Articles

Article #2

Exploring the Natural Healing Connection Between
Somatic Movement Therapy
and
Eye Movement Reprocessing and Desensitization Therapy

Sri van der Kroef

RSME

April 10, 2008

There is a beautiful bridge being formed now and in recent years, between the fields of somatic healing and neuropsychological healing.

The research and work of Dr. Peter Levine on the somatic approach to healing trauma as described in his book; Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma, North Atlantic Books, 1997,  explains that trauma can be fixated in a person’s lower brain processes, or limbic area, which is directly connected to the spine. He has found that allowing the body to clear at the somatic level allows for completion of the nervous system’s response to trauma, and the integration of the lower brain and psychomotor processes with the higher brain’s cognition and feeling centers.

Dr. Bruce Perry’s research on the nervous system’s adaptive response to trauma and his work with people who have post traumatic stress syndrome exploring among other things the chemical changes that take place in the brain as a result of trauma is also  a prominent influence in the creation of this bridge.

A third, and increasingly popular form of somatically based psychotherapy, which is also considered very effective for healing trauma, is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR. It  is this piece of the bridge that I would like to explore with you today.  Because there seems to me to be a natural and complimentary connection between Somatic Movement Therapy and EMDR.

Dr. Francine Shapiro discovered the potential of the EMDR technique in 1987 and has developed effective protocols for its use by an increasing number of psychotherapists around the world. She began to understand, along with others in the field, that simply talking about a trauma, and analyzing it did not necessarily relieve the emotional distress and psychosomatic symptoms that often accompany it. The discovery that the visual memory and the emotional memory of an event reside in different parts of the brain, and can  both be accessed and cleared through the EMDR technique, has been the basis for the success of this work. It is also why I feel that completing an EMDR session with somatic movement patterns would be a very important and beneficial addition to EMDR,  refining it and make it less daunting for the patient.

Dr. Shapiro states in her book; EMDR, Basic principles, protocols and procedures, Guilford Press, 2001, 2nd edition, that EMDR does work well with body based healing modalities, although I have not personally come across a therapist yet that has been using them.

I have drawn on Dr. Shapiro’s work as well as my own personal experience in receiving multiple sessions of EMDR over a period of a few months. It is the intense and delicate nature of my own experience in healing trauma that inspired me to explore this connection and the possible benefits of using Somatic Movement Therapy to refine the work of EMDR.

It became profoundly clear to me  after these sessions that the EMDR protocols, as effective as they are in accessing and releasing the neurological and energetic components of trauma, were incomplete as far as  clearing and integrating the discharged energy throughout the entire body.

EMDR uses different forms of bilateral stimulation of the body either by alternate tapping of the knees, or left/right clicking sounds in the ears via headphones, or simply following the therapist’s finger with the eyes from left to right and back while consciously recalling and speaking about a traumatic memory. This accesses the visual memories and their emotional counterparts at the same time, even though they are stored in different sides of the brain. The resulting discharge of both complexes of energy at once is effective but also can be a shock to the system in and of itself.

I believe that the entire body is effected by these energetic discharges and would be greatly benefited by some guided assistance in finding its new equilibrium  after such cathartic release. The extreme somatic reactions that my body went through after each session, including debilitating vertigo, spasming  psoas, throat and neck muscles that pulled my spine out of alignment, and general disorientation for a least 24 hours afterwards were a few of the symptoms I experienced.

The introduction of  somatic clearing techniques by a trained  therapist at the end of each session would be extremely helpful at this point in assisting a person in finding that new healthier state of equilibrium more quickly and with less distress.

Perhaps  some simple somatic clearing  could have greatly reduced the symptoms I had by completing the body’s movement of discharging, and clearing not only the higher processes of the brain that Dr. Levine describes, but also clearing all the way through the limbic brain, spine and throughout the extremities. This is perhaps where the benefits would be most greatly felt, finally  allowing the integration of the body’s natural patterns to emerge once again through the movement.

