Pretty much since 2021, dialogue and understanding about the different kinds of tension that people carry in their bodies is more common parlance, and has been normalised in some way. By this I mean discerning between pure physical tension due to hard work or a structural mis-alignment and tension that has its roots in a pattern that is stuck within our nervous system. Our dialogue about how the nervous system works has expanded exponentially. We know that trauma can be with a big T… a life threatening situation or event and, that little t-traumas ( accumulations of interrupted and neglected nervous system responses) can also be very impactful on our capacity to live life in the present with full vitality and capacity.
Your trauma response is perfectly natural. Difficult, challenging, at times painful and overwhelming, but natural.
Pretty much since 2021, dialogue and understanding about the different kinds of tension that people carry in their bodies is more common parlance, and has been normalised in some way. By this I mean discerning between pure physical tension due to hard work or a structural mis-alignment and tension that has its roots in a pattern that is stuck within our nervous system. Our dialogue about how the nervous system works has expanded exponentially. We know that trauma can be with a big T… a life threatening situation or event and, that little t-traumas ( accumulations of interrupted and neglected nervous system responses) can also be very impactful on our capacity to live life in the present with full vitality and capacity.
The bottom line is: trauma is NOT in the event – it is in the system. Tension remains, in the body, as an incomplete defense response ( after the initial threat or danger has passed).
In these instances, let’s remember that the nervous system is doing an AMAZING job, working overtime, to find it’s best way back to a state of equilibrium . There is nothing wrong with you!
Instead of it using the term PTSD: post traumatic stress disorder. Dr Peter Levine ( founder of Somatic Experiencing Method) prefers to refer to the symptoms as a Post Traumatic Stress RESPONSE. A ‘diagnosis’ where the symptoms are to be expected; if the defense response – required at the moment of the acute crisis or stress – was not able to be completed or executed – for whatever reason- then we are still playing out this RESPONSE. Cognitively, we know we are safe, but our body ( our nervous system) hasn’t been able to catch up, because the record is stuck.
By changing DISORDER to RESPONSE. What happens, in our perception, in our bodies, in our internal dialogue? Try saying: I have a disorder… Where does your mind go? What stories do you tell yourself? Now try saying: I am responding in the best way that I know how. I would like to learn how to respond differently.….. What do you notice?
In Somatic Experiencing practice and in other body-based somatic models of trauma healing; there is nothing to be fixed, there are “No Bad Parts”* We create sufficient stability in the body system and within our co-created container ( us and the practitioner) that ALL experiences can be welcomed. It is in the hosting of these previously hidden or neglected parts – where the healing gold is kept! Once we host then we are in position to re-negotiate and to integrate all the energy that is stuck in this repeated nervous system pattern and make it available for living with more choice.
* Dick Schwarzt. Internal Family Systems
This is one of the many reasons why I return to this Rumi poem again and again:
“This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight”
I’ve been wanting to write this for a long time and create some precision around the language used about trauma recovery. Clarifying our language use impacts upon our understanding, expectations and our discernment about how we approach our recovery process.
If you’d like to talk more about how you can re-frame your nervous system responses .
Feel free to get in touch with me for a free 20-min chat.
