Have you ever felt that ache in your back or pain in your shoulder, knee or foot and wondered to yourself where that came from all of a sudden? I know I have. It’s often just irritating and I push through it. Sometimes it’s too painful and I can’t push through the pain. Let’s discuss how the body stores trauma to let you know that you need healing and the power of somatic therapy to help you heal and feel good in your body.

Most of us believe that when our body is in pain, we have two choices: ignore the pain and keep on moving forward OR go see a doctor/self-medicate.

We rarely stop and think of another option that could have long-term benefits and relief.

I used to just ignore anything that hurt assuming it would go away on its own. Over the years, I wondered about the role of pharmaceuticals in our health. It felt like everyone was pushing a drug to mask our symptoms but never really addressing the actual cause of our physical and emotional distress/pain. A bandaid can only last so long. The wound is still there under the bandaid for most of us.

When I got diagnosed with breast cancer, I started to see a trend. Western medicine was wonderful and all about getting rid of the tumor. No one seemed to have time to ponder why I had gotten breast cancer when I had no family history and I was a very healthy person for all my life. Eastern medicine, on the other hand, stopped and reflected on the “why breast cancer” with the belief that my body was out of balance and trying to tell me to change a pattern so I could get relief long term. So I combined both eastern and western medicine and have been cancer-free and thriving for years now.

During this time, I really started to explore what my body was trying to tell me with the cancer. It was at this time I discovered somatic therapy. Somatic therapy is not new but it hasn’t gotten the same amount of attention as cognitive behavior therapy, which is talk therapy that engages the mind.

Over the years, somatic therapy has been gaining more attention. The book, The Body Keeps the Score, a New York Times bestseller, brought to light in 2015 how much the body keeps trauma trapped, thus impacting us on a cellular level. Harvard Health has written an article explaining somatic therapy, as well.

As Harvard Health explains, somatic therapy is, “a treatment focusing on the body and how emotions appear within the body….[because] our body holds and expresses experiences and emotions, and traumatic events or unresolved emotional issues can be ‘trapped’ inside”. These trapped events and trauma or emotions show up as aches and pains and perhaps even cancers.

Addressing our emotions seems to be the best tool we know in helping release the body and alleviate the resulting pain. Over the years, whether I’m addressing my own emotions or working through clients’ emotions in order to have an optimal Emotional Resonance Factor^®, I know the role this work has in generating healthy and successful brands – professionally and personally. Mental or physical pain does not allow anyone to bring their best self anywhere – work or home.

I have experienced a form of somatic therapy called The Rosen Method, which has been quite effective. Rosen is very popular in Europe and has yet to gain traction in the United States. From my own experience, during a Rosen session emotions are gently addressed as the practitioner focuses on muscle tension and breathing rhythms. All of this causes my body to release the trauma of memories and events, and thus releases the physical pain my body is using as a signal to tell me something is “off” and needs my attention.

What does this mean for you? Stop and ask yourself:

• How often do you get aches and pains in your body?
• Do they reoccur?
• How do you heal your body? Drugs or otherwise?
• When you get an ache, do you have any recall of an emotion attached to it? Does it show up at work during a particular conversation or big project?

The next time your body feels “off”, stop and take a deep breath and ask yourself some of these questions. The answers may surprise you and allow you to get some relief instantly.

Want to learn more about the role of your emotions and your body aches/pains in how you succeed personally and professionally? Join us for a one-day workshop, The Serenity Summit, to experience the techniques yourself and gain clarity, focus and balanced healing to eliminate your pain.