Somatic Practices for Relief and Recovery
If you’re a cancer patient, survivor, or a caregiver for a loved one with cancer, I don’t need to tell you that what you have experienced and are experiencing is traumatic. Or at the very least stressful and disorienting. I know, as I’ve experienced each of these “roles.”
I’m an 11-year, 2-time breast cancer survivor. Three years ago, I had the honor and the horror of taking care of my mom in the last months of her life…. I can’t even say she was “battling cancer”, just “suffering with cancer”. I share this to say, I know…I’ve been there.
Developing severe anxiety from post-traumatic stress after my own cancer battle was the impetus to my marketing career to shift to breast cancer patient advocate, then to yoga instructor, and now Trauma Recovery Practitioner. Today I’m honored and thrilled to be working with Wellness Within to offer this community the education and practices that I passionately work with almost daily ~ trauma recovery through somatic practices for nervous system regulation.
You see, trauma is not what happens to the mind. And trauma is not the event or circumstance. Trauma is what happens to a person’s nervous system. Trauma is the effect of stress, adverse and life-threatening events on the biology of your nervous system. What I find so fascinating, hopeful, and healing is this fact:
The body’s response to stress, adversity and threat of life may be automatic within the autonomic nervous system, BUT that does NOT mean we are helpless or powerless against effecting the process or outcome. The evidence-based truth is, we can affect the biology of our nervous system!
This means we can affect or switch the state of our nervous system from stress, survival, and trauma responses where we experience things like anxiety, panic, overwhelm, depression (as well as chronic illness and chronic pain) to the relaxation state, known as our Rest, Digest, Recover state (Parasympathetic). It is in this state, that we experience…. well… Life to the Full. Life with our body and our biology - calm, present, focused, and enlivened.
Our bodies are not able to rest, our organs not able to process properly and thus our body’s not able to HEAL and RECOVER if our biology is in one of the survival states of the nervous system (Fight, Flight, or Freeze). Do you feel that? Have you felt that? Unable to calm or focus your mind, or unable to rest or enliven your body? These are signs of a dysregulated nervous system. In my upcoming 4-week series, “Somatic Practices for Relief & Recovery”, we will learn about the three biological states of our nervous system and, most importantly, learn to identify, track, and ultimately shift from stress and survival states to the rest, digest, recover state of our parasympathetic nervous system.
The identifying and tracking are done through a process of nervous system education and a compassionate practice of embodied awareness. The shifting of nervous system states (and this is the super exciting part) is done through methods YOU can learn and practice that employ the body to regulate the nervous system.
Methods called grounding, orienting, breathing techniques, somatic experiencing, and somatic meditation. All these methods, known as “somatic methods” (soma meaning “body”) can be incorporated into a therapeutic or trauma recovery yoga practice that is accessible for all body types and mobility levels.
With somatic methods, nervous system regulation is experienced by activating the vagus nerve, which is the nerve within the nervous system responsible for sending messages of safety or threat from the body to the brain. This is a process and a practice you will experience in our time together I like to call “Calm Body, Calm Mind”.
With these methods or practices, you will learn how to shift your biology out of a stress or survival state into a state of calm control. I’m looking forward to sharing this experience with you beginning August 1. Below is a general outline of the 4-Week Series:
August 1 - Cultivating a “felt sense of safety” with the body. We will explore the many sensory systems of the body as we discover what safety feels like in our nervous system - Exteroception, Interoception, Proprioception, and Neuroception
August 8 - Five somatic practices to shift out of your nervous systems survival states - The Push Away, Vooing, Self-Hug, Holding Your Heart and Pendulation
August 15 - Exploring the vagus nerve - somatic practices to stimulate the vagus nerve and shift into your Parasympathetic Rest, Digest and Recover state
August 22 - Lessons from your “Noticing Notes”. Bringing it all together to craft your personal therapeutic yoga routine for anxiety relief and trauma recovery
The links below are some important resources that I believe will assist you on our journey together or to review on your own. And if you are taking the series with me, please have these forms at hand for you to reference during each session.
