Somatic Healing

Peter Levine, the pioneer of somatic healing therapy states that a therapist is skilled, trained, and focused on providing a safe environment for you. However, if you engage in somatic exercises with a therapist for an extended period of time, you may develop an attachment to them and believe that they are the only location where you feel completely safe.

Therefore, according to Levine, it is crucial for therapists to provide tools and practices that can help you to feel secure on your own, as well.

Keeping the preceding information in mind, below are some somatic healing exercises you may like to perform at home:

Grounding

Grounding activities help you become centered and anchored in the present. This might help you divert your attention away from troubling past events.

Grounding may be especially beneficial if you are having flashbacks, dissociation, or anxiety.

Here are several home-based grounding techniques:

Apply water to your hands. Start by washing your hands with cold water. Consider the warmth of each area of your hand, from the wrist to the fingertips. Using warm water, observe how the sensations on your hands transform. Perform this for a few moments until you feel calmer.

Move your body however you feel most comfortable. This may involve hopping, dancing, running in place, or relaxing. Concentrate on how your body is feeling as you move. This is possible with a body scan: Begin with your toes and work your way up to your face, body part by body part.

Concentrate on your breath while regulating your inhalation and expiration. You can begin by breathing for four counts, holding for three seconds, and then exhaling for four counts. Additionally, you might repeat a positive word after each inhale. For example, secure, tranquil, simple, or gone.

Tensing and relaxing various bodily parts. For instance, press your feet as firmly as possible against the ground for a few seconds. Relax your feet and take note of how they feel now. You can also hold the chair’s arms as tightly as possible and then gradually relax and release them.

Play a game of “categories” with yourself. Consider many kinds of items, such as pets, states, and cities, that start with a given letter. Do not switch to a different letter until at least five objects beginning with that letter have been identified.

Resourcing And Visualization

Resourcing involves tuning in to specific physical sensations that could be contrary to what you are now experiencing. This is often a lengthy procedure that is assisted by a therapist, although performing particular exercises at home could help you get started.

You should begin these procedures with a licensed somatic therapist, but you can thereafter supplement your treatment with these at-home exercises.

You can utilize both resourcing and visualization whenever you experience upsetting ideas, emotions, or physical sensations. By establishing a “secure” feeling in your body and mind, you can alleviate some anxiety.

These activities may require practice. You may wish to begin by performing them when you are not experiencing distress. This could make it easier to duplicate the sensations when necessary.

Here are some possible approaches:

Create a secure mental space. You can accomplish this by recalling a place and time where you felt secure and content. You could identify a haven that you have not yet encountered. Consider its hues, odors, and textures. Feel your body and concentrate on how relaxed you are.

Consider the people you care about who bring you comfort. You could begin by looking at photographs of them or concentrating on shared memories.

Body scans

Expert health practitioners characterize body scans as “active meditation” that can assist with relaxation.

Here’s how to conduct a body scan:

Begin by assuming a comfortable position, possibly seated. Close your eyes.

Concentrate on the lower body. Observe the sensation of your feet on the floor. Slowly shift your focus to your pelvis, thighs, knees, and finally your ankles. As you descend the body, identify pressure, tension, temperature, and any other sensations.

Take some deep breaths and exhale as you release any tension you feel. You can go on to the next body part when you feel it relax.

When you are finished exercising your lower body, go on to your upper body. Include internal organs such as your heart, stomach, and lungs.

Finish by concentrating on your head, face, and neck.

Self-regulation

Emotional self-regulation often entails directing yourself across your emotions so that you may change gears when they’re causing you to feel upset. Self-regulation in somatic therapy relates to the neurological system.

Unresolved trauma may result in autonomic nervous system dysfunction. This may need you to be on constant high alert. Consequently, you may respond to everyday stress and situations as influenced by your past trauma.

The somatic experiencing approach suggests that talk therapy might not always be able to penetrate or make use of this complicated body process. Instead, by engaging your bodily senses, you may be able to release and alter these patterns.

You might try some of the following simple tactics at home to help you manage yourself:

You should hug yourself. Fold your right arm across your chest and place your hand on top of your heart to do this. Then, place your left hand on your right shoulder blade while crossing your left arm. As per Levine, this can induce a sense of confinement, which may make one feel secure. Hold the embrace for as long as necessary.

Tap your entire body, from your feet to your head, using your hands in a cupped posture. In addition to tapping different regions of your body, you can also try squeezing them. This will not only assist you with grounding, but it will also help your body understand your boundaries, giving you a sense of being confined and secure.