Somatic Soul Journeys

04/09/2023

Coming up fast! Contact me if you’re thinking about it…..

03/16/2023

Chatting about all things psychedelic therapy….

03/14/2023

This Thursday at 12:30 est. Live….or send me your questions In advance😁

01/14/2023

11/18/2022

I got back from an Ayahuasca retreat about 2 weeks ago. I get asked the questions frequently about why I do it and what do I get out of it. Frankly…I’ve been asking myself those same questions all during the process, because quite honestly, it’s hard….and arduous….and discombobulating. There is no grand transformation that is ushered in with beams of light and song. In fact, it can be much like trudging through what I envision hell to be with a backpack of rocks. It can be hard to put words to the experience and then to get your feet under you when you leave the safety of ceremony. So why do it? Because if you ever;
- had that feeling that there must be something inherently wrong with you because you dont experience things like others do;
- meditated, chanted, ate right, worked out, spent time in nature…..did all the things only to feel like its a house built on sand that gets washed away with the tide;
- are perpetually at the mercy of your own defences, emotions, beliefs, judgements, personality quirks, mental illness and blocks…..and all the other things traditional therapy address.
- are completely fu***ng unconscious to all of the above and the many layers that they have
I was chasing something that I didnt even know what “it” was. In the beginning, “it” was simply relief from all of the above. AT this point, “it” is experienced when I get really quiet and make a conscious effort to listen. “It” is experienced as a whisper when my internal noise gets loud. “It” is the feel of a mothers embrace when you fall down. “It” is an internal knowing that surpasses all accumulated knowledge. “It” is a connection to something that provides everything that I will ever need……and never got. “It” is a new thing for me…..that I never knew existed. So whatever name I want to attach to “it”….be it God, source, Gaia, essence…..whatever; I keep doing the work to strengthen my connection with it.

08/14/2022

I studied the work of Caroline Myss about 10 years ago….and it initiated me into a journey beyond reason towards my soul. I met her about the same time as Gabor Mate….as I was spiralling into a personal crisis of epic proportions. 10 minutes of speaking with her changed me in ways I can’t describe. So….7 years later, after many deep introspectives, healers, many fellow journeymen, at least 3 dark nights of the soul…..and many psychedelic journeys…….I’m diving back into her teachings with new eyes and it is again transforming how I see myself, the world and everything in it. ❤️

07/30/2022

07/20/2022

Sadness is not something you need to fix, cure, or transform. It need not be healed but held. You need not shift sadness into some “higher” state or apply teachings so that it will yield into something else. For it is complete and pure on its own. https://mattlicataphd.com/

06/04/2022

05/18/2022

This week I’m learning Transformational Breathwork with Radiant Health with Giri and Govinda. It has been such an amazing way to support the body towards healing. Whatever lens I come in with; somatic experiencing, internal family systems, transformational breathwork, psychedelic and plant medicine…….I am always fascinated by how the psyche and the body will move towards healing….if you let it. More often than not, the challenge is in getting out of the way❤️

This passage from Peter Levine is similar to another share from Robert Scaer a couple of weeks back, so rather than try to explain it a different way, I'm re-sharing what I wrote on that post. I re-share this concept again because it is so darn important for restoring health and healing back to our nervous system.

A procedural memory is what is written within our autonomic nervous system, PLUS, its connection with our motor neurons. The 'procedure' or the action to protect, defend, run, hiss, scratch, strangle, hit, scream, say no, and really ANYTHING that we want to do automatically in the face of a bad scary things. ⁠To de-activate is to let out. To release the activation. ⁠
⁠
In other words, the humans who have not done this - billions right now - have stored up procedural (motor) memories. They are not de-activated. They are contained and stuck inside. (< This 'stuck' is what can create the many illnesses and troubles we are faced with right now)⁠
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We are also realizing that so many therapies and mind-body methods don't always get to the root of allowing these procedures to de-activate, organically. They are not guiding the individual towards a building up of capacity such that the release of these stored up procedural memories is au naturelle. ⁠
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THIS IS THE GOAL: To naturally, organically, and without force, work towards de-activating these procedural memories. ⁠
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To get here means to build up somatic and nervous system capacity. ⁠
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Once we start to do this (capacity building) we start to become our own medicine and release with ease. ⁠
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This releasing with ease + the capacity building = nervous system health. ⁠
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With more nervous system health one creates regulation. ⁠
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Irene.

05/03/2022

One of my favourite things as a facilitator, is when people find what they need to release their stored up energies….whether it be a scream, growls, shaking, tremors. It gives me great satisfaction to hold a space and encourage their expression❤️

What Scaer means here is that we as a humanity have not LET OUT what needs to be let out — be it emotions, shaking, expression, and really allowing our authentic biological selves to do what is needed when under threat.

A procedural memory is what is written within our autonomic nervous system, PLUS, its connection with our motor neurons. The 'procedure' or the action to protect, defend, run, hiss, scratch, strangle, hit, scream, say no, and really ANYTHING that we want to do automatically in the face of a bad scary things.

To de-activate is to let out. To release the activation.

In other words, the humans who have not done this - billions right now - have stored up procedural (motor) memories. They are not de-activated. They are contained and stuck inside. (< This 'stuck' is what can create the many illnesses and troubles we are faced with right now)

We are also realizing that so many therapies and mind-body methods don't always get to the root of allowing these procedures to de-activate, organically. They are not guiding the individual towards a building up of capacity such that the release of these stored up procedural memories is au naturelle.

THIS IS THE GOAL: To naturally, organically, and without force, work towards de-activating these procedural memories.

To get here means to build up somatic and nervous system capacity.

Once we start to do this (capacity building) we start to become our own medicine and release with ease.

This releasing with ease + the capacity building = nervous system health.

With more nervous system health one creates regulation.

Irene.

PS - Because not all stored up traumas are created equally, sometimes it is not about releasing anything. It is about building up cellular safety. (It is always about capacity building!!). But that is not what this post is about. Go look for other posts on early trauma and capacity building and working with the stress organs.