of the body. Would love to do a training @ this. Any scheduled?
Nancy Capers, MFT#41057
Thank you Ruth and Pat,
So useful to be reminded to *just notice* what is happening in our own another people’s bodies.
I was working with a couple recently and the husband unconsciously made a flicking hand gesture in response to something his wife said. In his words he was agreeing with her, but, when I asked about his hand gesture, he became aware that is *hand* was dismissing/disregarding/angry about his wife’s thoughts/feelings/perspective. It was very interesting to notice the impact on the energy in the room (and between the couple) as we *unpacked* what this hand gesture meant to him.
In my work as a focusing-oriented trauma therapist, I am watching for and bringing clients’ awareness into their bodies all the time. The essential message Pat seems to be conveying here is that these gestures have meaning, point to the body’s inherent movement toward calming or healing, but that we as observers can have no idea what the meaning behind these gestures are unless we ask into them. The only thing we can safely assume is that the body’s gestures have meaning that is probably helpful, and all the rest of the story needs to come from the client.
Love hearing this from you, Pat! I have been using client’s own (previously unconscious) self-comforting gestures as anchors for them and have found it to be incredibly self-empowering and comforting…as well as a way to interrupt the trauma pattern. Always amazed at the wisdom of the body/mind…even caught in negative loops, it does its best to compensate and we can become the treasure hunters…helping to bring these helpful compensations to consciousness.
People need hugs!
I joined a 55plus softball league. My particular division had 5 teams with men between the ages of 70 to 91. If you saw these men on the street or in a mall – you would think of many of them as old. and over the hill. However when I observed and participated with them playing softball, I observed their youth and vitality. It was not only the playing of the game that was important, but also the comraderie in the dugout, the going out after the games and the excitement of competing and the looking forward to future games. One man, a former lawyer once exclaimed – thank G-d for the softball league, explaining that it saved his sanity. Relating to sport – I have loved all sports since a young age and can sum it up that it has always brought out the best feelings in me. I have many wonderful kinesthetic memories that have raised my emotions. It also is wonderful to be outdoors seeing the clouds, the sky, the grass . It is all good!!!!
Love this! Thanks for sharing.
Dear Ruth:
Awesome video clip! Thank you. I will look for this in my clients from now own. You are so correct: the body does hold the score (Bessel Van Der Kolk), and the body attempt to heal itself (Gabor Mate).
Thanks you
Isn’t this the theory behind EFT…calming the mind and the body by a series of tapping? Even tapping two finger tips together, an act that can be done without drawing attention when in public, can have a calming effect.
Dear Ruth,
I find Pat Ogden’s experience with her trauma patient strangely familiar to that of my late mother. She too, suffered from hypertension, and would often wring her hands. She would often comment that she had very strong hands. She was also a worrier, as am I, having been diagnosed as having a “hot spot” in that part of the brain, by a psychologist specializing in neurofeedback.
I don’t know how or if this could all be related, since I personally don’t wring my hands, but now that I try it, I find it rather comforting and stress/worry relieving. The body is indeed a powerful ally in our health. It’s as if this gesture communicates “it’s okay…we’ll get through this”.
I work with children on the spectrum who experience trauma regularly due to painful sensory input or processing, using craniosacral therapy and sensory integration techniques.
I had eye surgeries as a child that left me with scars between my eye brows that always make me appear to be angry or frowning, despite the fact that my basic nature is cheerful and kind. It seems the majority of people in my life have judged me according to their visual first impressions and this has resulted in me feeling bewildered, dismayed, misunderstood, neglected, abandoned, angry and betrayed. It’s not my fault and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I have used the body to tell me about the emotional state of a person, sometimes I reflect what I am seeing but I have never thought of it as a way for the person to use that information to help calm themselves. Thanks for the insight.
This knowledge is very important!
Part of Gestalt forty some years ago. We were talk to watch and bring consciousness to what the body in clients was saying.
Very interesting approach. I would love to learn about it.
When I first began my healing journey waking up inside myself after 16 long numbing years on psychiatric medications losing everything, it hurt! I awakened ed to severe scoliosis. And my therapist told me to sit up straight. I remember telling her why I could not. That’s over 7 years ago and no longer true. In fact my pain body is managed without any meds with lite yoga and meditation 4 times a week. I am a survivor of severe preverbal developmental trauma. Mindfulness skills and tools along with Insight meditation give me the ability to be present not all lost in my past or future. Massage and rolfing really helped. Along with one moment at a time finding a new life starting with becoming my own best friend. Self-compassion over and over every day! And allowing myself to be exactly as I am in any given moment in time. Life is fantastic and also messy as I have and continue to learn so very much. Having meditation and yoga as refuge really works. And friends that do the same. My community are ones who have felt the ground of humility and grateful that we have. Love so many great teachers known widely and not. Tara Brach, Jonathan Foust, Jack Kornfield, Eckhart Tolle, Don Miguel Ruiz, and a Course in Miracles. So many paths to awaken out of a pain mind, body, and spirit!
And awaken into the freedom of
Comfort in mind, body and spirit!
Thank you for your share. I feel a deep connection to what you have written as i have just recently discovered Tara and am taking her Awakening the Fearless Heart class. You may be in a “higher grade” than I am but I see you as a role model. I can do it too! Thanks again.
Dear Ruth and Pat,
Thank you for this informative and wise video – very helpful.
It reminds me of my darling late dad, who – from my young childhood (7 yrs) onwards, into my adult life – slouched all the time, weighed down by his depression and disempowerment. It breaks my heart, when I reflect on Dad, to realise how badly he was suffering. As a child, his depression was over the breakdown of his marriage to Mum. As an elderly man, his depressive and despondent state was largely fed by a forced early retirement from his life’s passion.
One day, in desperation, I tried to bring about a drastic change in my dad, by advising him to think of a string at the centre of the top of his head; pulling him up to a more erect posture. Poor Dad was just baffled and asked me: “How do you know about that?” – he’d failed to appreciate his retired Osteopathic Chiropractor daughter once dealt with the body all the time, prior to my retirement. Sadly, Dad didn’t get the hang of it; he was too weighed down by his despondency and loss of empowerment; in his forced retirement, from his much loved allopathic medical practice, by a stroke – only 3 months before his 75th birthday; when he was to semi-retire in full glory, then go on a long trip O.S. trip, before he came back to Australia to work 3 days a week, part-time, with the medicine he so loved. He was a truly loving man and genuine healer, who loved so much to heal his patients. He was never in it for the money; he just desperately wanted to be no more than a true healer.
With kind regards + gratitude + God Bless,
Genevieve Reid
I find the sensorimotor approach very useful to helping most clients with trauma. However, I have one client who is visibly responsive in her bodily actions BUT becomes hyper-aroused if we talk about the body and its sensations in any way at all. That client can’t engage with the approach or even begin to respond to calming measures when in such hyper-arousal. I’m curious how I can support my client to get to a place where we can look at what is going on with her body responses.
At 85, to handle trauma, ever present since my daughter died because of psychiatric malpractice, when she was 40. Speaking to her a few times a a day calms me. I have been helped by the American writer ( K Schultz ) , who wrote precisely of the trauma of parents, “The essence of grief is the constant presence of the absence”. Never has it been defined more accurately!
Dr. Ogden reminds me of how I often use such observations and messages of the body, asking the patient to use and also amplify it, in exploring the meaning underneath. This gives oftentimes a direct insight for the client, to be used and benefited from. Breath is another clue that I observe continually, as it gives such “shortcuts” to the issue at hand, oftentimes much quicker than the “talk-therapy” alone, which often keeps the client in his or her head, rationalizing, intellectualizing etc., away from the experience that needs to be connected to.
Affirming video of Dr. Ogden.
I finally recognize the feeling. I learnt that every situation affect the body and how it tells you the real situation. I found out deception of the body would make the body feel betrayed.
I have become so much more aware of the body reactions of clients during sessions. I also learnt from one of my clients her use of a small piece of cloth that calmed her so much she stopped using her medication with her doctors support. She simply rubbed it between her fingers when she felt the need. It also appeared to empower her at that moment. Thank you for your insight it is most valuable both to myself and clients.
Even before becoming a therapist, I had noticed people’s movements, so it was with much excitement that I heard Pat Ogden speak in Seattle. This led to my taking the First Level pf Sensorimotor Psy. courses offered here. Much as I thought I didn’t analyze my clients during sessions, I discovered an amazing new way to focus on and help them focus on their bodies and sensations. This also opened doors to how countertransference showed physically for me. Thank you Ms Ogden for pursuing your own studies and presenting them for all who wish to change.
I watch my students body language when I do individual counseling and it is very telling that they are feeling very distressed. I have a lot of students who have anxiety so I have them trace their hand in a square to help calm themselves. This is something that they can do in the classroom that will not be noticeable to the other students.
I appreciate Pat’s approach.
I think coming up with a variety of “self soothing” activities that are acceptable to a person can give them a repertoire of choices for different geographic settings. There can be a myriad choices depending. Distraction; breathing; listening to music; taking a shower; Cup of tea or other; masturbation for some; writing; exercise; leaving the current space and going to the restroom(which is legitimate)and give one a “emotional break” from some feelings/situation. I also encourage clients to buy 2-3 “silly Putty”containers, they feel good to squeeze and absorb stress; one for the car; home and work. Usually a $1.00(the original Silly Putty is best to purchase!) Teh options are endless and its a matter of find a variety with your client that they can “tuck” away mentally etc to then use. I also have clients write these down on the back of business cards they can pick up at any business/restaurant etc; then they have a succinct list to look at for choices and can carry in wallet, dash of car etc.
Thanks for your words, Jodi. I am starting to physically self-nurture more now. It makes me feel more emotional and human, which is what I really need because I tend to be really analytical and detached like Mr. Spock!
I agree with Aisling and find all this helpful information. This information also helps us with countertransference. I realized this one day when my own foot started scurrying. At first I was confused where that was coming from but then I instantly remembered where it came from, when I needed to run off to avoid abuse. When I notice my subconscious foot scurrying and it signals I am in jeopardy emotionally. I orient, calm down my body and use the reaction as my own internal red flag, note the issue and process where it came from. Nowadays I know instantaneously and can use this counter transference for my own aide to help a client without anyone the wiser to my scurrying foot. This has become more and more clear as the neuroscience has helped this missing link in the healing process. Before I used images for help in the process or writing, but the added body physiology has opened up a whole other avenue to all human’s healing process. It is wonderful to see how it helps young people when you notice such things, such as hand wringing as you spoke of. It feels so nourishing to know that these young people might grasp the knowledge and stop sabataging their nervous and physiological responses. I want to truly thank you all for showing another avenue to that subconscious. For so many years I believe I only used the cognitive approach and missed so many physical avenues. In hypnotherapy and guided imagery misses this where EMDR has opened up that avenue. This new work you all are doing has opened it up wider, in my opinion. It is clear that just knowing about the nervous system takes full knowlege of the body responses if one is to exit the FFF response. It is not an easy process until one opens up the body responses. I am clinicians but also a music therapist but wish years ago I had really pursued dance therapy. That stems from my own childhood when doing body activity made the adults around me nervous. I think many of us were treated to be seen and not make waves by running or dancing. Today, the times are changing and that is so exciting to see, so we allow our own children to be pleased with their body movements. Thanks and keep adding your ideas to our tools of the trade. So many workshops neglected the tools over the years. The workshops that teach us more tools are gold mines to me. If anyone of you are as old as I, you might remember the Biology of Music Making in the 70s in Denver, Colo. Best week long workshop ever. This is almost unheard of in society as their is so much missed in webinars and agencies promoting the web trainings instead of the hands on approach ti save them money and time
. Frankly I miss the personal contact. The computer has lost something, but at least we can have the experts from all parts of the world. This is gratifying.
Wonderful to read, many thanks for your words Marcia.
The hand clasping may also be the body’s immediate urge to cross limbs. Which is a protective behavior, and which also connects both sides of the brain. Crossing arms or legs, or clasping hands, brings instant relaxation.
Greetings, I am a Somatic Therapist living in the West of Ireland ( also trained in DTR Dance facilitation, and Contemporary Yoga). My work has been primarily body focused for the past 12 years- firstly through Yoga, then through DTR (a form of dance therapy). Now mostly I draw on my Somatics “Origins” training, a 4 year course that I completed last year, very much looking at physiology as underpinning psychology. So it’s very much about the body in my work! Though I do consider it to be holistic, as we work with emotions and cognition, but always grounded in body sensation and often with movement. I work especially within the framework of a nervous system perspective on trauma and a measured approach- Peter Levine/ Bessel van der Kolk. Of course this work draws on a long lineage of body- based modalities, but I think that their work- “titration” and “containment” and polyvagal theory, has been the most exciting and useful discovery in terms of trauma treatment in our times. In my personal experience, at least. And again, I’m aware of the lineage and many many wisdom bringers who have come before. Many thanks, Aisling.
I have found Peter Levine’s technique of holding oneself to be very comforting for clients who report without prompting that they feel as if they are giving themselves a hug. This is a comfort technique that people can use anywhere anytime when triggered without drawing attention to themselves in public.
When are you going to have ADTA registered dance/ movement therapists who work with trauma and the body as your presenters? Several of them have been working succesfully with trauma and the body for many years – probably longer than yourself and some of your other presenters.
That might be interesting, but for those of us who are not registered dance/movement therapists (probably the majority of us watching this video), those strategies would not be useful, as we would not be qualified to use them with clients. It would be like learning about the powerful massage therapy techniques that can be incredibly helpful in work with trauma survivors. I would prefer to have NICABM presenters share ideas that we can all use.
When I first picked up Pat Ogden’s book “Trauma and the Body” things changed for me. When I would talk to clients, they would point to their ear and say “I hear what you are saying”, then they would point to their heart and say “but I don’t feel it here”. That’s when I started to put the work of Pat Ogden in my practice. Thank you.
I’m experiencing deep healing using Yoga Nidra which brings me the deepest relaxation I’ve ever known. I started with a cd by Dr. Richard Miller, Resting in Stillness: Integrative Restoration – Irest Yoga Nidra.
I also plan to explore somatic meditation as taught by Reggie Ray. He has free audio teachings on his website, Dharma Ocean.
Watching Pat Ogden reminds me of Rossi’s work in mind-body therapy.
As a therapist who has worked with severe combat PTSD for many years I have learned basic techniques in somatic therapy. I always use the motto with my patients that “The body remembers” and education of neuroscience and rewiring. Neuroscience has allowed therapists to be much better salespeople for hope! I am puzzled right now for what to do with a specific client. He is a police officer who a few years ago was in his police car watching a colleague shot and killed, later finding out that it was meant to be him. He taps on the table and he describes tapping on the door by the window near the lock when this was happening. He went to talking therapy for two years and was helped but still wakes up to night terrors we he finds himself tapping on his hand the same way he taps on the door. I am not sure if we should simply reduce this response through attention and soothing or go further into it. I am not often puzzled but for some reason I sense I do not have the best practice here in my toolbox. Any suggestions would be appreciated both for what I may be able to do or what to refer out for. Meditation and somatic work and homework of Jon Kabbat Zen have provided him with much relief but this tapping persists. Thanks Ruth. Great video…
Thank you for sharing this. I would like to share two thoughts. In listening to the video above (and from working with my own clients) the concept I hear is that I can ask the client: “I notice this movement (posture, or behavior) keeps happening at this time, what meaning might this have for you? What is your body telling you?” Or questions along that line. The theory is that we always do our best to cope and that the body is doing this for a “good” reason, not a bad one. As a facilitator, I cannot interpret what the phenomena exactly means, but I can trust the client to do so. This then helps the client to trust themselves..which is critical in healing trauma. If the client does not consciously know why, still we can focus on the simplicity of the action itself, and what is happening within the body when that action takes place. (This is something safer to talk about than the trauma) Then we can do some relaxation (or other appropriate) technique just to get to the why of it. It is like a back door to the conscious mind: instead of changing my consciousness in order to change a phenomena, focus on what job the phenomena is trying to do…the consciousness may then change as well. Otherwise it is like trying to calm a child without finding out why they are crying…the phenomena has a message and a purpose.
My second thought is about the comment by Deborah E-Platt. I also use a modality that incorporates holding “two areas at the same time”. In this case, we use the hands and at times, certain acupressure points. (This therapy is called AMSTAR: Amazingly Simple Trauma Release.) The point being, that often, using simple touch combined with two areas of focus, can allow the body system (which is electro-magnetic) to access a pathway that allows a subconscious, incomplete physical message, task, or movement the possibility of “somewhere to go”, thereby facilitating a shift or change of awareness, or release. This can feel like the completion of a task that got left undone, or violently brought to a halt because of our body’s normal actions to protect ourselves. When the client experiences this release, they often then get the opportunity to put this information into a new “context”. The subconscious message finally makes it up to the neo-cortex. It is wonderful to see and experience this type of empowerment with the client. Thank you for your comment.
It’s interesting that your client is finding himself doing a tapping gesture when he is reexperiencing the trauma. There’s a somatic technique called “tapping in” or “resource tapping” that can be helpful for recovering from trauma (e.g. see book or Youtube videos by Laurel Parnell). It supposedly functions in a similar way to EMDR but can be self-guided – the key is that it uses bilateral stimulation, tapping on both sides of the body, which may encourage brain hemisphere integration and help resolve posttraumatic symptoms. EFT tapping is another technique that some find useful, particularly for anxiety.
A Rolfer taught me a simple exercise for reminding the muscles in the upper back of their role in keeping the body upright and the chest open. I frequently teach this to students and friends who are feeling “down” as a way to help open the heart/chest and to permit more optimistic feelings to emerge. And I use it myself especially challenging days.