1. Three States of the Nervous System
3. Tracking Sensations Body Map
4. The Vocabulary of Nervous System Regulation
5. The Power & Practices of Vagus Nerve
Lastly, I encourage you to use a notebook during the sessions, as well as between our sessions to help you track the state of your nervous system. I will cover this the first week, but we recognize the state of our system and track the shift based on sensation in the body. An example might be you notice feeling anxious. Anxiety is a feeling in the body. What are the sensations within your body that provide you with the information that you are feeling anxious? Go ahead and sense into your body right now. Recalling a time that you were or are feeling anxious, what do you notice happening within your body?
Tightness in chest? Racing heart? Tight jaw? Trembling legs? Heat in your body? These are sensations.
Sensations are the vocabulary of the body that give rise to feeling words (anxiety, overwhelm) and thus help us identify and track the state of our biology ~ the state of our nervous system. Keeping notes about feelings and sensations (and relaxation responses - I’ll cover this day one as well) you notice in your body in what I like to call “A Noticing Notebook” which could look like the sample. Download a sample here.
The Noticing Notebook:
When I woke up this morning, I noticed feeling ______________.
The sensations I noticed were _____________________________.
I noticed these sensations in this area or areas of my body.
______________________________________________________.
Before we began the session today, I noticed feeling ______________.
The sensations I noticed were _____________________________.
I noticed these sensations in this area or areas of my body.
______________________________________________________.
During the practice of __________________ I noticed feeling____________ .
The sensations I noticed were _____________________________.
I noticed these sensations in this area or areas of my body.
______________________________________________________.
After the practice of __________________ I noticed feeling____________ .
The sensations I noticed were _____________________________.
I noticed these sensations in this area or areas of my body.
______________________________________________________.
The Relaxation Responses I’m curious about noticing in my system are:
A spontaneous yawn
A spontaneous deep breath or sigh
Extra saliva in my mouth/ the need to shallow
Moisture in the corners or creases of my eyes
Hearing or feeling my stomach gurgle/belching
There is so much I want to share with you, but I will draw this to a close with this ~ “You get to notice what you notice, and feel what you feel without judgement, comparison or analyzing.” This is the foundational trauma recovery message that you will hear me say often throughout out time together. This is a message that, like everything else I offer, is for you to practice with kind curiosity. It is a message of compassionate self-awareness and empowerment for you to practice~
Knowing in your mind
Believing in your heart
and FEELING in your body.
In this way, you EMBODY the message and the healing work of nervous system regulation.
How to prepare your space for our sessions together:
You can be set up on a yoga mat on the floor or from a chair.
If using a chair, it’s preferable that it does not have wheels, your feet solidly touch the ground and there are no side arms.
You’ll want to have enough space to freely move your arms, body and legs all around you.
Wear comfortable clothing.
Consider creating a calm and pleasant environment with consideration to aesthetics, temperature, lighting, aromas, and noise. You’ll want to limit interruptions and distractions as much as possible.
Gather some comfort items, including pillows, cushions, blankets, and face towels.
Have your notebook, pen, and handouts nearby.
I look forward to sharing and experiencing with you the fascinating and powerful somatic practices for nervous system regulation and trauma recovery.
In Service and Hope,
Karen Penfold
Book Suggestions to Learn More:
Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve by Stanley Rosenberg
Befriending Your Nervous System by Deb Dana
Polyvagal Exercises for Safety And Connection by Deb Dana
CLICK HERE to watch a short video of Dr. Peter Levine demonstrating the Self Hug or the Container Hold.
And below are a few suggested meditation recordings by Karen which can be found on the Wellness Within Podcast. Click the links below to listen freely.
About Karen: Karen is an inspiring 11-year, two-time breast cancer survivor who was introduced to yoga while recovering from treatments, surgeries, and a broken pelvis. Karen shares, “I could tell my body was healing and getting stronger, but something else was happening. I was healing from the severe anxiety I developed from post-traumatic stress from my cancer battle"…"I then set out to learn all I could about healing PTSD, Anxiety and Depression using what I now know as Body-Based Interventions like Trauma Sensitive Yoga, Breathwork, and other mind-body practices of Somatic Awareness, Mindfulness, and Therapeutic Meditation.” Karen is a Registered Yoga Trainer (RYT) through YogaFaith with specialty certifications in Trauma Sensitive Yoga as well as Meditation and Yoga Nidra. She is the owner of Full of Hope Yoga & Trauma Recovery.