Thread by @sbuehler

a bit more about #somatic #internalization
... particularly my "housed in the body" phrasing 👇

https://twitter.com/sbuehler/status/1630717751261282304

I know there is concern with "stored emotions in the body" language

I share that concern

but let's unpack what this means ...

my POV

the impact & expression of emotion is #embodied

there is simply no other way to experience #emotion

there is wide, wide diversity in each individual's expression and experience of #emotion

How? Why?

babies, mammas, bodies, breasts
good & bad #objects etc

but really these are #dynamic moments of #embodiment and #development

involving #emotion that impacts #bodies

So is "emotion" held? No b/c "emotion" is a concept

As such one can "hold" concepts in "one's head" (also a physical act btw)

But what one actually "holds" are #patterns of #embodiment ... (though better to say "uses a lot")

Just as there are "patterns of thought"

there is their #mother
#patterns of action

... which are actually the same thing, but #thinkers don't experience their #body in a primary way so ...

In other words, there is a vast, vast world of #somatic #experience (ignore the brand) that "lives underneath" the mental chatter & #reverie

and those are all the patterns of one's life that surround the #thinking

#actionpatterns are #subtle and #profound

so let's say #theunconscious lives through our impulsive, emotional action patterns

as do our #defenses and #character traits

all of this is #embodiment

to summarize re emotion

"stored in body"

really means

"this action pattern of expression / suppression of emotional experience is used at thresholds of awareness both conscious and unconscious"

closing to say #defenses are not concepts or mysterious influences from vagaries of the mind

they are #patterns of #embodiment

that one can #learn to #feel and #influence

/end

Whoops ... wanted to return to the "internalization" part re #embodiment

so again the action is to "take in and hold" an experience that originated outside

in other words "to live in the body of a person where that experience is happening"

they "become" something outside ...

... by holding it (as though this were true) on the inside

their patterns of action in their bodies are held as though the external action is happening ALL the time

they now "live" as that action, in their own body

ex: internalized anger

daddy yelled at me, I learned to express was dangerous so I "internalize" his anger into my body

his pattern is uncontained, kinetic, eruptive, scary

I "hold" that inside to "keep it from overwhelming me"

so that experience varies a lot in how a person "internalizes" this experience, some might

- clench their pelvis
- tighten shoulders & jaw

others might

- feel overwhelmed in an abyss of GI symptoms
- focus anxiety as a physical concern

cc @rascality