If unresolved trauma is stored in the body— Where are beauty, joy, and love saved?
My trauma resolution journey (consciously) began…
I’m lying on my back on a massage table, fully clothed. It’s surprisingly comfortable. I’ve been asked to recall a recent car accident.
As I drive along Paseo de Peralta, on my way to pick up the kids after a full day of clients, I’m frazzled and short on time. I pull up to an intersection…
At this point, Peter asks me to pause. He interrupts my story and gently invites me to slow down. Slow waaay down.
In slow motion, driving my Subaru, I approach the intersection, and my perception shifts, and curves. A strange, involuntary jerking takes over my neck, as my head twitches trancelike unwinding. I strain to see … something is approaching from a dark corner of my periphery.
Floating in a dimension beyond space, and time, where all perception flows open, I dissipate into spinning molecules that dissolve into vast slow-moving galactic star systems.
The body quivers and shivers autonomically, dissolving pathways of frozen life force. A supernova explosion.
I float and with a gentle touch, I am brought back to the present moment. I feel fragile, vulnerable, and full of grace.
There was no need to recount the story of the accident. No need to analyze the events. The frozen trauma residue is released. My nervous system feels vibrant, alive, and full of gratitude.
That was how I learned through direct experience, (and later through theoretical teachings) to resolve the effects of trauma through the body. Peter Levine and Pat Ogden were (and continue to be) visionaries in trauma resolution and body-centered psychotherapy. I had the honor to study with them both in the 1990s.
I am a somatic movement educator, not a licensed therapist.
My work, over the years with thousands of performing artists, painters, musicians, dancers, and writers embraces the body’s inner wisdom as a transformative doorway into well-being and creative expression.
The powerful work I learned from Pat and Peter continues to root and inform my work.
Today, I welcome students into a playfully immersive world of trust, safety, and inspired curiosity, where past wounds melt away, and love, joy, and beauty rise to the top, like cream.
It’s true, we learn and grow 10 times faster through play!
If the inspiration calls, join us at Embodied Living online or in person.
With joy and gratitude,
—Melissa