(623) 326-4681Somatic Experiencing
Automatic Behaviors
Somatic Experiencing is focused on the things we do automatically.
Humans are the least prepared to keep themselves safe at the time of our birth. This means that it takes us the longest to be able to fend for and protect ourselves. To get us through this period, we are wired to attach tightly to the people around us who can take care of our needs and keep us safe.
Feeling Unsafe
Our adult caregivers are not perfect (because no one is), and we are going to have times when they miss something we need to feel safe. When this happens, we will likely feel overwhelmed and do our best to cope with it. If enough of these events happen, our responses start to become habitual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
These thoughts, feelings, and behaviors directly impact us in ways that we’ve grown so accustomed to that we don’t even know to question them. We hardly recognize that they are there.
Frequently, they are the core issues that drive our suffering and interfere with our ability to live peaceful, fulfilling lives.
No Need to Know the ‘Why’
A lot of therapy is focused on discovering why we are doing what we are doing; once we know the answer to that question, we will be able to resolve the problem and live happily ever after.
But knowing doesn’t always result in change. The automatic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors continue to happen even after we have found a satisfying answer to “why.”
In Somatic Experiencing, why you are feeling, thinking, and behaving the way you are today isn’t the most important question. We are paying more attention to what is happening now. How you are feeling now? What sensations are happening in your body today? What are your impulses, thoughts, behaviors as we speak? These are how your past experiences are still having an impact on you today.
With Somatic Experiencing, we will then work on helping you move through these feelings, thoughts, and behaviors so that they are not so automatic, overwhelming, or mysterious. You will grow to trust that you can competently handle the situations that feel so difficult today.