Dropping down into the body, as recommended by a Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist who recently worked with me, to regain trust is essential. I also am a BCST practitioner.
Thank you for this great reminder. I experienced a life and death trauma and After watching this video I started to be aware of my own patterns when I got triggered.i noticed that I bring my hands together at my chest, and hold them tightly, in a fist, at my chest. Sometimes I grasp them at my solar plexus. It is as if my heart will jump out of my body and I am holding it tightly so my heart does not jump out of my body. I will start asking my body to give me more info when I find myself doing this. Thanks for the awareness.
Thanks for reminding us to notice the client and what they are already doing to promote calm and healing, and bringing this to their attention. A powerful example.
It’s wonderful to see articles that incorporate the concept of utilizing bodywork for those who’ve been through trauma in it’s various forms. I’ve been a professional massage therapist for 25 years & a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner for nearly 17 years.
Early in my career I attended a 1 day conference which was for psychologists & psychotherapists, because it was on the topic of working with women who had been victims of sexual abuse assault/rape. I was surprised that they didn’t bring up those who’d been through it as children & the differences that can cause in terms of the depth of the trauma. What I felt was even more surprising was that they never once brought up anything about touch, as in bodywork.
I brought up the matter of how massage therapy can help someone to reconnect into the body, and in the process help them to feel safe being in it, as well as how it may be helpful for them to relate to sexuality again. Nearly everyone looked at me as if I had 2 heads at the time. The focus was obviously only on how to work with someone from the perspective of counseling, which was what the talk was geared toward. Hopefully what I had to say sparked someone there to consider thinking outside the box that day.
Body oriented therapies are crucial for anyone who has undergone mental/emotional/physical loss & grief, plus injuries of almost any type. This is especially true for infants & young children, as well as adults who have a history of childhood trauma, and abandonment issues as well. (By abandonment I’m referring to those who were separated either at birth, or later as young children, and were either adopted or raised in foster care.
Back to Jin Shin Jyutsu & it’s use for trauma/PTSD related issues.
I can’t say enough about how this form of Vibrational Healing transformed my bodywork sessions. It’s an ancient healing art that involves holding 2 areas at a time, then moving through a specific sequence of these holds. We practitioners determine what we need to do in several ways, from seeing how a person moves, as well as their body posture when they are laying on the table. At the end of a treatment each client is given simple self help holds to give themselves on a daily basis, which helps them to help themselves. (I’m a big proponent of them taking responsibility for giving themselves self love in this way).
Beyond the use of body reading, we also listen to the energetic pulses, much like an acupuncturist would do. All of these things, as well as feeling the textures of the tissues provides us with guidance as to what is needed. Sessions allow the individual to relax very deeply, releasing mentally, emotionally & physically in such a way that they feel both subtle & profound shifts in their daily lives, with pain relief, as well as changes in their way of thinking & feeling.
I’ve worked with cancer & heart patients, as well as children with asthma, social & generalized anxiety, and many people who’ve been traumatized in a variety of ways. It has been both an honor & a blessing to be witness to the power of JSJ & bodywork in making a difference in people’s lives. If anyone is interested in learning more about Jin Shin Jyutsu, look up the book
A Touch of Healing by Alice Burmeister, or you can go to jsjinc.net for information on classes.
Hello. I was wondering if I may contact you directly.
Thank You,
Jan
It’s wonderful to see articles that incorporate the concept of utilizing bodywork for those who’ve been through trauma in it’s various forms. I’ve been a professional massage therapist for 25 years & a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner for nearly 17 years.
Early in my career I attended a 1 day conference which was for psychologists & psychotherapists, because it was on the topic of working with women who had been victims of sexual abuse assault/rape. I was surprised that they didn’t bring up those who’d been through it as children & the differences that can cause in terms of the depth of the trauma. What I felt was even more surprising was that they never once brought up anything about touch, as in bodywork.
I brought up the matter of how massage therapy can help someone to reconnect into the body, and in the process help them to feel safe being in it, as well as how it may be helpful for them to relate to sexuality again. Nearly everyone looked at me as if I had 2 heads at the time. The focus was obviously only on how to work with someone from the perspective of counseling, which was what the talk was geared toward. Hopefully what I had to say sparked someone there to consider thinking outside the box that day.
Body oriented therapies are crucial for anyone who has undergone mental/emotional/physical loss & grief, plus injuries of almost any type. This is especially true for infants & young children, as well as adults who have a history of childhood trauma, and abandonment issues as well. (By abandonment I’m referring to those who were separated either at birth, or later as young children, and were either adopted or raised in foster care.
Back to Jin Shin Jyutsu & it’s use for trauma/PTSD related issues.
I can’t say enough about how this form of Vibrational Healing transformed my bodywork sessions. It’s an ancient healing art that involves holding 2 areas at a time, then moving through a specific sequence of these holds. We practitioners determine what we need to do in several ways, from seeing how a person moves, as well as their body posture when they are laying on the table. At the end of a treatment each client is given simple self help holds to give themselves on a daily basis, which helps them to help themselves. (I’m a big proponent of them taking responsibility for giving themselves self love in this way).
Beyond the use of body reading, we also listen to the energetic pulses, much like an acupuncturist would do. All of these things, as well as feeling the textures of the tissues provides us with guidance as to what is needed. Sessions allow the individual to relax very deeply, releasing mentally, emotionally & physically in such a way that they feel both subtle & profound shifts in their daily lives, with pain relief, as well as changes in their way of thinking & feeling.
I’ve worked with cancer & heart patients, as well as children with asthma, social & generalized anxiety, and many people who’ve been traumatized in a variety of ways. It has been both an honor & a blessing to be witness to the power of JSJ & bodywork in making a difference in people’s lives. If anyone is interested in learning more about Jin Shin Jyutsu, look up the book
A Touch of Healing by Alice Burmeister, or you can go to jsjinc.net for information on classes.
Of course you contact me Jan. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.
I was wondering how I might contact you privately. Again, Thank You so much. Jan
I handled a n anxiety patient with low self esteem, lack of confidence and intense seperation anxiety.by changing his posture.
I can see how negative automatic thinking goes hand in hand with the reinforced body language.
I’m from earthquake City New Zealand, and have found Tara Brach meditations very helpful, along with group therapy
Thank You
Are you aware of the Wonder Woman Pose and it’s positive effects on cortisol and testosterone levels in the body? Two minutes in the pose and I am stronger and happier!
I’m an Advanced Classical Pilates Instructor and Physiotherapy Assistant working with many people one-on-one of various ages and backgrounds, almost all with serious physical and emotional effect of trauma ranging from sports concussion, surgery, changes in marital status, death and other loss, discouragement with physical changes in mid-life. I have been engaged in this profession 15 yrs.
At 70 yrs, I have had my own history of trauma. What I’ve found to be most effective, and rewarding, is teaching full and proper breathing while moving. The breath moves you and you move the breath. It’s meditative and natural. At the end of the workout session, most are noticeably relaxed, calm and energized in a holistic way.
I love my work.
To be totally aware of every element of my client’s self expression is crucial to helping them heal, not just body language, verbal too. I understand the body is often the messenger, the container and the victim of emotional issues. The subconscious mind uses the body constantly to attempt to get the conscious mind’s attention when it has failed to get through to consciousness through thoughts and dreams. So called body language, as has been explained by Dr, Ogden is more often a symbolic or metaphoric expression of what is going on deep inside the mind. I teach my clients to dialog with their bodies and their subconscious minds when in self hypnosis.. It is necessary for us to recognize and employ the mind body relationship to its best advantage.
Beautiful and moving work.
I use Somatic Experience and also-am very aware that my own self regulation is vital in the process.
I use a body-oriented approach with myself every day. Awareness and connecting the dots from trauma to behavior and body language is key. You have to slow down enough to feel it and notice.
Thank you Pat for sharing your knowledge.
Thank you Ruth for reaching out.
I am healing.
I started a relaxation group for cancer patients just over 12 months ago. We sit in chairs during the session. I noticed that when it is over, the patients tend to go through a series of movements. Now we have developed a ritual of movement after the relaxation session which tends to sooth and hold the possitive and calming thoughts. This is something they developed quite unconsciously and I was able to whitness it and help them develp.
I look forward to this group every week and I am about to start one for carers of cancer patients. It will be interesting to see if they develop the same movement rituals.
I have read all the comments and watched the video. These comments really impressed me and as someone who has worked with trauma and has been healing from PTSD (using all my knowledge for this), I just want to add that EFT in some form helps too. Callaghan’s freedom techniques seem to work (tapping the meridians around face and hands). No one has mentioned these yet. Also what helped me was “put on a happy face”. Why not? I used Positive Activity Planning too – going to funny movies, nice outdoor walks, dancing – still can’t find good dancing where I live, drumming – anything moving.
