Welcome to Part 4 of our Reclaiming Your Body Series where we’ll be exploring simple ways to start reclaiming your body as your own; reconnecting to it being a part of you and bringing you back to a state of wholeness.
Disembodiment & Dissociation
Trauma can move you into extreme survival where you may shut off completely from your body; disconnecting from physical sensation and emotions to provide safety. But in the numb void that is left you may feel less than whole. Many survivors likened this experience to being a ‘floating head’.
When your body has been the site of trauma there can be deeper wounding that creates a disowning of your body. You may feel that your body betrayed you, that it didn’t keep you safe. Your body may have become a constant reminder of the physical or sexual assaults you endured and perhaps it feels like you are in a daily battle against your body.
Healing Your Body from Trauma
An important step of trauma recovery is to reconnect back to your physical self, working through difficult emotions in the therapy room to release the often-held shame, blame and guilt that belong to your abuser, allowing you to accept that your body did the best it could to protect you in that moment. This acceptance can support you to begin to make friends with your body. In this process you can start to reconnect to your physical self, your senses and start experiencing your body as a site of simple pleasures and the sensation of ‘aliveness’.
This post offers you some gentle practices to add to your daily or weekly routine to enable you to experience your body as a place of pleasure and safety, working towards reclaiming your body as your own.
Connecting to Your Body
Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra is similar to meditation but whilst it overlaps there are key differences. Where as in meditation you are consciously awake and allowing thoughts to come and go, Yoga Nidra is a deeper state of relaxation that moves you into a conscious sleep state.
Yoga Nidra is structured, all you need do is make yourself comfy and be guided by the voice supporting you to connect with your body into a state of peace and calm. Most importantly, you are fully embodied, focusing on your body in a way that helps you feel ‘this is mine. This belongs to me’.
It also helps manage immune function, blood pressure, cortisol levels and induces restful sleep, making it perfect for the end of your daily routine.
I practice Yoga Nidra every day at bedtime, using Yoga Nidra for Sleep that promotes falling into a deep nourishing sleep. However, when I am feeling dysregulated or out of my body, I will use a short 10 – 30 min Yoga Nidra practice to ground myself during the day, such as this 15 Minute Grounding Yoga Nidra to Ease Stress. A go to yoga nidra I use between sessions to ensure I am centred in my Window of Tolerance and feeling refreshed and fully present for my clients is this 10 Minute Nervous System Reset.
You can find many different Yoga Nidra Youtube sessions. My favourite practitioner is Ally Boothroyd who has a vast offering of practices of different lengths and focuses. The Yoga Nidra for Sleep sessions, such as this 45 minute one are slower moving whereas the typical Yoga Nidra sessions are faster paced.
Yoga for Trauma
In a yoga practice you are slowing everything down, focusing on the here and now and being fully present in your body. Synchronising your breathing to your movements helps slow your heart rate and can produce a sense of calm in your nervous system. Creating time to connect to your body in an accepting and loving way is a key part of self-care in your recovery journey.
You may be experiencing a lot of tension in your body or experiencing unexplained aches and pains; yoga can help release trapped tension and emotions to help your body feel a more comfortable and safe place to be. This isn’t about having a ‘yoga body’ or getting into crazy poses but rather taking the time to be with your body and connecting to it through breath and focused movement.
You may want to find a local trauma informed and/or mindful yoga class or you may decide to try an trauma informed Youtube video to do at home such as this Yoga for Survivors of Sexual Abuse/Trauma Informed Yoga session of this 4 Week Trauma Informed Yoga Practice for Survivors of Sexual Assault.
Connecting to Your Senses
Creating space for short moments of mindfulness or 'mindful moments' throughout your day can allow you to fully attend to what’s happening in your body, what you’re doing and the space you are moving through. Apps such as Headspace and Calm have wonderful short guided mindful practices to follow but you can also sprinkle mindful moments into your day at any time by connecting to the sensation of your body using your senses.
Mindful Walking
Whether you opt to walk in nature or you bring this to your daily commute, bring mindfulness to your body as you notice the sensation of your feet on the ground, the surface you’re walking on, the movement of your muscles in your legs, arms, torso, spine and head as you walk. Notice subtle breath and temperature changes and the gentle motion of your weight shifting.
Be present as you notice different objects and shapes shift in your line of vision, noticing colours and textures and light. Become aware of the sounds of your feet and sounds moving about you in the space you are in. Focus on smells and tastes in the air and how they may change as the space around you moves.
Mindful Eating
You may choose to bring your attention for a few minutes when eating to help connect to pleasure sensations and your senses of vision, taste and smell. Whether it’s a chocolate treat or your packed lunch, slow down and take a moment to consider
- Shapes, colours, textures
- Wrapping textures and sounds
- The smell and scents of food
- The sensation of food on your lips, mouth and teeth, paying attention to consistency and textures
- Focusing on taste, where in your mouth you sense the taste and whether the taste changes
- The sensation of swallowing
- Lingering taste, textures and smells
Mindful Moments
Any moment can be made mindful by fully bringing your awareness to what you are doing and connecting to your senses.
Whether 10 seconds or a couple of minutes, mindful moments can be anchoring and grounding and help bring you back to your bodily sensations.
Why not try it when you are next washing your hands and bring a moment of calm and connection to your day.
So now you have some more tools to add your trauma toolkit. Perhaps you may like to add yoga nidra, along with some grounding strategies and breathing techniques to your daily routine to support your nervous system to regulate at the beginning and end of the day.
And each time you breathe and connect to your physical self, know that you are slowly and gently reconnecting to and befriending your body. I’d love to know what tools and techniques you’ve chosen to incorporate into your day, and how they are helping you to gently reclaim your body.
Add comment
Comments