Sensational Living
Stories. Have you noticed the cultural rise in storytelling as a tool for connecting and healing? Yes. Storytelling has a place, of course, because we communicate (mostly) verbally. Sharing one on one, in circle, with a group allows us to break open and be seen, supported. This is the beginning of healing. Allowing others to see us can teach us how to see ourselves - to see what is happening right here in this moment, in our bodies in connection with other beings (pets, humans, plants, etc).
I consider stories to be the surface and for those of you that want to heal more deeply, there’s more. The polyvagal theory supports this perspective in so much as stories are the gateway, feelings are next and deepest are the visceral sensations (embodiment). Our bodies communicate chemically, with movement and all of this can be felt in the subtle sensations - mind blown? Our hormones are chemicals that can shift how we perceive the conditions we are living in and when we are disconnected to these physiological shifts we can react to a temporary way of seeing that will shift. Our organs move, literally. Well, some of them. The muscles move, the intestinal tract definitely contracts and moves things along to be digested and integrated. The gastrointestinal tract is an awesome thing. Have you ever considered that the whole world outside of you is inside of you? The GI tract from mouth to anus is an open tube that twists and turns, and it’s open at both ends. This is wild and it’s inside of you.
When we can be with the sensations and stay with the sensations, the feelings may not even be created and the stories - oh the stories! We can see the feelings and the stories and there is space to be in inquiry with them. Is the body actually alerting me or are these sensations reminiscent of a past event and the body is acting out an old event that is not fully processed? Only you know.
The amazing thing is that sensations can inform what we need, if we are listening wholeheartedly and openly. Live sensationally.