# ⭐️ Soma (Body) Any time we hear the word "somatic," we're talking about our body. The single most sophisticated system in the known universe is the human body. Yet most of us are discouraged from paying much attention to ours. We learn to treat our bodies as vessels for moving our minds from one place to another — or even to [[🛡️ Dissociation|dissociate]] from, neglect, or outright despise our body for not meeting a particular standard. We sometimes mistake our body for the [[💡 Burdens 🪨|burdens]] it shelters inside. We forget that we inhabit a safe and regenerative place and that is why our [[💡 Exiles|Exiles]] have been hidden so deeply and so carefully within. Our bodies have been with us through *everything* and have never once abandoned us. If we [[🛡️ Dissociation|dissociate]], our bodies wait for our return. If our body is damaged, even on purpose, it heals anyway, loves anyway. Our body is not so much a prison as a house we could call [[💡 Home|home]] if only [[💡 Presence|Presence]] were allowed to wander its halls, perhaps for the first time. By getting reacquainted with our bodies we can come to feel at home wherever we go. Many of us spend most of our time outside of our bodies unless there is pain or discomfort, at which point we often [[💡 Blending|over-identify]] with our pain or our [[💡 Parts|Parts']] reactions to it. But we can also find places of comfort in our bodies. Through [[🕯️ Loving Touch]], a hand resting on the heart or the belly, or gently placed against our cheek. We can do a [[🧘 Body Scan]] and notice points of contact or sensations that *do* feel comfortable. We can use [[🕯️ Breathwork 💨]] and other [[💡 Emotional Regulation|Emotional Regulation]] techniques that not only help us feel safe, they communicate on a deep level, without words, that we actually are. %% We’ve likely all heard “Get out of your head and into your body.” I’m actually not a fan of this advice, in part because it’s fragmenting and in part because it can be shaming. [[🔑 Psyche and Soma are not separate]], our head is our body. And our heads kept many of us safe when we otherwise weren’t. Exercise and especially [[🛡️ Over-exercising]] are common [[Protector Strategies 🛡️|Protector Strategies]], so this can easily turn into a band-aid that never addresses the wound. But it’s also not quite that simple. ”Get out of your head and into your body” has something interesting hidden in it. It’s about more than just not thinking or escaping thought. The body is much more than a transportation vehicle — the body is *wise*, and our minds are often given too much responsibility. The divide isn’t between head and body (because they’re the same) but between thinking and feeing, cognition and somatics. You might say that our bodies think or problem-solve differently than cognition. We can let our body help. Stretch to what feels good. Process mindset. Enjoy the process. Find what feels good. %% ###### Keys - [[🔑 Psyche and Soma are not separate]] - [[🔑 The body embeds our psyche and the kosmos within each other]] - [[🔑 Parts of the body can be exiled]] - [[🔑 Parts use our minds and bodies to get or distract our attention]] - [[🔑 Polarized parts can use the body as a battleground]] - [[🔑 Trauma can heal somatically]] - [[🔑 Listen to your body]] - [[🔑 We have a right and responsibility to say No]] - [[🔑 We process both physical pain and emotional pain through our bodies]]. - [[🔑 Trauma disconnects us from our body]] - [[🔑 The body is a portal to the present moment]] - [[Symptoms of Unresolved Trauma#Somatic Symptoms of Unresolved Trauma|Somatic Symptoms of Unresolved Trauma]] ![[🕯️ Embodiment]] ###### Related - [[⭐️ Emotions]] - [[Tension]] - [[Urgency]] - [[⭐️ Self-Care]] - [[⭐️ Nutrition]] - [[Clothing]] - [[Medical Conditions and Diagnoses]] - [[💡 Sex and Sexuality]] - [[🛡️ Emotional Armoring]] - [[🕯️ Breathwork 💨]] - [[💡 Introception]] [^1]: