The Body-mind: Working Somatically for Lasting Change

<blockquote> “Thoughts alone tend to lose out under pressure….when the pressure comes on, what is most deeply practiced in us or what is embodied is what will come forward.” — Staci K. Haines </blockquote> How often have you tried to think or read your way to change? Perhaps you picked up a good book, hung a motivational quote in your office, or simply said to yourself that you were going to start doing this or stop doing that. Well-intentioned resolutions and aspirations to be different, to work differently, live differently often fall short of the real change we yearn for. Instead, we find ourselves wedged tightly in the well-worn grooves etched into the bedrock of our lives. Simply put, our thoughts alone are often inadequate to change the behaviors and habits we feel stuck in. <h2>How, then, do we change?</h2> The work of transformation, the process by which we reorganize the way we respond to stimuli, is the work of ‘coming home’ to yourself. This means, coming home to your feelings, your senses, your sensations, and ultimately to your sense of your body in space. Working somatically, using your body and sensations, exercises deeper layers of instinct and knowing. For lasting change to occur, more is required from us than cognition alone. We must coordinate both the mind and the body. This means our entire selves must show up to do the work, fully participating with our whole bodies. Staying in constant connection with who we are becoming, what we love, and what matters to us in this brain-heart-gut complex are parts of the equation. <a href="https://medium.com/reboot-leadership-resiliency/the-body-mind-working-somatically-for-lasting-change-d33d9af8c7ba">Website</a>