Holistic somatic healing considers the interplay between the physical body, the emotional body, the mind, and the energy. Instead of focusing on one aspect and hoping that one ripples out the healing effects to the rest, holistic somatic healing takes into consideration all 4 together. There is an essential interplay between each, and to heal all the way down to the root requires an approach that orchestrates them together. A holistic somatic healer, like myself, essentially plays a symphony of the unity between all 4 to bring you transformative, lasting healing. At the end, I share the Heart Breath, a simple technique to help bring you into unity with these 4 parts.
You may hear the word somatic thrown around in healing communities nowadays. And for good reason! It has the highest rates of lasting change in the few studies that have already been done. But mainstream psychology needs more time to study it thoroughly before they will start to make the switch. If there's anything I've learned about the medical community, they are slow to change, especially since switching to this kind of approach will require even PhD-level psychologists to go through entirely new training. Just because they haven't fully embraced it yet (if they ever do) doesn't mean you can't start to understand why it works so well and find holistic somatic healers to work with.
If I waited for these archaic systems to catch up, then I would still be struggling daily with the pain of abandonment that made me feel completely broken and undeserving of bliss, relationships, and self-love. I would still be throwing tantrums when my partners left for the weekend, and wouldn't be able to handle polyamory, or even monogamy for that matter! I may have given up on finding safety in relationships and lived in distrust, while also being desperate for deeper connection.
I tried to heal through the mind only with traditional talk therapy, a Freudian staple that has proven time and again to lead to short term healing only. In my last blog, I talked about how important talk therapy was in my journey, but how it also has many pitfalls since it only addresses the logical mind. This is unbalanced healing. It's like trying to build a symphony with only a brass section. Sure, it may sound nice for a bit, especially with dedicated work. But compared to a 100-person symphonic production of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion, it will pale in comparison!
So, how do the mind, body, emotions, and energy all work together to bring you lasting healing and profound transformation? It's because they're inseparable from the start! Try to separate them! Try to reside only in the body. Give it a go. Focus your entire attention on just the body, just the sensations, just the weight of yourself on the surface beneath you. Notice how quickly the mind starts to form thoughts even when you're focused on the body. Thoughts are automatic. They are part of your survival, like your heartbeat or breathing. Think of the last time you cried. Was the crying only part of the emotional body, or did the physical body have a reaction as well? Likely you felt it everywhere in your body and the mind was probably also very present with thoughts.
The body, mind, emotions, and energy are interconnected in every way. So, if you want to heal in a lasting way, you must address all of these together. That is essentially what somatic healing is. It doesn't rely on the mind. It incorporates the incredible symphony of body, mind, emotions, and energy to find and heal past pain, trauma, and blockages so that you can live in balance, freedom, and liberation! In my particular flavor of somatic healing, we also turn those fears, objections, and resistances to your desires into your biggest allies so that you can effortlessly move towards your dreams.
Somatic healing is also more than just surviving, it's about thriving! Through the body, mind, emotions, and energy we can move your nervous system past fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, and into bliss, aliveness, expansion, and incredible relationships! Holistic healing is whole-person healing. It focuses on your entire being and that interconnectedness between the different parts of you, rather than just the symptoms or pieces of you. You are not just your heart, or your head, or your feet. Your entire body works together. But what if we only addressed your feet when it came to healing your back pain? This would lead to short-term gains and long-term confusion and eventually you'll give up trying to heal your back pain because nothing worked. You'll feel more broken than before and resolve to live with this pain forever, thinking that you're broken.
You are NOT broken because talk therapy didn't work for you, or the gym didn't solve all your problems, or reiki didn't change you. You are not broken at all! You may just need to find a whole-person approach to your transformation and stop treating the individual symptoms of your pain. If you want to experience a quick practice to start connecting these 4 parts of yourself so you can experience balance in your life, then check this exercise out.
This is the Heart Breath, and it aligns and balances the body, mind, emotions and energy at the heart center. You're going to start in a comfortable position, listen to your body for how it wants to be. Maybe sitting, laying or standing. Then you'll start to breathe into the heart center through the mouth slowly with no break between the inhale and exhale. Inhaling and exhaling into the chest while also placing your loving awareness, your mind, at the heart center. Anytime the mind wanders, simply return it gently to the heart center in the middle of the chest. It's ok when the mind wanders, just gently bring it back when it does. And the mind is in a loving awareness, which means you are thinking of love. Not a story of love, or a person you are in love with, just pure love. Pure loving awareness at the heart center, breathing into the physical heart with no break between the inhale and exhale. Try this for 5 minutes then let it all go and just notice the sensations in the body for an extra minute or two at the end. Allow this practice to be pleasurable, not so stiff and logical.
INSPIRED ACTION: Try this Heart Breath, but before you start try to notice how connected your body, mind, emotions, and energy are. Notice if they're all over the place. Then do the Heart Breath practice and notice how much has changed. Notice if you feel more connected in your symphony. Know that this is a practice that you can get better over time and move into more unity every day!