I went to Art therapy and later transmuted this into art itself. Painting in large wild ways seems to be the thing for me. Then I learned that in art circles, that is most respected! I still cannot return to counseling – as it was a work trauma – maybe one day?
What I have learned is that trauma can be so deep in the body that it calls up traumas from the past that one barely knows exist. But the body still remembers everything that has happened to it. So, I suppose healing is a lifetime occupation.
I use tapping quiet effectively, did a huge release just today. See post below
interesting
most of the time
Quite interesting discussion of noticing body movements that can heal or that matter harm patients. I am a mind, body, spirit counselor and immediately thought about the hands in prayer brings comfort to those who practice this form of communication. When practicing yoga the use of hands with Namaste and balance. Thought even of putting bottom of feet together brings balanced connection of the body. Touching others holding hands (with permission), massage of hands and feet brings such peace and healing. Trauma short circuits the connections between self and others with broken trust and fear. Laying on of hands brings healing when touched appropriately to receive blessings not curses. Plan to meditate more about this and share with other counselors to be aware of body movements that can help heal emotional, physical, and spiritual traumas.
I use gentle seated yoga and meditations to help people become more acquainted with their bodies. Thank you for the video by Dr. Ogden.
I often use body postures and movements in my clients to inform me of states of stress and other emotions as well as assign movement oriented mindfulness meditations. When doing EMDR it is important to pay attention to body sensations and get the client to focus on these areas as well. In the past I have used dance in therapeutic way as well. I have also referred extremely tense individuals to body therapists (chiropractors, massage, etc.) to help unlock some of these tensions.
Pushing a client’s interest in outdoor activites can melt away tension built up dealing with the trauma. Hiking, yard work, or playing a simple game of hoops can be effective in also improving sleep.
Watching my body sensations and actions have been a huge part of how I have healed. Currently doing tapping and it has been extremely effective. I Tapped after I lost my biz back in 08, I was super depressed to the point of suicide. I walked for hours and tapped. Tapped on gratitude, on self love, often times just tapping the Metta phrases. All of this pulled me out of a very dark and destructive place, no drugs just tapping and looking at beauty.
My go to safe hand position is to my belly, placing my hand on my belly and letting my little girl know she is safe. That ‘we’ would be fine etc.
Another extremely effective technique for me has been an Ayurvedic procedure called Netra Basti, I call it butter eyes. Yes I have warm ghee poured into my eyes, this has taken away my very severe body spasms, my whole body would go completely rigid, twist, contort, and my knees would buckle. Like an electrical current running through me. I often wondered if this was a kind of Somatic shaking ?? Anyway the butter (ghee) STOPPED the spasms I have very small short ones now. Not often, I would do more ghee treatments if I could afford to but right now I can not.
Going back to body sensations and these spasms, I never thought of them as a bad thing even though many thought I should see a traditional doctor about it. I always considered them a energy release. So this was a good thing. But they did get extreme for awhile after loosing everything. Ayurvedicaly they said my nervous system was so dry, frail that the energy could not move smoothly, the energy would get stuck in my meridians and literally snap through thus causing the spasm. It really makes sense to me this way. They the spasms hurt quite a lot. But was so extreme I could do nothing but be with it.
Past traumas in my life are extreme themselves so it all makes sense. In short I lived in a cult at a very young age 6- 10 I do not remember most of it. But what I do remember is pretty awful. My therapist have all called it torture.
With that I can say I have healed so much, I am very blessed for the gifts I have received because of this horror. That is why I share with you all now. Because my healing has been such a wonderful journey. I am truly blessed that way.
Thank you and Nameste
Janis Adkins
Worth exploring Trauma release Exercises and doing regular practice. The spasams can be expected to diminish considerably.
Hello Satya thank you, I do not know what regular practices you are referring to. However I have been in so many modes of healing its hard to keep trying new ones. One because it is costly and two I am really sick of explaining my situation. Three tapping has been super effective. Had a session today and the whole spasm thing happened in this session, we do think there is a memory behind it all. This is new for me. But now it all makes sense
Thank you, blessings
Janis
Dear Janis,
I too have experienced periodic body spasms over the past two years which I believe stem from my body’s healing from a serious car accident I was in. The first bout of spasms happened about two weeks after the accident (at that point my body was very swollen and bruised and had limited capacity for mobility). As a dancer I knew that my body would only do what was in its best interest if I let it. SO I allowed my body to writhe and shake and spasm and contort, gently witnessing its process. The first spasm session (we will call it) lasted about 3 hours. After that my body engaged in shorter sessions (about 20 minutes) every day for about two weeks. After that it was about 2-3 times per week and gradually dissipated to one spasm session every month or two. These sessions also became shorter in duration, sometimes only lasting a minute or two. It has been astounding and beautiful to witness my body heal my being from the trauma of the accident (emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically) as it is directly connected to all of these aspects. Just wanted to share my experience with body spasms with you Janet. In gratitude, Lisa
I enjoy hearing about new therapeutic approaches. Too many emails are being sent out. I’m tempted to remove my email address from your list serve to manage my inbox. Please stop sending out so many emails. It’s not effective marketing. Cut it back to 25% please.
the name of my counseling practice is Bodymind Counseling. I do not believe that we can treat any given patient by looking only at the mind, but must consider the body. Is she drinking too much coffee or using cannabis or alcohol; is she having a bad reaction to pscyhopharms; is she not getting enough exercise; doe she not breathe or sleep enough; is her microbiome balanced, etc. Once the patient understands that her brain in in her body and she must have a healthy lifestyle, she can actually be helped by extended psychotherapy or, as is very often the case, may not need it. I refer patients to neurofeedback who suffer from PTSD and ADHD…
There is a piece of body language that I’ve used as a tool for whenever I feel stressful energy coming on (either around me or in me), and its something I notice people doing a lot of when they are speaking in public. They put their finger tips together, right hand to left hand, in front of them. I was first taught to do this as part of a Brain Gym(R) http://www.braingym.org activity, and found that it not only grounded my hyper-energy, but that of those who were focused on me. When I got into an argument with my husband one day, I quickly put my fingertips together, and in 30 seconds we were both talking calmly. (Just so you know, the electrical stimulation going through my fingers was really strong the whole time!) Also, one day, I observed a teacher in front of a classroom of rowdy teenagers do the same thing. She didn’t say a word, but stood there for about 30 seconds to a minute. By then they were all calm and ready to go to work. As I’m sure you know, hands have big connections in the brain.
Thank you for this teaching. In addition to being able to use it with my own life, which is always a side benefit of being a therapist, I plan on using this regularly with my clients 🙂
As an EMDR, hypnotherapist, brainspotting, Havening technique therapist I am highly intune with the persons body sensations and use similar discoveries. However your willingness to discuss why she’s comforted by her hands is a great insight.
As an integrative Adlerian art therapist I use it all the time. I start with meditation that guides clients to drop into the body and become aware of physical sensations, especially as they relate to the presenting issue, and from there I ask them for the earliest memory that it brings up. From there we move to art therapy, role play allowing the innate wisdom of the body to guide.
In addition to my own ongoing observation of clients’ body language I also want to teach them to become aware themselves of what their body is telling them/us. And how to make that part of their life.
I have found that integrating modalities is the most effective way to help people heal. I find that a holistic body/mind approach really does create a neural integration.
I also will incorporate Energy Psychology when needed.
I believe in the innate wisdom of the body and trust it to guide me and my clients.
Wow, I have been in grief support work for 15 years, a yoga practitioner for 50 years, and an adjunct professor for 25 years in the School of Theology and Ministry and Loss & Healing. I find your research congruent with my personal experience, studies and with the experience of my students and participants in grief support work. I recently found a book, Mindfulness and Grief: with Guided Meditations to Calm Your Mind and Restore Your Spirit, by Heather Stang. Stang brings together mindfulness meditations and practices that allow an individual to tap into their natural resilience, which helps an individual to learn and grow through their grief journey. I, myself, and the grief group support participants, when approaching each moment with mindful awareness and compassion, found our breath and body found safe harbor when overwhelmed or unsteadied by our grief or daily challenges. I see Anne made the same comments on mindfulness. In our grief support the participants record their own discovery descriptions through journaling and sharing their experiences. Thank you for shining light on how one can care for their grieving body.
I do use body oriented awareness often- it’s so specific and personal that it cuts through to important memories. Thank you for this video with Pat Ogden
I use a visualisation technique which asks the client, where in the body are you feeling this. Almost immediately a spot is identified. I ask them to close their eyes and focus on that spot. We identify the shape it feels, the colour, the sensation, tight or lose. Then picture one aspect of this changing – another shape, another colour, checking in how the feeling is on each step. This provides a tool for releasing. I first used it on myself when learning to ski. I was terrified going up in the chair life and my ski guide talked me through it. It worked like a dream.
As a young person I discovered that my stomach tightened before my mouth would go into gear and have a tantrum. I trusted that sensation and learned to manage my reaction. From that time on I began to record people’s description of sensations, feelings and gestures as signs of the intensity of their state of mind and situation. These notes would help me to follow how they were doing in their resolution of the situation. In our discussions they also learned to connect the body with what was taking place in their mind and around them. At the time I did not know that this is like mindfulness.
I am a Healing Tao Qigong (Chi Kung) instructor and practitioner of Medical Qigong. Qigong is a large group of practices that work with the inner force that gives life to all living things, including human beings. That “life force” is affected by trauma, of course, as well as many other things. There are some very simple qigong self-care practices that can help to release trauma, including the Inner Smile Meditation, the Six Healing Sounds (involving sound-vibration and physical postures), breathing practices, various hand placements on the body, and other intentional practices that affect the mind-body connections.
If someone’s trauma is too great to even attempt these self-care practices, certain Medical Qigong treatments, in which a practitioner works with a client’s life force energy to clear, tonify, and rebuild it, can be extremely therapeutic. They can help the client regain the ability to practice self-care.
These practices and therapies have surely improved my own experience of life and health.
It is wonderful that “conventional” therapists are at last coming around to methods and practices long familiar to the more advanced EFT, Rebirthing, clinical hypnosis, and NLP practitioners. Everyone working with trauma ought to be familiar, at least, with the work of David Grove, expressed in his work, and even better in ‘Metaphors in Mind’ by Lawley and Tompkins. Also not to be missed is ‘Mind-Body Therapy’ by Rossi and Cheek.
The First quadrant of Buddha’s teaching on The Four foundations of Mindfulness is mindfulness of the body. When I teach students meditation I stress the fact that our breathing pattern and bodily sensations are an early warning system for the onset of conflicting emotions.
Jerry Ashmore
Empty Circle Zen Group
Hobart Indiana
The Feldenkrais Method has been amazing for me and so many others. It reorganizes your entire nervous system, allowing you to feel your body move in an easier, more organic, comfortable way. Feldenkrais practitioners are highly trained and keenly aware. (Awareness Through Movement is the name of the teaching part of the practice, Functional Integration is the hands-on practice.) I recommend you let the practitioner know you’re dealing with trauma so they can better sense how to help you stay in a comfortable place.
Voice Movement Therapy is a very powerful healing modality. See http://www.iavmt.org.
“It is the first in-depth Expressive Therapy which employs the human voice as its main modality and is readily communicable to people of different cultures and backgrounds. It is both creative and therapeutic in that it requires an exploration of oneself and one’s issues through the contours of the voice and through the creative enactment of one’s personal story in movement and song.” (quoted from the IAVMT website: © 2000 Anne Brownell, MA, LMHC, VMTR.)
I had a client who would go to my basket of soft toys and grab a butterfly pillow to cuddle. When I asked her about this she talked about her memories of how much she loved butterflies and the way they moved. Their seeming fragility and yet their incredible strength in surviving despite that fragility. The butterfly has become a symbol she draws strength from. Listening to Pat I realise how important it is to pay attention to the body language of all my clients.
I am the co-founder of WIYS Embodiment Process (Walking-In-Your-Shoes). For 30 years I have studied, developed and practiced this powerful somatic processing method which combines empathy, intuitive movement and neuro-psychology. It started with studying actors and psychologists and the use of deep empathy. I have seen it work wonders on PTSD, Depression, illness & recovery, attachment disorder, as well as empower people to move beyond coping mechanisms to live the “true self”. WIYS uses the power of intention and natural gifts or empathy and transcendence through spontaneous movement in mindful somatic process we call a “Walk”. (Walking-In-Your-Shoes) The client works with a facilitator to engage in “Walking” any life issue, person or subject. (Family member, relationship, life theme, trauma, even personal projects) A Walk may last from 5 to 30 minutes and can take the client into a deep experience of knowing through the body that helps the client unfold energetic gifts, uncover blocks, and move through resistance and fear that is held in the body from personal or environmental trauma. A Walk accesses information and core beliefs that are often unknown or not experienced by the normal waking consciousness. Walks also invite somatic resourcing through felt sense and this appears to be the only way that the brain can learn and integrate a “missing experience” such as safety or choice. WIYS has a relationship to other methods such as Somatic Experiencing, Hakomi, Focusing, Gestalt, and Constellation Work, but takes the work further in terms of personal resourcing and creative play. One learns through this body-based empathy that you can be “a light unto yourself” and the answers to healing are actually in your body. WIYS technique is now used daily in the U.S. and Europe with Institutes in Los Angeles and Germany. Please visit our website for more information.
Awesome to see that you do this. I experienced a traumatic event when I was 12 that made the news and all I wanted the therapists to do was go for a “walk and talk”. My issues were about confinement and I didn’t like being in a closed room sitting there. None of them could do it as it broke the rules evidently. Perhaps legal rules of me being a child or something but it ruined my ability to gain therapy and trust at the time. I still look for these programs as an adult. I’m very interested and in outdoor therapy options that do not cost $30-50k/month and geared towards adults. I also like therapy road trips. Talking in the car while getting out of the bubble, helps with perspective.
Talk therapy has always felt like such a waste to me as I have been able to talk until I’m blue in the face. What I have needed is retraining, working and learning with the hands, nurturing, trust in relationships (Not found much with therapists that don’t open themselves up. It’s kinda like talking to an unresponsive parent), and engaging action plans in writing.
I suppose this sounds more like a personal coach and that’s right. I know this mindset would be much more effective. It takes a lot of energy and with that, people working in therapy have to get refilled and practice self care.
We need more training in the areas of concussion and TBI and its effects as well.
Learning true survival skills. Growing food, Food as Medicine, Cooking, Building, etc.
The main thing that has helped me recently is learning of the Polyvagal Theory and that the autonomic nervous system controls the triggers. The gut micro-biome controls the brain and the reactions. This is something I am able to control with my diet. Very exciting to see the correlation of mood and organic food intake vs processed foods.
When I took my practice to a spacious park on sunny days it made such a difference.
Love it!
Using the body as a tool in psychotherapy has been so beneficial in my work with children who have experienced complex, relational trauma. I have used both a movement therapy approach and Dr Pat Ogden’s Sensorimotor Psychotherapy to assist children to discover more about their body, the feeling of their emotions within the body and how to use their body wisdom to calm and resource themselves when feeling overwhelmed.
I always use body-based approaches, because they work so quickly, and gently. The “backbone” of my work with trauma clients is called iRest yoga nidra. The essentials of EMDR are embedded in this practice, which has been around for thousands of years before EMDR was independently rediscovered. And there’s more. My clients who came with PTSD have experienced significant reductions in PTSD symptoms within a few weeks to a few months, and I myself recovered completely from complex PTSD in less than 2 years. I can’t recommend iRest too highly.
I’m finding iRest to be deeply healing as well. Thank you for your post, Florence.
I am attended a biodynamic psychotherapy workshop in Tracht, Kinvara (Ireland) and found it reached very deeply and powerfully into the emotion of my own story without necessarily unearthing specific memories. It appears to me that this approach can go beyond words and narratives, straight to the experiencing and release of blocked emotion.
I agree with the wisdom of the body sharing such valuable information … that a client’s words don’t touch. It takes intention and awareness by the therapist to slow things down and observe the client’s body trying to share its wisdom.
I am a TRE provider and what I love about this bottom up approach is that it’s a) A self-help tool and b) it’s not just “another” technique.
It’s allowing the body to release tension/trauma via a built in mechanism which we seized to use, the tremor/shake mechanism. We simply have to trust our body that it knows what and when to release. By learning how to self regulate the nervous system can adjust according to the body’s release.
Have a look on the TRE main website: http://www.traumaprevention.com
I posted this above in response to Pat’s post containing a comment suggesting that therapists often ask clients to use a “letting go” process and how that term maybe misleading.
Good point about not a “letting go” process.
Healing from trauma IMO is not a “letting go” process. Ironically, it is a process of adding something POSITIVE in, specifically love compassion and gratitude among other things.Reduction of the “charge” of an unintegrated, disorganized fear-based energy in the mind and body is the goal of treatment.
It is my belief that tear based energy cannot be integrated directly. It must first be transmuted into love based energy. I note with my patients a great resistance to add love to fear. I believe this is the reason many people stay stuck i.e. the resistance to add love to the fear is impaired because they are trapped in what Dr. Joseph Ledoux calls primitive defence circuits that make access to love much more difficult as the patient has entered survival mode. Integration and resolution occurs when the disorganized fear energy gets transmuted into organized love energy where it can be stored in Explicit, autobiographical memory that allows a coherent narrative or integrated story that “makes sense” of a persons negative, traumatic experience of the trauma that occurred in the patient’s life. One of the processes involved uses the hippocampus to “time date stamp” the traumatic memories so the mind and body have a reference point that this has happened in the past and is therefore no longer happening. Indeed, there is growing evidence that the hippocampus and it’s ability to integrate a time on traumatic events is impaired by the stress hormone cortisol and with epinephrine. So, if a patient experiences a traumatic event, the hippocampus goes off-line and is unable to firmly record that trauma into explicit or autobiographical memory, but it remains strongly recorded by the sensory/implicit memory system. It is important to note that the sensory/implicit system is a type of amygdala only recording and these implicit only memories have no basis in time i.e. it is like they are still happening. This, of course is the basis of PTSD.
