Simple Somatic Steps for Trauma and Stress Release

In today's climate, it is not surprising that many of us walk around with acute stress, tension, and anxiety linked to trauma (including intergenerational), systemic oppression, and violations and threats to civil, human, environmental rights. However, there are small things you can do to take control when the world seems out of control.

Tending to your body and nervous system is one step in self-agency and resistance against oppression and violence.

Photo by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash

This post is for you if you feel on edge, overwhelmed, jittery, anxious, or short fused. These are signs of nervous system activation - when your body enters fight or flight mode. When overwhelmed and stressed, that energy usually wants and needs to be expelled from the body. This is likely why breathing or trying to relax doesn't alleviate or help enough.

The body communicates through sensations, impulses, images, movement. Activation of your nervous system is a normal response to trauma or stress. It makes sense to be in fight or flight amidst the uncertainties of the world, or following assault or abuse. Utilizing somatic resources, or tools, to respond to such activation is one way of self-empowerment. By strengthening your ability to release and soothe trauma energy in the body, you also strengthen choice - which is a direct action against oppression or residues of past trauma.

Signs of nervous system activation include (but are not limited to):

• Anxiety

• Panic

• Impulse to escape, run away, get out of environment

• Physical tension, tightening in body or chest, clenching

• Increased heart rate

• Sweating, increased heat in the body, clammy hands

• Anger, rage

• Fear

• Urge to yell, scream

• Hypervigilance, on edge, feeling fidgety

We are living in historic times that inevitably activate our innate survival respones, such as fight, flight, freeze, attach, or shut down. While these responses are crucial and much appreciated, living in survival mode constantly is taxing on the nervous system, physical body, and can be debilitating - stripping us of our agency and power. By being aware of what your body is trying to communicate, you can then tune inward and utilize somatic tools such as release and soothe to connect you back with yourself and also exercise choice in how to respond to stressors - whether they are ongoing or reminders of past trauma.

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