Stephen Buehler Profile picture
Mar 3 9 tweets 4 min read
I’ve become very adverse to “charge” & “discharge” in #somatic language b/c of the misappropriation by the #trauma workshops merchants

But this is what it means 👇🏼
“If we speak of charge and discharge in Body Psychotherapy we refer to changing the arousal dimension of the core affect. Working with charge and discharge is independent of the emotional category that we awaken or calm by provoking or soothing arousal.” - Ulfried Geuter and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
In other words …

“emotion”

as a “somatic experience” (ignore the brand)

is a kinesthetic, experiential occurrence that impacts how bodies animate, express, dampen, numb, dissociate, etc
this “experience” includes

- thinking
- breathing
- moving
- holding

that literally involve

- muscles
- neurons
- bones
- blood
- oxygen
+ thousands of physical things that I’m not listing here
The processes that some people sense some people sense sometimes are

- chemical
- electrical

Such as

- thinking
- digestion
- respiration
+ many, many more
so “charge” means the experience of being

- primed for action
- full of feeling
- ready to express
- full of potential energy

a #dialogic that orients to a #dynamic #homeostasis

of all these variables and moving parts
And “discharge” the expression of that potential

that generates the rebalancing of these embodied experiences

with hierarchies of goals and purposes that are sometimes unknown to the person consciously engaging w themselves & world
Here’s where there are major problems with how the #trauma workshop vendors conceptualize this process

❌ “must complete cycle”
❌ “health is expression”
❌ “charge must discharge”

At a molecular level, yes
At an embodied level, no

👉🏼 Each. Person. Is. Different.
What has been the cost of the proliferation of these #trauma frameworks?

- reducing experience into binaries
- framing experience as “trauma”
- conflating science and art

By certifying people in their understanding of #concepts

Knowing little abt #embodiment

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More from @sbuehler

Mar 2
Another point on #differentiation esp as it relates to #collaboration

quick 🧵👇🏼
2/ when a person identifies themselves through #concepts they prize, hoard & claim them “as theirs”

and will sometimes “die for them”

b/c of the mechanism of identification is #conceptual
with #somatic #differentiation comes an internal network of self-experience that gives one access to a felt sense of #emergence

where harmonies, symphonies, waves, charges, compressions, tightens

of #experience occur
Read 8 tweets
Mar 1
my #somatic mentors insisted on two things that I am still engaged with & refining (forever) …

1/ I speak from my own direct experience, not through concepts

2/ I express my own words, and not use theirs or “pretend through their form”

to me this invites #differentiation
in other words … understanding words, even having mastery of the concepts that words describe

amounts to “very little value” from the standpoint of one’s own emergence

this is a provocative concept

esp to thinking minds (as I have)
thinking mind says “I know about this stuff … let me list off the concepts and details with the familiar words …”

embodiment says ???

(embodiment speaks without words)

Read 6 tweets
Mar 1
a bit more about #somatic #internalization
... particularly my "housed in the body" phrasing 👇
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
Read 15 tweets
Feb 18
what I’m calling #thesystem is a serious risk to #wellness and #organizationaleffectiveness 🧵👇
Theory: in large human endeavors "the system" resists or rejects the dialogic learning; real relating

like having an inescapable gravity of "status quo" & "performing relationships" that dehumanizes

so "good people" & "good organizations" can "get infected by the system"

...
why? because of an institutional form of "peer pressure"

patterns of action & behavior that "norm" for the individual in the group, including tools for control

so ingroup-outgroup dynamics propel & reinforce these "emotive" patterns

control levers reinforce hierarchies

...
Read 8 tweets
Feb 18
One interesting thing about me that different from many scientists and logical thinkers:

I don’t care if the terms are fuzzy or yield different definitions

b/c I’m guided by what I feel & know

Not (primarily) ideas or concepts, though they are part of the discovery
The advantage for this way of “researching” is that one can recognize how others are rising their language, from their framework, to describe the same things

This resonance w difference is joyful!

Like discovering a sibling or a cousin, and feeling the similarities instantly

-
And part of the wonder in these explorations to different worlds is the encountering of a new logic

Ex: “that color is blue” is stated when we both begin to color together

The entry point to experience is “too-down” w structure, definition and “knowing”

Cool! Let’s do that!
Read 4 tweets
Feb 18
"How To Become A Trauma-Informed Employer: Trauma-informed employers will be well-equipped to recognize the underlying cause of these difficulties and to provide support and guidance for that underlying trauma." from bit.ly/3lPfxXe worries me 🧵 👇
1/ I do wish more organization were "trauma informed"

we all recognize how organizations (and society) can generate the experience of trauma

and understanding this, organizations (and society) can take action to reduce these impacts

we can all agree that will be better, no?
2/ I am worried about performative awards for orgs

notice language: "... employers will be well-equipped to recognize the underlying cause of these difficulties and to provide support and guidance for that underlying trauma"

that's it? recognize, provide support & guidance?
Read 5 tweets

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