So, I agree with you in that it is not so much a letting go OUT process as an integrating IN process, Moving highly charged time independent implicit only negative fear energy states into explicit autobiographical time defined Love energy states that become integrated into a coherent narrative and no longer a source of intrusive, disorganized fear based energy.
I believe using the body integrates the left and right hemispheres, integrates the body and the mind, and integrates time independent sensory-based memories with time defined explicit autobiographical memories and all these Love based processes facilitate the transmutation of unmanageable disorganized fear energy into much more manageable and organized love based energy that can be essentially “filed away” and not be such a drain on the patient’s current concentration,consciousness and working memory in day to day life..
On a more personal note, we medical doctors were never trained to even look at the body in relation to the mind. Most MDs are very uncomfortable even with this concept. On a positive note, I believe this is changing, albeit slowly.
Also, sorry for the multiple run-on sentences above but I’m typing this on my iPhone and the screen is tiny!
– thanks for posting this forum Ruth!
Thank you for reminding me again!
Using EMDR combined with visualization and Imaginal Nurturing, we process body memories. This is useful with clients who have severe dissociation, including D.I.D. Pain from childhood assaults that parts report can be soothed using this combination.
I have worked with the body in Cranio-Sacral therapy (CST) which I use to facilitate somato-emotional release as an adjunct to my clinical work. This I have found to be very powerful in shifting people forward. I also use it when traditional talk therapy is not working for them, due to many reasons for e.g. for those who are not ready to verbalize their trauma or distress to those that have chronic pain and other physiological conditions that have manifested due to emotional trauma. Talk therapy alone cannot give them the relief and long term success they are looking for. Working with the body along with psychotherapy in my view is the gold standard of trauma treatment and holistic care.
With Heart Assisted Therapy ( John Diepold) we always observe the client. Not only we ask what is coming up in the mind/body (feelings, thoughts) and then let the client speak “deep in my heart i love myself, THOUGH i feel x (or i think x)” (and while saying that, the client breaths out), but we observe the cliënt and let the client say what we observed. For example, if its a positive movement: I love myself AND i move my hand. If its a negative muscle movement then we use THOUGH i move my hand. All kinds of bodymovements can be used. Also hormonal reactions (tears in the eye, red head), or Vagus Nerve reaction (different voice)
Thank you very much for sharing this, Ruth! Insightful and helpful!
This too seems to work: https://1fpkq.ihouseelite.com/ptsd-a-different-treatment-approach but I do not have enough case study experience to be too assertive in recommending this approach all the time. It’s just my go-to approach.
Yes all of these comments are excellent. Having utilized many modalities to heal my own Trauma, I discovered BOWEN THERAPY which was a profound gamechanger for me. I am trained
In 16 practices yet continue to use Advanced Bowen Practice to gently unwind the Neurological system with my clients to bring the body mind back to wholeness and calm. BOWEN IS A CRITICAL PIECE of the Trauma puzzle.
Mmmmm I work with both physical and etheric equivalent of Bowen plus Rhythmic Pulsing and it so unwinds a stuck body.
Dance Movement Therapy has been a field of practice for over 50 years. Movement is a direct expression of the self and how one connects to others. DAnce Movement Therapists deal with synchronicity, mirroring, spatial awareness, kinisphere, gesture and are trained to observe the various intricacies of non verbal communication. Experiences are also processed verbally. I am astounded that the discovery of the body by leading practitioners in the field of Psychotherapy in the last 10 years never refers to any of the work, literature and research In the field of Dance Movement Therapy. There is much to be learned from the field as well as from Art and Music therapy. For anyone interested in learning more you can contact te American Dance Therapy Association.
Tai Chi and Qi Gong actually is a portal for this.
Thank you Pat – I’m currently doing a webinar series with Janina Fisher, so have just begun to make those kinds of observations with a client with a history of trauma. Your example is fascinating – I need to practise observing even more closely as I listen to my client.
I have found Reggie Rays body somatic meditations the best personally …it’s all about getting in touch with the body wisdom or consciousness and asking the body and dropping into the earth …just utube and he has numerous meditation. ..i have had such energetic shifts in the body it has been amazing…i had a misdiagnosed bust appendix for awhole week lucky to be alive and it sent me into hyper thyroid extremely high panic and anxiety and i have many skills and i hit the wall and Reggie and Carolina have really saved me with their meditations
I have used Tara Brach phrase: “put your hand on your heart” approach with Traditional Christians. For them “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jer.17:9). So I say: Jesus died for your sins. So tell your heart, “Jesus loves you and he died for you to pay for your sins´. Let him fill you with His love. As they say this literally to their heart, not in a symbolic way, but speaking to it. I see scores of faces light up and tell me: this feels good. Then I tell them as well: I know there are things you might feel guilty about, but you can tell your heart: “it is all paid for, there is no guilt anymore”. I let them do this on a regularly basis and it has rather remarkable results.
I also tell trauma victims: “don´t dig into the past. Your body needs to experience first somewhere some peace. Ask God to show you where that is`. usually I tell them: when you were baptised, Jesus put a thumbprint on you and said: that is a place I reserve for me. Now you say you are a Christian, so Jesus has come there, literally,(“your body is a tempel of the Holy Spirit”). Where Jesus is, there IS peace, if you feel peace or not. You might have a feeling problem, not an existential problem. Only go into trauma areas from experiencing some peace somewhere, when the pain is too strong, go back to peace alone”. This has helped many traditional believers facing unbelievable levels of trauma.
I recomment for you HAT (J. Diepold) you can adept it for Christians.
Thank you for this. This is beautiful.
Thank you. I will try this with my client
I’m a licensed clinical speech-language pathologist and am aware of how learning a language causes changes in the brain so I am not at all surprised that experiencing emotions can also cause changes in the brain.
I am a teacher of Tai Chi and Qigong. I have had some success treating PTSD in Veterans utilizing training principles of the above mind body arts. It is my observation that treating the mind as well as the body is just common sense. You might say that one is a pathway to the other. Such an approach seems to magnify, support or intensify any result.
I am puzzeled as to why anybody is surprised by an approach to health that incorporates the mind and the body. First of all, such an approach to rebuilding health has been celebrated in Chinese culture for hundreds of years.
—-The origins of the Qigong set called “THE EIGHT PIECES OF BROCHADE” tells the story of a great military leader who needs to quickly allow his troops to rest and recover from a difficult battle. He uses a set of exercises that emphasizes breath control, relaxation and mental focus. After a short period of time, the troops set out for another successful campaign.
Trying to treat only the mind is foolish.
I recently worked with a sensory-motor psychotherapist to help with desperation and grief and seemingly endless tears and sorrow (and depression) over a series of losses, and what felt like the trauma and shock of those losses. Before this, I tried breathing techniques and DBT and EFT and meditation and gratitude and couple’s therapy to help with a broken engagement and the subsequent break-up, and whatever else my therapists suggested (except I refused medication). It was only after listening to Peter Levine say that trauma can only be healed through the body and how he helps his clients find “resources” through the body that I came up with the idea that my body is trying to “hold on” to things, after losing so much. I remembered Pat talking about the basic developmental movements such as reaching and grasping, and for me “holding on” and “keeping” were the key. Through experiences and playfulness and explorations with “holding on” to different items in the room, I got to finally have the experience of being well-resourced and strong in my body, being able to hold on tightly and keep what I have and not let my things go and not to think I had to let them go (discovered it could be anything: my ideas, my furniture, my children, my friends, my home, my relationships, my job). And just as Peter Levine said, it started to feel like I had an island of ground under my feet. And I consequently discovered all sorts of “unfortunate beliefs” stemming from what I would call a neglectful childhood in the messages I was given about “holding on”, such as “you don’t matter enough to keep your things” and “other people’s happiness matters more than yours” and “people won’t like you if you don’t give them your things” and “you’re mean if you don’t give people your stuff”. And through the experiences and games, these came up and could be played around with and explored with a therapist who could say, “that wasn’t mean when you held on and wouldn’t give it up, even though I wanted it” or “I still like you” or “you are really, really strong, you are so strong”. So that was the biggest shift after years of crying and sadness. I felt better than I had in the past 7 years (since my divorce after 27 years of marriage). I also do neurofeedback and the two work really well together. It’s amazing, now, to think of how often people think it’s helpful to advise people to “let it go” when that’s the opposite of what ended up helping me, and it’s my own body that knew it.
Ru
Ignore previous note
Good point about not a “letting go” process.
