TRE Atlanta

Befriending the Body

You cannot heal until you make friends with the sensations in your body. If you are angry, you will live in a angry body. If you are fearful you will live in a body that always has alarms going off. If you feel unsafe, your body will be tense until you find a way to relax. The answer is to befriend your body. Where do you start? The first baby step is to be aware of what is going on in your body. This helps release the damage of the past. According to “You begin by noticing and then describing feelings in your body.” The sensations you may notice are: muscular tension in your shoulders or neck, pressure in your chest, tingling in your feet, or you may have a slumped posture. Want to feel better right now? Check in with your body. Sit or stand up straight and tall. Keep your shoulders back. Feel your feet in your shoes and notice the ground below them.

The difficulty with prescription drugs is they interfere with the sensations in our body. Medications are still an important tool but the goal should be to learn skills to deal with stress and trauma. The long-term answer to healing from stress and trauma is to befriend your body, be where your feet are so you do not lose yourself by losing touch with your body. The very best way to calm yourself when you are distressed is the human touch. This helps you reconnect with your body.

TRE Atlanta is here to help you befriend your body. You can call today: 678.908.6219 or you can go to our website: treatlanta.com

All trauma is preverbal. Meaning the trauma is marked or registered in the body by the absence of language. Bessel Van Der Kolk refers to this as “speechless horror.” We’ve all had something happen to us where we are not able to identify our feelings: it’s when words fail us. Those experiencing trauma do have a story to tell, but it’s usually what they think is an acceptable version for others to hear. What registers in the body is separate from the story they tell. This is why talk therapy has to be introduced carefully otherwise you risk retraumatizing someone who has come to you for help. TRE Atlanta uses an approach that honors the story your body has to tell.

For you Shakespeare fans, in the tragedy “Macbeth” Macduff screams in despair because he’s just found Duncan’s dead body: “Oh horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name these!” When there is a tragedy, people may call out for their mothers (as George Floyd did,) howl in terror as Macduff in Macbeth did, or simply shutdown as in the case of a victim from the Ghislaine Maxwell trial.

When words fail us we are stuck in flight/fight or freeze, we have an increase of adrenaline resulting in a triggering episode that does not allow us to return to baseline. The pendulum may swing from hyperarousal (outbursts, rage) to hypo-arousal (collapse, shutting down.) This is the work of TRE Atlanta. We start by honoring the body and we move slowly towards the language used to describe the event.

If you are stuck in survival mode, you’re focused on fighting off enemies that are no longer present. This focus on “woundology” as Carolyn Myss puts it takes us away from our friends and family and causes disconnection which is the opposite of what we all need. There is more bad news! The focus on your wounds takes away your ability to play, plan, and pay attention.
We need a kind face, a soothing tone of voice, and we need to be seen and heard. All of this is not only healing: it tells us that we are safe and that we can relax. (exhale here)

Well-functioning people experience feeling nourished, supported, and restored as we gaze into the face and the eyes of the other. Feeling safe with others is the key to a meaningful and satisfying life. Now take a deep breathe and consider what you’ve read and what your next step will be. There is no prescription for what we are discussing here, but there are people who can walk with you as you get closer to these hard-won victories for your well-being. Atlanta TRE is one of them. Feel free to call us: 678.908.6219