The Sacred Body

Right before I left for Iowa to attend The Examined Life Conference, I saw my chiropractor. She has helped me for the past year recover from a concussion and whiplash, so I am in deep gratitude to her. But after this particular adjustment, I had a problem. As I lay on my back, she suddenly pulled [...]

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Normal!

Yesterday, I had a mud bath at a spa in Calistoga, California. I lay in the clay, peat moss, and 104 degree mineral water for ten minutes, rinsed, and lay wrapped in a warm blanket in a dark room–a cocoon of sorts–for a half hour. As I relaxed, I realized it was a good time [...]

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After Meditation, My Body Speaks a Poem

Do not be afraid of me. I am your body, your smell. I soothe you. Come close, inhale, comfort yourself.   Do not be afraid. Not like your mother who would not bury her face in your baby belly, afraid you’d pop and go dead.   Let love press its face into your gut, your [...]

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Stomach Speaks: Healing through SomatoEmotional Release

Yes, a laughing stomach! As many of you know, I am healing from a head and neck injury. My old trauma from infant stomach surgery was reactivated by the fall,  and so my therapy includes work with this aspect of my health, too. As my Cranio-Sacral therapist was working with my jaw, a dialogue began with [...]

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More Levine on Trauma

Here is some hopeful news from trauma specialist Dr. Peter Levine from his book Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. “Trauma evokes a biological response that needs to remain fluid and adaptive, not stuck and maladaptive. A maladaptive response is not necessarily a disease, but a dis-ease–a discomfort that can range from mild uneasiness to downright [...]

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In His Words: Healing Trauma Guru Peter Levine

Here is material quoted from Peter Levine’s brilliant book about healing trauma, Waking the Tiger. I blogged about him years ago; it’s time to think about his message again. You can also watch this YouTube in which Peter Levine describes his ideas. In response to threat, the organism can fight, flee, or freeze . . [...]

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CranioSacral Therapy Promises Relief

If you are interested in healing, read the book Your Inner Physician and You by John E. Upledger, D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy). I learned about it when researching CranioSacral Therapy (CST), a form of treatment that Dr. Upledger developed. My physical therapist is a CranioSacral therapist and has been using CST techniques to help me recover [...]

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On my Head

Here are two drawings I made when I was coping with Post-traumatic stress in the mid 1970s. I chose them because they convey some of what I’m feeling these days. Lying in bed at night, awaiting sleep, I am discovering an old breath pattern in which I hold my head and face rigid, especially my jaw. [...]

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Healing from infant trauma: listening to my baby self

Do you want to be free? Do you want to overcome PTSD? In healing from pre-verbal trauma, unconscious material is allowed into consciousness. Breath habits are treasures of information, especially patterns of holding. Each day for a short time, I sit quietly, following my breathing and listening. Frightening emotions often emerge that have no basis in present [...]

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Fear and fluidity: transforming trauma

I first heard of Emilie Conrad D’Oud and Continuum, a form of bodywork, years ago from my writing coach. When she read passages of my memoir manuscript, The Autobiography of a Sea Creature, about how I’d been taught to restrict my movements as a baby after surgery, she told me about D’Oud’s work. Since I’d [...]

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