Hey everybody, today we're going to talk about something that has gotten a lot of chatter, and a ton of requests,
and that is: body memories.
What are they, and can we do anything to make them go away?
Today we're going to be talking about body memories.
There is, I want to start off by addressing this,
there's a lot of chatter within the psychological community,
and a lot of people who believe they exist, or don't believe they exist.
And they fight it out, you can read the research, you can read the blogs, and the arguments and the discussions.
And I think the reason that there's so much of an argument,
is because many people, the people who don't believe body memories exist,
believe that there are no other cells in our body, other than our brain,
that we can actually test and know, store memory.
Does that make sense?
So it's like none of the cells any other place in our body other than our brain, in our noggin,
can actually store memory.
The people who argue that body memories actually do exist,
argue that that's wrong, and they will talk about how they've seen clients,
there was an actually, really compelling, if I can find the link to it - I think I bookmarked it,
I'll put it in the description.
There was an article where this woman, who was a practitioner,
specializes in trauma,
talked about how one of her clients, when she would describe the trauma,
in her, like, processing through it, and talking it out,
she'd been choked, and assaulted.
And the handprint would actually show itself on her neck, when she would talk about it.
And this was this woman's thought about body memories really existing,
and the fact that, at the cellular level, our body can store it, and it shows it, like that handprint.
And I've seen it in my own private practice, so I would argue that I think they do exist,
and that body memories are a real thing, because I've heard it from you, I've heard it from a lot of my clients,
and the way that it's been described to me in many cases, is kind of in conjunction with a flashback, right?
So we've had a trauma, had something happen to us,
and when that flashback occurs, and it feels like we're back in that place,
we actually feel whatever happened to us in our bodies, whether that be someone grabbing our wrist,
whether that be a rape happening, whether that be being assaulted, or punched, or anything like that.
We can feel it again, as if it's happening right now.
As I'm sure you can guess by all of the different experiences and examples that I've given,
that body memories are most correlated with trauma, and someone having a trauma.
I have no doubt that there are other reasons that they may happen and you may experience them, but that's been my experience.
So leave in the comments, if you think there's something else,
there's some other experience, or something significant that's happened to you,
that has caused you to have body memories, because I would love to learn more,
and that's the great thing about our community, sharing experience with expertise, to get the best result, yay!
That's what body memories may feel like, look like, that may be how you experience them.
If that's what we think we're struggling with, what do we do for treatment options?
The first is EMDR, I have a video on it, I'll link it here, you can click over there and check that out.
There are also different forms of trauma therapy, and I've had someone reach out recently,
to want me to address more of the other types of trauma therapy, so let's get right into them.
The next is CBT-T therapy - that is a trauma specialized CBT type of therapy.
I have a video about CBT, I don't do CBT trauma, myself, but I will look into it more and get back to you on that.
The other option is talk therapy, which is what I do.
And that's the thought that as we talk through in detail, through a trauma, through a terrible experience,
that we slowly give our brain time to catch up and process through it, so that the flashbacks and body memories can go away.
Another option is DBT, and you know that I do that, and that's my thing,
but I have a video about it, if you want more specifics about DBT,
and I think the reason that DBT can actually help with body memories, is the mindfulness factor.
And the fact that we can be aware of what's going on in our body,
I'm closing my eyes because that's what I have my clients do,
and notice when the emotions start, where they start, and using some of those relaxation techniques, or other techniques, to help kind of bring that back down.
There's a lot of, like, somatic experiencing that we do with DBT,
and I think it's really important for us to recognize what's going on in our bodies so that we can stop it before it becomes overwhelming.
Also, there's exercise, and I know that sounds really weird,
you'd be like, "Kati, that's not a treatment option, that's not a therapy."
But that's something that can actually help with body memories, specifically.
A lot of clients feel like they have energy racing through them and they feel really overwhelmed,
and just, maxed out, with all that's going on, and all that they're feeling and experiencing,
and exercise can help exert that energy and get it out.
There are a couple techniques that one of the trauma specialists that I'll have on the channel soon,
they talk about pushing into walls, doing kickboxing and punching, those can be really powerful/aggressive
movements that help us feel like we're breaking our body out of that memory it's stuck in.
And it kind of helps us, instead of feeling like the energy is cycling around and around, that we're getting it out.
As a sidenote, yoga can also be extremely beneficial, because of the breathing, and the progressive relaxation that comes along with it,
the strengthening of the muscles, and the relaxing of it, the flexing and relaxing, so that's another option as well.
And lastly there is a therapy, and I don't do it myself, so this is something that I had to research and read about a lot,
but it's called somatic experiencing, and I'm looking down at my notes, because they just call it SE for short,
just like CBT instead of cognitive behavioral therapy, it's shortened.
So SE was created by Peter Levine in 1997.
And he believes that because, he talks about how animals in the wild, when they go through a really stressful event,
let's say, there's a bunch of horses, and they're racing through something - they've been startled and they're running across the field,
when they get to a place where they get to stop, and they're safe, and they're calm,
they do, sort of, like, these snorts.
We've all seen, if you've been around animals - I guess grew up in the country so I'm assuming that you've seen animals do this, but they,
they like, kick their feet and snort, and they do different things to like, [horse noise]
And it's a natural way for their body to come back to baseline.
Right, we've had this really stressful event, and a lot is going on, and we exert this energy and then our body calms back down.
In my practice I've seen it with deep breaths, or stretching, even yawning.
There are a bunch of things that our bodies do to kind of bring, it's almost like, resetting our system so that it can feel calmer and ok.
Therefore, in somatic experiencing, Peter Levine recommends having people do things like that
to help their nervous system come back to the baseline and to feel calmer and better, and there's so much more information about this, you guys.
I will link in the description the article that I read about it, and some of the research behind it,
but if you are looking into this, and this is something that you want to do yourself,
please make sure you see someone who is certified.
Peter Levine actually has a training he does to help people better understand it and make sure that they're practicing it properly.
Because, as with all treatment, it's really important that you see someone who knows what they're doing,
because this could be really scary and potentially retraumatizing.
But know that body memories are normal. I have a lot of clients who experience them, and they can be really powerful.
And the shitty thing about it is that we find that they're usually the last part of our trauma to go away,
and so if you're starting to to process through it, and you're like:
"Man, my body memories are getting worse, what the hell, what gives?"
That's perfectly normal, keep with the program, keep working through it,
because after we've kind of processed everything through, all of the other details, and nitty-gritty stuff,
the body memories will dissipate at the end.
So don't give up, and use some of these different tools, and tips, and tricks you can do on your own,
like the exercise one, or checking out some of my DBT stuff, and my worksheets, I have CBT worksheets on my website for free.
There are so many things!
But leave in the comments as always, let me know what your experience has been, or is this something that you've been going through?
Is this something that you've been told doesn't exist? Let me know what everybody's talking about.
And if you're new to my channel, click here to subscribe, I put out videos all the time and you don't want to miss them!
And if you want to see other content about stuff like this, and trauma, click over here. And I will see you next time!
Bye!
(Do you want me to record this one?)
I will kill you!
[Deep breath]
Coffee! :)