This blog post is part of a three-week series to explore somatic yoga for beginners through trauma-informed guidance. I welcome you to explore the first two posts of the series for your most supportive experience.
Week 2: Somatic Yoga for Beginners: Bridging the Gap Between Sensations and Emotions
This week, we’re exploring the final steps to a somatic practice by finding a connection between our emotions and beliefs, followed by judgments. These insights give us the opportunity to explore how our unconscious judgments lead to our physical symptoms.
When exploring somatic yoga for beginners, it’s beneficial to establish grounding and resourcing. From there, we might choose to explore the emotions that may be hidden within our bodies.
Here’s a summary of what was covered last week:
- Once identifying grounding and resourcing, we can begin to notice physical sensations, then interpreting them as feelings, and then exploring any emotions that may arise.
- There are other options available for trauma survivors who aren’t comfortable immediately exploring their internal sensations (like exploring non physical personal space)
- It is important to allow emotions to arise naturally. We don’t always need to have an emotion tied to a sensation in our bodies.
Once we’ve established an emotion within our bodies, we may explore further to see if this is tied to a belief.
Where this shift can become tricky for trauma survivors is that we’re told to “sit with it.” To sit with discomfort or unease and to somehow push through our barriers. This can be activating for many survivors, so I welcome you to go within your level of comfort. Somatic work doesn’t need to be a forced or uncomfortable experience. If you begin to feel you’re moving out of a calm, regulated state, I invite you to gently return to the present using grounding and resourcing strategies.
If you feel ready to explore this further, I welcome you to use this example of how an emotion can lead to a belief.
An example of how we may identify a belief within our subconscious:
While in supported bridge pose, I notice tightness in my chest, followed by a feeling of unease and feeling stuck. As I breathe through this pose longer, I notice fear arising for me.
I might ask if there is a deeper belief tied to my fear. With this, I realize I tend to feel fear in chest openers, and that I feel the need to protect my heart space. While in open chest openers, I start to feel unsafe and realize that I believe: vulnerability is unsafe to feel.
We can also work backwards from this, and if you identify a thought pattern with a therapist, you can see where in your body you feel this belief. If you know you have a fear of trust, maybe you take note of your body when you’re in a situation where you feel uneasy due to trusting someone. Where in your body do you feel this? How do you hold yourself? What are you subconsciously protecting? These questions don’t always lead to an answer, but are more of a way to guide you toward any deeper held tension in your body.
Here are a few examples of beliefs from tension in my own body. These don’t need to apply to you, but give an idea of what may arise if you’re feeling unsure of what beliefs may arise.
- Control means safety: shoulder tension
- Rest is laziness: from feeling uncomfortable in deeply restful poses
- Emotions are meant to be dealt with alone: tightness in my throat during throat opener like camel pose.
- Letting go is dangerous: Tightness in my hips while in pigeon
Just like emotions, there doesn’t always need to be a belief. These beliefs unraveled on their own while in poses. Every person is different, but I tend to know when I’ve discovered a deep rooted belief when I feel a sense of relief – that I finally acknowledged a hidden truth. Others may become emotional or acknowledge a belief with no associated feelings. This just shows how different we all are, and there is no wrong way to feel.
Judgments can easily arise from beliefs – often based on past experiences and not universal truth. This is where we can identify where we are holding ourselves back within judgment.
Sometimes, a judgment might arise before a belief – and that’s fine. Again, this is a step-by-step way of exploring somatic healing and what may arise.
Judgments tend to arise out of beliefs. Here are a examples from the beliefs I mentioned earlier:
- Belief: Control means safety. Judgment: If I release control, something bad will happen to me.
- Belief: Rest is laziness. Judgment: If I rest, that means I’m lazy
- Belief: Emotions are meant to be dealt with alone. Judgment: My emotions are a burden on others.
- Belief: Letting go is dangerous. Judgment: If I let go, something bad will happen to me.
These are my interpretations of my own experiences, but they feel genuine within my body through exploration. These may be different for you and your tension could lead to a different belief and judgment.
When identifying judgments, there are several ways to move forward in practice to release these beliefs.
When reframing deep-rooted beliefs and thought patterns, there are several avenues to explore:
I welcome you to work with a licensed mental health professional. Some licensed professionals also have additional certifications in somatic healing.
You can also combine your somatic healing with an outside licensed professional. Some practitioners will create a relationship to support you within their own scope of practice while still guiding you to healthier beliefs.
You can also work with someone certified in somatic healing through movement based exploration. They can create individualized practices to support your unique goals, using any additional certifications they have for a more wholesome experience.
An example of this yoga teachers might also incorporate spiritual practices like cultivating the opposite (known as Pratipaksha Bhavana from the yoga sutras of Patanjali). We might explore opposite beliefs like instead of: vulnerability is dangerous, it would be: I am willing to explore vulnerability and cultivate safety. There are also additional somatic techniques to support feeling more comfortable in poses without overwhelming your nervous system.
To incorporate these into a somatic yoga practice, you can keep these in mind to notice if your movements lead to deeper truths you’re not fully aware of.
You can keep a gentle awareness of your body as you move through practices, taking note if anything arises. I also welcome you to journal about your experiences because over time, this will be the best way to identify common themes, emotions, or beliefs.
While many yoga practices today may be considered “somatic,” due to it being a movement based practice, I invite you to incorporate gentle awareness to create a truly somatic experience.
I also invite you to send yourself grace while beginning a somatic yoga practice, because we’re all unique within our bodies and experiences. If you’re not used to this type of work or are new to the practice, this may also come with time and practice.
Overview
Thank you for joining me through this three-week somatic yoga for beginners series. These are foundational elements of a somatic practice that can apply to any movement-based practice you choose. I welcome you to explore this trauma-informed, somatic yoga class below to begin your journey!
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