From this perspective it would seem that a large opportunity exists for somatic movement therapists to educate those using EMDR with their clients, or educating the clients themselves. I believe that the more we learn as a species about the body/mind connection and the importance of listening to the body’s wisdom, the bigger and more fascinating this bridge is going to become.

For more information on the simple techniques that can assist in this integration process, please see the contact page on this website to contact me.

Article #1

The Flow of Chi
as Dynamic Awareness
From Chaos to Continuity

Sri van der Kroef
RSME, CLMT
March 15, 2009

The softest thing in the universe
Overcomes the hardest thing in the universe.
That without substance can enter where there is no             room.
Hence I know the value of non action.

Teaching without words and work without doing
Are understood by very few

Chp. Forty Three, Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tsu,
written originally over 2,500 years ago.

Medical research into the nature of the relationship between the brain and the heart has revealed that the electromagnetic field of the heart is 5000 times stronger than that of the brain.

That is just one of the interesting things I have learned in my study of the connection between the phenomenon known as chi–and, awareness, or what could also be described as Presence.

I’m sure most of you are somewhat familiar with the eastern concept of chi, or life force, as it is thought of in relation to Tai Chi, Chi gong, or the energy used in acupuncture and other forms of energetic healing.

One of my favorite authors on the subject, Dr. Richard Gerber, describes it in his book; “Vibrational Medicine,” as “the life force, present in a living system…that displays the properties of negative entropy…” In other words, it creates continuity and increased order within a system, and when it leaves the system or physical form, -decomposition, decay, entropy, and chaos result. For this reason chi has been described as an intelligent force in ancient eastern texts, and as coherent light energy, by quantum physicists, the underlying principle of which is the tendency toward organization, growth, balance and the capacity for healing within a living system.

Chi is electromagnetic in nature, and has been discovered in quantum science to actually be responsive to the thoughts and intensions of the observer.  Experiments with sub atomic energy  particles, in particle accelerators, have shown that when one’s attention, or awareness is placed on these energy particles, they respond in accordance with the expectations and desires of the observer, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, where they are expected, and disappearing when the attention is removed.

We use our conscious awareness to observe, and to intend.
And, today I am suggesting the idea-which is not a new one, that perhaps these are multiple aspects of the same energy. The awareness, the intension,  and the chi which is responding to it.
There is some food for thought here, as to whether it is all one field, even the mind as part of it, directing the energy toward healing itself.

I believe, in the field of undifferentiated awareness, that chi is the name for its phase as a dynamic energy that creates coherence, and is therefore healing in nature.
In Vibrational Medicine, Gerber points out that, when using the intension to heal, the energy fields of healers in several studies who focused on increasing the cellular activity and growth in test tubes of enzymes, always resulted in the  greater health of the enzyme cells.

He says, “It was as though this healing energy appeared to have an almost innate intelligence in the way it could therapeutically distinguish between the different test tubes of enzymes.” Even though the healer did not know which enzyme was in them, the focused chi brought about greater health and growth in each of them.

I believe that is why we can direct the chi in our own energy fields toward correcting imbalances in the physical, emotional and mental aspects of our being.

If we can see ourselves not only as physical bodies, but also as energetic systems, it is easier to make use of this undistorted healing energy. It is available to us when we clear our minds of incoherent thoughts and negative feelings, and focus it for healing. It moves through our bodies, pushing open blockages caused by stagnant energy, as water flows down a stream, carrying off debris as it heads back to the source. Allowing the body to  release and express its natural flow in feeling and thought, and return to its original patterns of movement, it creates greater continuity within our whole being.

Glen Rein, among others of the The Heartmath Institute of Boulder Creek California, (which some of you may have heard of), has conducted some fascinating studies in the use of consciously focused awareness on the human energy field. A study using meditators who were in a state of  unconditional love and caring,  showed that they were able to generate greater coherence in their own electrocardiogram patterns. Interestingly, the patterns were characterized by a smooth, sinus wave like form. The waves were separated by a proportionality factor identical to pi, which is the ratio of the golden mean found mathematics and classical art, and the living forms of nature. Pi is considered to be a magic ratio for creating harmony and beauty.

