Modern therapy has lost its soul.

A field that once had its roots in animism is now more machine than art.

Insurance companies have driven a need for evidence based practices, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), as the primary driver of therapeutic education and therapeutic work.

“If growth cannot be quantified than it does not qualify for financial reimbursement.”

This is tragic.

Healing is not a linear process and corporate interests are keeping people sick.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

CBT, a strictly cognitive modality, is a decent tool.

I’ve used it personally, and I use it it with my clients, but it’s akin to trimming the leaves of a weed instead of uprooting it.

There is a better, more comprehensive approach.

One that includes the reality that your thoughts and emotions are built off physiological responses of the body.

Body > Mind

Nervous system: Our nervous system, also known as our “arousal system” consists of the brain and spinal cord.

It serves as the pathway for transmitting information from the brain to the body and vice versa.

It has it’s roots in our reptilian and mammalian brain, which are older than our prefrontal cortex (responsible for rational thought).

Our nervous system is working and responding to life in a manner that, most of the time, is beyond our comprehension.

This is why CBT is so limiting. How can you focus on getting better if the reason you may be feeling poorly is beyond your comprehension?

Trying to change your thoughts (CBT) without focusing on the body is pointless.

Two aspects of the nervous system:

Sympathetic and Parasympathetic, each hold physiological and emotional responses. 

1. Sympathetic Nervous System (responsible for fight, flight, and fawn)

Activated when the mammalian brain registers danger or threat. It is an animal instinct designed to protect us from danger and/or prepare us for a threat.

Body’s response to sympathetic activation: Increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and adrenaline. Decrease in digestion, fuel storage, relational ability, and insulin activity.

Emotional response in sympathetic activation: Panic, fear, rage, anger, irritation, anxiety, worry, and frustration.

2. Parasympathetic Nervous system (responsible for rest, digestion, and social engagement)

Body’s response to parasympathetic activation: Increase in digestion, immune system strength, and blood circulation to vital organs. Decrease in defensive responses.

Emotional response in parasympathetic activation: Joy, curiosity, openness, compassion, and grounded-ness.

Understand this: the physiological response comes before the emotional one.

Somatic Therapy: Embracing the wisdom of the body.

How do you quantify the human soul?

There are quantifiable markers in life satisfaction and contentment, but the means cannot be measured because it is not a linear process and different for everyone.

This is why we need an approach that includes the reality of our body-emotion connection.

Somatic therapy is the answer. Over the last three years it has changed my life more than anything else.

It involves exploring the physical sensations, movements, and expressions that accompany emotions.

By integrating the body into therapeutic work, practitioners tap into a deeper understanding of the client's lived experience.

It is more art and alchemy than anything else.

There are a stack of skills that lead up to becoming your own somatic practitioner and it is a deeply personal experience.

I will be offering a free somatic therapy course in the coming weeks, but for now I want to give you the entry point in becoming your own somatic artist.

Yogra Nidra

A practice designed to increase your awareness of sensory experience, a prerequisite to deeper work.

Check out Andrew Huberman explain the benefits here and then follow that up with his 10 minute practice here. This will get you started.

Keep an eye out for follow up emails for more info on the skill stack that lead me to freedom

Best,

Brian Maierhofer