Healing from trauma IMO is not a “letting go” process. Ironically, it is a process of adding something POSITIVE in, specifically love compassion and gratitude among other things.Reduction of the “charge” of an unintegrated, disorganized fear-based energy in the mind and body is the goal of treatment.
It is my belief that tear based energy cannot be integrated directly. It must first be transmuted into love based energy. I note with my patients a great resistance to add love to fear. I believe this is the reason many people stay stuck i.e. the resistance to add love to the fear is impaired because they are trapped in what Dr. Joseph Ledoux calls primitive defence circuits that make access to love much more difficult as the patient has entered survival mode. Integration and resolution occurs when the disorganized fear energy gets transmuted into organized love energy where it can be stored in XPlicit, autobiographical memory that allows a coherent narrative or integrated story that “makes sense” of a persons negative, traumatic experience of the trauma that occurred in the patient’s life. One of the processes involved uses the hippocampus to “time date stamp” the traumatic memories so the mind and body have a reference point that this has happened in the past and is therefore no longer happening. Indeed, there is growing evidence that the hippocampus and it’s ability to integrate a time on traumatic events is impaired by the stress hormone cortisol and with epinephrine. So, if a patient experiences a traumatic event, the hippocampus goes off-line and is unable to firmly record that trauma into explicit or autobiographical memory, but it remains strongly recorded by the sensory/implicit memory system. It is important to note that the sensory/implicit system is a type of amygdala only recording and these implicit only memories have no basis in time i.e. it is like they are still happening. This, of course is the basis of PTSD.
So, I agree with you in that it is not so much a letting go OUT process as an integrating IN process, Moving highly charged time independent implicit only negative fear energy states into explicit autobiographical time defined Love energy states that become integrated into a coherent narrative and no longer a source of intrusive, disorganized fear based energy.
I believe using the body integrates the left and right hemispheres, integrates the body and the mind, and integrates time independent sensory-based memories with time to find explicit an autobiographical memories and all these Love based processes facilitate the transmutation of unmanageable disorganized fear energy into much more manageable and organized love based energy that can be essentially “filed away” and not be such a drain on the patient’s current concentration,consciousness and working memory in day today life..
On a more personal note, we medical doctors were never trained to even look at the body in relation to the mind. Most MDs are very uncomfortable even with this concept. On a positive note, I believe this is changing, albeit slowly.
– thanks for posting this forum Ruth!
Thank you for all the above feedback. I am a christain and also secular counsellor and use many different methods for body work, but the most effective for me is asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to the client were the pain in their body is trapped and earliest memory of when this happened if appropriate. I also find asking the client to ask there body, what is your body saying to you. Also sometimes I have found the body needs to be reminded, especially with fear or anxiety that it can stand aside it doesnt need to protect the person any longer, some people then picture there protector being put in a cage, when this happens it releases the person to get to the pain of the trauma or memory and the anxiety decreases or in some cases when memory has been dealt with and they have told the protector or what they want to call it, to go, complete freedom.
I’m use skills of mindfulness with client’s who are coping traumatic memories, but I will like to learn more of your body language wisdom and exercises from Pat… thanks
I completely rely on the body for the healing of trauma with the understanding that the neurophysiology must be experiencing safety in order for the frozen material to be remembered, re-experienced and released. Without this safety the system will recycle the existing traumatic material and its effects, or possibly become re-traumatized. I practice and teach a model called The Comprehensive Resource Model or CRM which recognizes this need for body-brain safety before processing can occur. This allows for dual-focused processing in an organic and gentle way that is rapid and which “sticks.”
I use self-compassion, love and kindness mindfulness meditation with my clients. Its really powerful especially for those with history of trauma who experience significant degree of shame, guilt and have forgotten how to self-nurture and self-soothe.
Thanks to Pat, would love to hear more. I often bring client’s awareness to their breath as they are telling a story, it seems to serve as gateway into the shifting sensation in the body.
Client body language is everything when doing experiential activities with horses. The horses themselves are quite adept at noticing body language, and their behavior in response to the body language is quite illuminating for clients. Through tailored interventions or activities we can work with the client to amplify or modify the body language (and accompanying negative or positive thoughts) to affect client sense of mastery, safety, self compassion, and leadership of self and others. The beauty of this process is that the horse as facilitator is able to give natural feedback, and clients are not as defensive as they would be if a human did the noticing.
Well said. And the horses themselves are deeply embodied beings. As animals with extremely large and sensitive guts and hearts, horses exhibit heightened emotional perception. I see this every day working with my clients, and this is borne out in HeartMath research studies.
The volume is not only turned up higher in their bodies, but because they operate primarily from their limbic systems , they don’t have the relentless mental chatter drowning out important messages like we human beings do. Horses cannot be easily manipulated or lied to. They respond to inauthentic and incongruent human behavior with agitation, disinterest or by taking charge. They respond to authentic, congruent behavior by connecting with eye contact or movement (even from far away), willingly interacting, and becoming entrained (neural frequencies falling into step). In other words, they give immediate feedback and can detect minute shifts in energy immediately.
Sometimes words aren’t adequate to describe what shifts or opens up when working with the horses, yet the learning stays deep in the cellular awareness of the body, surfacing and emerging in new behaviors and ways of being.
I used body orientated approaches for many years with children who had experienced family violence, we would have a group chat about what kinds of things we notice in our bodies when around violence and or when we feel anxious. The kids would mention many different feelings and body sensations and we would discuss them in detail like how you feel when curled up in a ball or when your shoulders are all hunched up or chest caved in etc then i would teach them different yoga poses to counteract those body patterns, it was all done in a spirit of fun whilst deepening the childrens awareness and teaching them skills that will serve them for life, a deep self awareness.
Simultaneously i worked with many adults who were struggling with depression and anxiety with many physical symptoms they didn’t understand I could see that if they’d had support as children to learn self awareness skills it may have saved them many years of unnecesary suffering, that fuelled my passion for teaching the children i worked with the skills to know their bodies and notice what happens within them and how to counteract it.
I am not a therapist of any kind. Just a simple artist. (like that’s simple, right?) I do, however, have fibromyalgia in which the emotional centers and pain processing centers coincide within the brain so brain chemistry has an immense effect upon the processing of pain. (as well as other things). I have noticed that, often, when I am in extreme and agonizing pain, that if I can change my thought patterns or even think of something soothing or happy that the body responds and the pain tends to lessen. I often do meditation all practices which definitely helps.
i also find tension and release as well as many of peter levine’s body movements/gestures very helpful
First, psychoeducation on the limbic system, the vagus nerve, stress/danger responses, how the feedback system works. Then how “working the feedback mechanisms in reverse”, via breath, muscle relaxation, posture can bring this under control. Then education on the trauma memories and how they can be reprocessed. I use PC, Progressive Counting (Dr Ricky Greenwald, Child and Adolescent Trauma Institute, Greenfield, MA), and EMDR. Body- centered work, supported by educating clients first about how it works, is the foundation of my practice.
Took your Trauma series a few years back, it was excellent. Ginny Pond, MEd, MSW, LCSW
In the MBCT training we use the body a lot – via yoga, via the body scan, via the short Breathing Space etc.
I am a trauma therapist with more exposure to EMDR and SE — which both include the awareness to the body. As Pat Ogden said, “The body is wise” and that is something i stress to my clients. The body stores so much information that the brain may not connect. Pat’s illustration of just noticing the client’s own natural way of bringing her hands together to calm her dysregulation self was brilliant — and we need to such close attention to our our patients body speak right in front of our eyes.
I’d love to be able to study more about Pat’s approach sometime in the future!
I have practiced David Berceli ‘s Tension and Trauma Release exercises as an individual and as a practitioner for over 5 years now. It is a way to allow your body to Re Set, with minimal talking. This is amazing, some people want to talk after TRE & can connect with a Psychologist or Social Worker/ Counsellor for that. However those with PTSD really seem to prefer to allow their body to release, while their focus is to learn a safe speed —at which this happens. Learning self regulation begins with co regulation & that is why a certified TEE provider is important. Their gut feels better first , in most cases..what a relief for them to experience this! Thinking & talking is often just too much overload for them.
Pat Ogden has done great work & has insights that are indeed valuable. David Berceli has a new digital book in which He & other TRE providers share their experiences and insights. Thank you for this opportunity.
I start with body intervention, because I think it’s foundational to all other treatments for trauma, or stress for that matter.
The art for the client is needing to learn self-regulation, which needs co-regulation until that time. In the meantime, it is a top-down technique because the awareness is always in the room at the moment, as well as creating new neural pathways, and a bottom-up technique beause the body is the driver of the experience.
What cals my attention in this moment is that there were two aspects there, the traumatic, the way the mother died & the tender one, the intertwining of the hands. Very often we take for granted it´s the trauma we need to bring to consciousness; but, in this clinical example, it seems both might have been needed to bring up the bodily expression. Maybe, if we can see both aspects: the traumatic & the satisfactory, we can ask the person to choose the aspect where the true self appears.
