Awareness Intelligence
Awareness Intelligence (AI): The Human Version of AI
Guest post by Jennifer Degen, MA, Somatic Coach and Resilience Expert
We live in a mechanical and externally focused world. This can be a conundrum for people who are on a growth oriented path. We are pulled in all directions, and sometimes feel like chaos, physical pain, or emotional upheaval are a way of life.
“Somatic or body based experiential therapies can help to bring agency back into our lives.”
We are more able to call in the intelligence that lies within our amazing birthright as humans and fine tune what has somehow been hijacked by the programming and fast pace of our American culture.
Stress is a product of hormones being thrown off. Many of us might know that cortisol increases and our fight, flight, freeze mechanism of responding can take over when we are triggered by just about anything: A text from our boss, mother, or child can do the trick with just the right timing or emotional space of vulnerability. We get into an endless thought trail about how “this or that was not supposed to happen!”, and we run our minds into all possible solutions without knowing that we have gone down the path of an ongoing argument inside our heads.
So why are somatic therapies a preferred support for trauma and repairing our emotional dysregulation? Our hormones need us to create a physiological landscape of safety. We need to re-learn how to be grounded, and to build a place of trust inside of our bodies. We release a new set of calming hormones that allow the nervous system to feel more balanced. Repair of emotions is a physiological exercise as much as it is cognitive reframing and changing behavior.
In somatic based therapies we learn to re-shape our experiences in three ways:
1) Orienting the body
2) Releasing
3) Integration
Orienting is any exercise where we bring presence to how feelings, sensations and emotions are lived experiences in the present moment. An example of this is “I feel heavy..I feel numb..I feel like there is no connection.” It is recognizing with mere awareness and non judgmentally how things are.
Releasing is a second phase that happens when we use our own presence befriend an experience of how things are, and offer an openness to how things are invited to be there. In the mere receptiveness, the body feels safe enough to let go. The body releases and works through the natural changes that occur inside. This may look like yawning, flushing, crying or
changes in the digestive tract.
Integration happens when we observe what has occurred from our own witnessing and presence to what occurred during the first two steps. We make our own sense out of what happened and take action towards more of what we want to grow and consciously choose to release the things we don’t.
“This type of therapeutic approach is best applied with a trained somatic therapist.”
They are trained to help you understand the foundation of trust, safety, and your ability to grow pleasure and contentment back into your lived experience. Just like when we go to the gym, we pump weights to strengthen our muscles, we go to a somatic coach or therapist to lessen physiological and emotional pain and integrate more presence, trust and groundedness in our life. We use a variety of modalities as a way of building inner resources and gaining awareness intelligence (AI).
“We are all complex beings, and one trauma or one way is not the only way for any of us.”
As humans we may find feelings of empowerment from dance, journaling, tapping, chi gong, yoga, breathing techniques, or singing. Each of these experiences with support can be a gateway to healing. It isn’t necessarily what you do, but rather how you bring presence, agency, direction and action to what you do. A skilled coach or practitioner can be just the guidance to have you grow more momentum to the resilience that already lies within.
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