Being in our body can feel really hard for many of us. This is especially true for those of us who have experienced any kind of trauma related to it.
Maybe, it was physical abuse, which now causes us to flee from our bodies and jump into our minds. Or maybe, it was an accident that left us feeling so small and vulnerable that being in our body feels very threatening now.
These are just two examples of the countless ways in which our connection to our bodies gets shattered.
And so, it becomes important to build connections back to it. We have to find bits and pieces of understanding to get clear about what exactly is happening when our body is triggered or activated.
Recently, I came across this graphic in Hillary L. McBride’s book Practices for Embodied Living, which felt like another gathering of a piece.
It’s called The Stress-Response Staircase:
Most of us have heard of the “Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn” responses. What jumped out at me was that all these responses come under the Mobilization stage of the stress-response cycle.
So, they are actually a step ABOVE total shut-down.
I felt like just being able to recognize we are not at the bottom step can be a game changer. I know many of us, especially sensitives, judge ourselves harshly for things like freezing like a deer in the headlights. But whether we are freezing or fleeing or something else, our body is doing its automatic thing and trying to keep us safe.
Understanding that “fight, flight, freeze, or fawn” responses are not indicators of something wrong with us or something faulty about our characters, but an indicator of how stressed we might be and the actual stressors in our environment can go a really long way.
And when we do have those tough moments in our lives when we feel ourselves shutting down completely, when we are at the lowest stage of the stress-response cycle, just being able to see this can clue us in to the severity of our stress. And that means the possibility of a little more compassion for ourselves.
I thought this was a really interesting way to place ourselves and the level of stress we are feeling. And to also see that upward and negative spirals happen step-by-step.
Also, check out Hillary L McBride’s site here. She is, amongst other things, a therapist and an author. I found a lot of great exercises in her book Practices for Embodied Living, and if you are looking for practices for reconnecting with your body, this is a great one!
Ritu Kaushal is the author of the book The Empath’s Journey and a Silver Medal Awardee at the Rex Awards, co-presented by the United Nations in India. Find more about Ritu HERE.
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