Gerber goes on to state that “The coherent energy pattern of the heart center during moments of love, apparently has the ability to influence energetic patterns in the body, as well as the potential to influence distant events.”
…Rein and his coworkers found that loving meditators, with an increased heart rhythm coherence, had the ability to voluntarily affect the winding and unwinding patterns of DNA in a test tube, for a distance of up to a half mile away,” effectively turning on chromosomes that had gone unused. Those with a less coherent pattern were unable to produce the same effect.

Greg Braden, the author and visionary scientist, quotes these studies in his seminar The Divine Matrix, and explains, basically, Love evolves us.

This is the basis for my interest in somatic healing movement; that we as beings have the capacity to heal ourselves.

Creating time and space in our lives, for the sacred dance between  the expression of our inner body‘s wisdom,  and the healing life force of chi. we can tap into the hidden knowledge there, and find the harmony and the beautiful balance  we as people need for health and happiness.
We also can have more control over our  own destiny, and less dependence on external circumstances than we previously thought.

The forms of chi gong, somatic movement therapy and floor work,  moving meditation, somatic experiencing and psychology,  all assist in clearing the physical, and emotional issues that we hold in our nervous systems in reaction to stress and trauma.

My own experience of images spontaneously arising during somatic movement began for me, – an exploration of the symbolic language of the unconscious mind, and memory.  The information vital to our greater understanding, often gets tucked away, because it is too frightening to experience in the moment.  It can be made available to our conscious mind during explorations designed to invite it out — to be seen, and moved through  outer expression, then integrated and grounded by the movement itself.

Carl Jung revisited the concept of alchemical symbolism as
“archetypes that gave him great insight into the deeper layers of the human psyche,” and “that dwell in our unconscious.” I have found myself that the universal symbols that appear to me during this work are powerful messages illuminating hidden information.

So, now we are going have an interactive exploration, with  ourselves and the chi, not really directing it, but inviting it in to see whatever our body-mind-hearts have to say to us. We can also use visualization to help access the symbolic information that may be helpful to our conscious understanding.
By honoring the sacredness of our inner experience as influenced by our external lives,  and expressing it through intrinsic, internally guided movement, we can see what might emerge for us in this state.

When the heart’s response to life and the experience of being is fully honored, we recognize these inner voices as real and valid, guiding us toward a more authentic and fulfilling life.

This is an exploration in consciously inviting in the chi, the healing presence, and opening ourselves to listening for a deeper level of knowing. It may have something to show you, or movement to express through you, or a feeling.
You can stand, sit or lie down.  It is important to stay internally focused in this experience, it may be easier to keep your eyes closed for part of the time if you feel distracted.

Let’s start by finding a spot on the floor, on a mat or towel.
Let’s take a few deep breaths…
Close your eyes, and try to sense your hands, feel the energy in them that allows you to know they are there.

In order to stay grounded, and yet available to the deeper knowledge, let’s invite the chi energy to flow in through the top of the head into the heart first. See it flowing into your body,
you can see it in a color, or white, knowing that it is a loving, coherent light energy flowing through your being.
Then as you breathe, see it also move up from the earth through base of the spine to the heart, grounding you through the healing chi of the earth.

Take a several deep breaths, …

Keeping your attention as much as possible on this inner experience, notice if it moves through you any area in particular, or moves any part of the body, just let it move as it wishes to

Notice any colors, words or pictures, or sensations.

Just letting the dance have its own life. And

explore going with what happens next.

Sources:

Vibrational Medicine, Richard Gerber, M.D.  pp 526-529

Greg Braden, The Divine Matrix (Workshop, San Francisco, CA, 2007)

The Tao te Ching,  by Lao Tsu

Taoist qi Gong for Health and Vitality, by Sat Chuen Hon

Quantum Reality,  Nick Herbert

Physics of the Soul,  Amit Goswami