Resource Up
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is a resource-based modality. The great news is that you already have resources ready to be tapped. You can build these, as well as gather resources you don’t yet have, in the in-between times. Awareness is always the first step.
Definition of Resource: A source of support or aid, especially one that can readily be drawn when needed; a natural source of wealth; a natural feature that enhances the quality of human life; something to which one has recourse to in difficulty; an ability to meet or handle a situation.
In healing the echoes of trauma held in the body, whether from larger traumas (as from illness, birth, accidents, injuries, surgery, etc…) or the daily adrenalized buffeting you experience in the frantic pace of modern life, the key is tipping the balance between the trauma energy/holding pattern in the system and the well of resources you have available to you. In resource-based work, you always start with resources, then feed and support what is working. Resources give you a cushion. Finding them in challenging moments allows you to meet those moments with awareness, and gives you space to slow down and respond in new ways.
Meet Your Resources: Practices to Identify and Strengthen
What You Have
- Make a list of 10 (or 50, or 100) things that you love. Go through all of your senses as you ponder this. Sight, smell, sound, taste, touch, movement, internal awareness, energy, spirit…Include people, places, animals, things, food, experiences you have had, parts (or the whole) of your body, qualities you have or admire in someone else… These are some of your resources.
- Take a few minutes to settle comfortably and look over your list. Pick one resource that calls your attention. Notice how it feels in your body. Notice if there are textures, colors, word, sensations–or combination of things–that capture that felt sense for you. Shift again through all of your senses to notice what is there. If you want, you can give that felt sense a name.
- What you’re after is a fully embodied sense of that resource. For example, a good resource for me is “unexpected rain on a hot summer day”. This combines the elements of happy surprise, temperature change, sensation of raindrops on my skin, the smell of rain on the hot pavement or dirt, a feeling of relief… The way to get back here for me (also called an anchor) is by recalling the smell. That brings back a complete body memory.
- Even spending a few minutes finding your way to your felt sense of a resource, and fleshing it out with all of your senses, helps to grow that resource. It’s like building a new muscle… Practice finding your way there when you first start feeling stressed. Take a few deep breaths and let that sensory image fill your body. Let it percolate through your nervous system.
- To start orienting to resources in daily life: Make a list of your non-negotiables. What must you have in your life to thrive? A great cup of coffee in the morning? A daily walk? A cuddly pet? Good food? Movement? Sleep, X-amount of time to yourself, quiet space, rowdy social engagement? Just start noticing what wants to be on that list.
- Start your morning by asking yourself the simple questions, “What would I like for myself today?” and “What one non-negotiable can I make sure gets prioritized?”
- List 10 things that help you feel good in your body.
- List 10 people who support you.
- List 10 memories that are sources of strength for you.
- See Find Your Feet and Move and Drop Under the Chop
Learn the fine art of Constructive Rest, a great way to build the resources of peace, balance, and ease in your system. This is a wonderful way to passively release the psoas, the muscle that holds the memory of fight/flight/freeze in your body, allowing it to let go of what it holds and become fluid and responsive (and a resource!). Much more on the psoas on Liz Koch’s website: Core Awareness.
The difference between: On Edge–Tense, nervous, irritable and On the Edge of One’s Seat–Very excited and giving one’s full attention to something.. is resources!