Thread by @sbuehler

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