Author: Erin Lee Henshaw
Co-founder, The Mind Body Project
As you might have heard, The Mind Body Project practices an integrated, somatics-based approach to healing trauma. Our Shenti Protocol calls on the mind body tools of somatics, talk therapy and community to form a triangle of healing. Having developed trauma sensitive practices that are currently being used in a crisis and stabilization clinic, here is my list of the top six topics that traditional therapy gets wrong.
1. DSM-V Psychology Labels (bipolar, schizophrenia, boarderline, etc) are symptoms, NOT illnessss or root causes. The root cause is trauma. Could be from birth, poverty, chronic illness, situational, but these are normal coping mechanisms for abnormal situations.
2. Movement and diet MUST be part of healing. If your professional doesn’t mention BOTH, they are missing the mind body connection. Movement is necessary to move emotions up and out and without a healthy gut we cannot produce happiness chemicals.
3. We don’t always heal with “calm and quiet,” some people and some moments NEED high intensity to meet the mood. Sometimes we breathe slowly, sometimes we practice hyperventilation. Sometimes we calmly regulate our nervous system, sometimes we rage! We need the permission to do both…in therapy!
4. The only way to it is through it. If you aren’t being encouraged to sit with deeply uncomfortable emotions and held until they pass, this is repression and it sits in the body until it gets the chance to be tenderly released.
5. Suicidal ideation is not bad, wrong or shameful…it’s the mind telling the body it’s too much, it’s time to heal, let go and get support. It comes when we are ready to learn something new and let go. If someone is suicidal, it’s an entry point to find support and change.
6. Finding joy is essential in healing. When we don’t find joy, we cannot handle the pain.
Before you listen to another professional, ask your body if it’s comfortable and what would feel good. It just might tell you the truth.