Pat, as a Rolfer myself, I had usually addressed head traumas through the back of the neck with a CV-4, the hyoid muscles, the root of the tongue, the clavicle area, and the SCM. But quite recently on myself, I discovered..(looking at a selfie picture I’d taken sitting down with my head turned to the side) … I noticed something way-out-of-align! I guess you could call it the front of my spine or all the soft tissue including my esophagus. It blew me away.
I straightened my spine, placed my hand deeply into the the upper neck, and (like IDA, *asked for movement) and I heard clicking and popping…and realized that my cervical spine had LOOKED straight when I was standing or sitting straight, but in fact it was only appearing so from the outside. Such a find….that none of my Rolfers or CST’s have ever noticed. These funny little observations COUNT.
Guiding awareness towards one’s own body is so helpful – thanks for sharing this piece! In my work, I ask clients to become aware of what their body’s “shame signature” is, because people often find it easier to first notice how they’re holding themselves, and then name the emotional component. Aside from body awareness, as Ruth talks about here, we can also use our bodies to influence our own emotions. I make use of this in my practice, drawing on the growing science of embodied cognition, particularly Amy Cuddy’s work. Thalma Lobel brings a lot of this together in her book: Sensation: The new science of physical intelligence
Pat Ogden just makes me smile…what wonderful work with her sense of delight! Great clip. Itreminds me to always pay attention to the signals from the body. Thank you Ruth for the gift of Nicabm !!
Although I have paused in my therapy practice due to ill health – but hope to return soon! – I have trained in Sensorimotor Psycotherapy with Pat’s Institute and can truly acknowledge how effective it when working clients / patients who have been traumatised.
What I especially value is that by following the wisdom of the body and engaging with it through the cues provided by body language, is that it enables access to those blocked energies by staying in the present moment.
Narrative may have some part to play subsequently, but it is guided initially by the wisdom of the body and crucially helps to prevent re-traumatisation so often triggered by other therapeutic modalities.
Drawing attention to her hands when she is talking is the signal to what deeply touches her. And the transformation of trauma is integrated with building secure attachment.. A lovely example. Thanks for sharing it .
Working with the body is most important, as mind and body are one.
The combination of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy as taught by Pat Ogden and Brainspotting as taught by David Grand has produced some of the most amazing results for me working with clients.
I utilize Bowen Therapy along with Litios to soften and release the energetic charge around traumatic experiences. Bowen and Litios is non-invasive and allows the body/mind/spirit to balance in space of gentle security and trust. It offers deep stillness and is highly effective. My clients love it.
As an EMDR therapist and also a yoga and mindfulness teacher, the body plays a big part in the therpat room. Sometimes we just track the pain and sensation througout the body, acknowledging it gently, and sometimes there is an insight, most of the time it lessens and leaves. Some things don’t require words, and often thinking gets in the way….
To Michael: Thanks for the info. We do have one or more people in my area that offers Brainspotting, & just trying to get some opinions as to how effective & helpful it has been personally for others, or in their treatment of others. Would welcome any other comments.
Awareness of body
Touch toes
Think of an X
Lift arms to sky
Say to yourself 3 times in the mirror
“I learn easily and effortlessly”
In gratitude for knowledge and sharing
Thanks |Suzy. I tend to feel I have difficultly learning.
Love Izzy.
I am a graduate of Level 1 Sensorimotor Therapy training and find it extremely valuable. It is difficult for some of my clients to grasp the idea of non-verbal (or less verbal) approaches–these tend to be clients who just want an immediate solution to immediate problems. For those who are able to take the body-oriented approach, it’s wonderful. And Pat Ogden is amazing.
After reading the 90 or so comments about Ruth’s last posting about “What’s common between Beethoven & Jimi Hendrick,” & now this posting, it’s obvious that there is a multitude of techniques, therapies, etc that are being used to try heal those of us & their clients who still suffer from PTSD. Several people have mentioned EMDR as what is working for them in their treatments, which obviously relates our visual perceptions with trauma ingrained in certain areas of the brain. Have recently become aware of a “technique” known as Brainspotting, which is an offshoot/development of EMDR, which supposedly allows the therapist to pinpoint the “spot” on the brain where the trauma exists, addressed & relieved. Was surprised that there were no comments about the use of Brainspotting & wondering if there is not anyone out there that is using this method or knows more about it than me & how effective it is. Thanks to Ruth for her concentrated attention to PTSD the last several months, as most of us, if not all of us, have suffered from some degree of PTSD, & need the latest research findings for what works the best for treating this problem for ourselves & others.
I just want to say that I know someone who is a licensed therapist and did brain spotting for himself and found it helpful.
Moshe Feldenkrais talked about exactly this need to work with both body and mind- for of course there is no separation- in his seminal book published in 1949 “Body and Mature Behavior”. Learning to pay attention to the physical sensations of experience is at least as important as talking about experiences.
Pat Ogden — with her hands, gestures, tone of voice — really embodies the sensorimotor approach. I would like to learn more about this.
I take a body-oriented approach all the time. I’ve trained with Ruella Frank in Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy, which explores developmental relational movement, gesture, and posture patterns as they are lived in the present. This is stand-alone, theoretically grounded body of work, as well as an approach that will augment and supplement any therapy orientation. DSP has enabled me to sensitively tailor my own non-verbal communicating to attune to my clients’ patterns; it has given me ways to bring into awareness, in a very body-felt way, my clients’ habitual relational patterning; and it has given me a way to work and play with creating new patterns (which is forging new neural pathways and giving my clients greater agency in their own change). I use DSP extensively when working with clients with trauma histories (especially traumatic attachment). I’ve also recently schooled in Somatic Experiencing which has given me a better understanding the biological aspects of trauma.
Ruth,
This is fascinating information.
Amazing how that one hand gesture can be so powerful.
The timing of your video is amazing. Your email arrived the very week that I’ve been doing research into body movements and cravings.
I hope it’s okay to post here — I’m not a therapist, who works with trauma patients, but I’m quite intrigued by the information you post.
Perhaps one of the reasons I’m so intrigued is that I recently healed from PTSD myself (after my terminally ill Mom angrily died while unknowingly abusing me). I do, however, help people but not as a therapist — I’m a life coach, health coach and author.
(By the way, Ruth, I had the pleasure of meeting you recently at Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula Live.)
Anyhow, thanks for posting this.
I am just touching the surface in this kind of body work when I say to my groups now listen to your body and move in a way that supports and nourishes you.
However mostly I am working on myself and realising that its the quality of awareness that I bring to my movements that really makes the difference. if I am present and really slow down and catch all the sensations with an attitude of curiousity and befriend and accept what I find and allow it to be and watch how it unfolds moment to moment then I notice the fruits in my life of more energy, less fear, more connection and joy whilst doing my work.
and I notice enjoy particular movements more than others, its the wisdom of my body saying “this way, this is the way” until it doesn’t and then I find something else is asking for my attention. Thankyou body.
As a graduate of Ilana Rubenfeld’s four year training in Rubenfeld Synergy i have used body work for recovery from trauma in clients for over fifteen years. RSM is the most elegant body work among many others. Trainning Programs are available and highly recommened for therapists who want to do more to assist in the healing of loss , grief, emotional stuckness, family issues as well as self worth, addiction recovery, life skills clearification, and truama. Clients report massive boosts in motivation and sucessful trsnsition to positive life changes. Personally I have delighted in working with young women who are adjusting to independence and personal impowerment. We clearly need additiona recgonition for body centered treatment. Everything we need already resides within . Finding the doorway in is powerful and healing.
My practice is called bodydialogues.com
Please ck out my site. I have been working with trauma for over thirty years,
bodydialogues.com
I think it is awesome that the therapeutic community has finally come to see the role the body plays in healing trauma. Pat has been on the front lines. I , too , have been using my work in conjunction with therapists for decades. One such arena has been in retreats I do lead with my colleagues who trained with me through the marion woodman foundation.. You can learn more at
reclaimingourlives.com
Thanks ruth
Janice rous
thank you Ruth for this lovely video. My favourite part was Pat saying with such authentic awe, “The body is so wise.”
Thank you, Ruth, for this inspiring interview with Pat Ogden.
As a retired Osteopathic Chiropractor, I only regret not having this information available to me when I was in practice; for the benefit of my much-loved patients.
I will look up Pat Ogden & The Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, via a netsurf, to improve my understanding of Pat Ogden’s work.
Very lovely. Thank you for this easy and powerful teaching. Judith Rivera Rosso, Master EFT Practitioner in Italy 🙂
Thank you for that lovely brief & clear example of how observing how the client already is able to comfort themselves may hold meaning for them if they are able to bring awareness to that sensation or action. I am beginning to work with trauma clients with some yoga techniques adapted to each individual and am inspired by Pat Ogden’s work.