15/11/2023
EMOTIONAL TOUCH 2
In conditions of danger and life-treat it is self-evident that we don’t feel safe. The body comes out of homeostasis and runs adaptive physiology designed to avoid injury and preserve life. These adaptive, survival strategies (fight, flight and freeze) are metabolically costly and not intended for long-term function. With trauma the neuroendocrine system gets stuck in survival physiology. This is called a maladaptive state because in the long run it is damaging to the organism, resulting in the breakdown of both physical and mental health.
It has been noted by leaders in the trauma field that people with PTSD, or anxiety disorder, judge the outside world by how they feel inside. The maladaptive sate they are stuck in might mean that their heart is racing, they are hyperventilating, and their stomach is tied in a knot. From these inner feelings, (interoception), they conclude that there is something scary happening around them, when this is evidently not the case. To put it another way, an essential feature of trauma is that it prevents people from feeling safe in their bodies. That is an exhausting way to live, and the object of any therapy needs to be to restore the body to a safe state.
In our practice we use touch to achieve this. Biodynamic relational touch is soft, tender, intimate, and connects us to the slower, foundational rhythms of life, particularly the long tide. The way we hold our clients with unconditional acceptance leads to a shift in the client’s physiology, a shift to a parasympathetic state of the ANS. Our hands communicate messages like “I’ve got you, I’m here with you, I’ll be your rock”. Touch speaks to the body brain, and the body responds by generating a sense of safety.
Image source: https://magazine.scripps.edu/features/2021/fall/interoception-a-sense-of-self/
