These past three days have seen the completion of a 6-month-long training in body-centered psychotherapy. The title of the training was:

“The Body as Resource: Healing Trauma and Character Strategies”

As an overview: the workshop began with resourcing, noticing what resources we (as those who were taking the course and also “we” humans and potential clients) already have, how to notice them, how to bring them to the awareness of the client and how to engage them when we find ourselves in an unresourced situation. A resource here is a tool which we can, and do, use to keep ourselves grounded, to keep ourselves sane. A primitive resource than many people have is that of going into the fetal position when there is too much stress in their lives; or exercises such as going running to reduce worrying about issues – these are internal resources. An example of an external resource would be a friend, with whom we open our hearts and feel heard and thus feel more sane. In the training we are interested in building and cementing somatic (involving the body – soma) resources for our clients.

Once a client has a solid foundation in resources from which they can feel secure then their “window of tolerance” will have expanded allowing them and the therapist to delve deeper into the issues that trouble them while staying fully mindful.

Mindful is perhaps the most fundamental pillar in this work. It is mindfulness-based therapy. When a mindful therapist and a mindful client explore human trauma then, inevitably, fruitful conclusions arise. Mindfulness.

The world of Trauma is very diverse! We approached developmental trauma (example: having been bullied as a child, or being neglected by the parents) as well as trauma originating from one specific event (examples: hurricanes, car accidents, rape, torture) all with special importance as to how the body reacts to the trauma. The body, our body, is an amazingly efficient system and it can go through the most violent events and still keep us alive; yet sometimes it tends to stay protected/guarded long after the aggressive event occurred. To bring that somatic pattern to the clients mindful eyes can bring about great healing.

Throughout 6 months the group of 15 eager-minded people met in a small room and watched presentations, had discussions, did exercises, explored our human nature. A small group intent on bringing this beautiful god-work, healing work to everyone we know. And i’m leaving the 6 months feeling immensely grateful to everyone in the group who opened themselves so much. The training ended and I’m seeing everyone as whole.
Recommendations:

The Body Reveals – Ron Kurtz

Waking the Tiger – P. Levine

The mindful brain – Daniel Segal

Trauma and Recovery -

Facing the Dragon – Robert Moore

Nonviolent Communication – Marshall Rosenberg

The feeling of what happens – Antonio Damasio

Writings by Malidoma Some

The Felt Sense – Ann Weisner

And a little music to go with this post: