Bringing in the nervous system and the body - Somatic IFS
Why would we want to do Somatic IFS? Answer… IFS already works with the body (thoughts, feelings, impulses and body sensations) and the process is similar but a different lens.. going even deeper.. What is it? It’s a simple yet complex combination of IFS, trauma/neuroscience and polyvagal theory with somatic practices. Benefits of somatic IFS (and I’ll cover individual benefits later): Increased awareness of and in the body. Normalised breathing patterns! increased capacity for resonance and healthy relationships! Free, expressive empowered movements! greater ability re receive and enjoy touch! Pretty good huh?
The book to read re amalgamatic IFS and Somatic therapy.. is Susan McConnell’s book Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy. These notes comes mainly from her book and some trainings I’ve done of hers, as well as lots from Deb Dana’s polyvagal work – again her books – Anchored, 50 Polyvagal practices, and her card deck… and also her IFS talk
Susan McConnel has identified a clear group of practices – in order and combined within each of the IFS steps. Here they are …
Somatic awareness, conscious breathing, radical resonance, movement and attuned touch.
Somatic Awareness - EARTH developing body awareness - becoming aware of your parts, so you can befriend them, find the polarisations and restore you at the centre of your system
Conscious breathing… AIR Breathing consciously activates the ventral vagal nerve, releasing hormones and enzymes that blunt the sympathetic system. Reduces blood pressure , cortisol levels, anxiety depression and boosts immunity. Supports embodied Self energy. Reestablishes psychobiological regulation to bring stability and safety to the internal body mind.
Radical Resonance… WATER Increased capacity for resonance and healthy relationships. Involves mirror neurons, heart, gut and ventral vagal nerve. Allows the ANS to rewire and revise DNA and all body systems. rich complexity of the horizontal field….. brimming with relationship.
Movement. FIRE free expressive empowered movement to restore safe trusting connections with self and others. If we get witnessed, the prefrontal cortex is engaged and the bodily sensations, beliefs thoughts images and behaviours can flow again, rather than be compartmentalised, stuck. 5 basic movements – Yield, push, reach, grasp, pull Vs habitual repetitive movements, in inhibited moves, in impulses and chronic postural holdings.
Attuned Touch…Combination of the 4 elements What’s good? Most primary and potent form of communication. Releases oxytocin and regulates the vagal brake, calming, bonding. Corrective experience of the pleasure and comfort of touch. Can reverse the physiological effects of trauma.
What Somatic IFS does is combine understanding of neuroscience and trauma, Polyvagal theory, IFS and Somatic work.. Its mega complicated to get these integrated into one thing so I personally need to have this as experiental as possible to make sense in me. I’m going to invite you on a journey…
(For those more interested in theory/thinking further… my rough ‘theory’ notes follow on from the experiential bit (or better still read the book/join a training!), you can look up polyvagal theory or I’ve done an explanation here https://www.stroudtherapy.com/news/polyvagalandifs) I strongly suggest the work of Deb Dana, she’s very accessible in videos and her books too. I’ve made an infographic doodled from a talk of hers – which hopefully shows the amalgamation of her work and IFS – that in polyvagal theory, there are two parasympathetic states – one ventral (green) where things feel good and are an approximation of Self in IFS terms, and one which is the Dorsal (red) collapsed state. The amber (Sympathetic) is the classic ‘fight flight’ area where one is activated in response to a threat. Frozen hangs out between the two, as does to an extent fawn. Most importantly here, is that MANAGERS can be activated in sympathetic (so fixers, judgers, perfectionists, busy etc) as can FIREFIGHTERS (Rage, flight, fight, addictions that help excite like Cocaine) OR in parasympathetic dorsal (Numb, dissociate, addictions that soothe like booze and scrolling!). Exiles generally hang out in dorsal as they have had their feelings exiled.. but they’re trying always to head up to find help from you.. so they sometimes erupt into panic and fear.. in sympathetic. We tend to get stuck in polarisations and yo yo between states. Hence this is complicated already! Managers, firefighters and exiles going between dorsal parasympathetic and sympathetic… Luckily there’s you in the centre … its possible… and it might be possible to slow down, pause and breathe! Here’s an explanation and an experiential…
So… (Neuro)science and nervous system bit… what happens when there’s trauma or a shock
Imagine if you will… you might be going about your day and feeling ok (calm, relaxed, curious about the world… I’d like to think your ventral vagal nerve (parasympathetic) is engaged and things feel ok…). Something happens. As soon as the body perceives that there is a danger in some situation or event that's happening that you can't escape from, the amygdala unleashes a biochemical blast, which activates the hypothalamus to get the sympathetic hyper aroused branch of our autonomic nervous systems going.
Now, once the threat is over, let's say that the being, whether it's an animal or a person, is able to escape the threat, then the nervous system returns to normal pretty quickly. And the person goes back to doing whatever they were doing. The animal goes back to grazing or swatting flies or something, we can relax and get on with our day. And so, we feel the trauma, our nervous system returns, and we go on. Phew.
However… When trauma is pretty severe or repetitive.. and we haven't been able to metabolize it, it gets stuck in our body. Probably very young, most likely under age 20. Very quickly a protective part comes in to look after us constantly watching for the exiled feeling to show up, so it can come and protect us. It stays there as a stuck pattern. It returns with full feeling when that feeling is activated in later years. (here, we can also pause and connect with our embodied Self or the wonderful presence of a co regulating other… breathe, pause, make friends with the protector….)
If no help is available, if this stuckness gets too much the trauma moves into another part of the autonomic nervous system, it heads down to Dorsal, parasympathetic. We become numb, dissociated, our feelings are depressed.
Much of the story is then sort of locked in the lower parts of the brain, and oftentimes they're not accessible to verbal explanation.
Trauma that’s stuck gives us symptoms – tight shoulders, a painful neck, insomnia, numbing, intrusive memories, shame, self hatred, panic attacks, hypervigilance, nightmares, flashbacks, startle response, chronic pain, migraines.. These have stories to tell maybe … or they are perhaps taking on a protective role… lets listen?
What tends to then happen is we get caught in a traumatic polarization between hyper and hypo basically oscillating between these two polarized states (two parts, often a Manager and a Firefighter – or two managers etc), which is exhausting. It's exhausting emotionally and it's exhausting physically. There are metabolic waste products that end up just lodging in the muscles and various organs. And these can lead to many chronic illnesses.
A mini Somatic IFS Polyvagal experiential
So rather than going on about more theory, I’d like to be inviting you to imagine a journey - lets go through the somatic sequence, bringing in polyvagal and parts work! Please titrate... use your dimmer switch … invite parts to blend with you just a bit… please nothing major… or IFS style imagine you’re on a balcony looking down at the theatre, you’re on stage… Imagine if you will you’re going to a train station, or a shop, how about IKEA.. or a supermarket. As you arrive… people, buzz, busyness, someone might shout at some one else.. there’s a mini hyper arousal. What’s happening in your body? (see after box for more)
1.(Hyper arousal) a mini hyper aroused moment… (see box – check out your body whats going on inthis mini trauma). Please then feel your feet, breathe (longer exhale, to put on that vagal brake… you might move a little if you can, organised movement great… give yourself some comfort, (you might say something inside like - I’m here for you, its ok) or imagine that you are with someone who you feel cared about, co-regulate if you’re able and be connected. All is well. Back (hopefully) in vental vagal - Social Engagement. Safe.
However.. sometimes we cant get to safety… for some of us, for many of us maybe we might continue to be hyper aroused (in ‘fight flight.. maybe briefly frozen (a combo between sympathetic and parasympathetic)… maybe blended with one or more of our protectors.. (This situation is familiar, it might remind a protector of a previous occasion, it’s potentially an echo… get out that mask/that protection… we know to behave in this manner, to keep the feelings at bay).
So imagine or feel into what part you might take on when you’. For me I put on a ‘I can do this’, ‘lets get through this bulldozy’ sort of part… I stand tall, back straight, social smile.. etc. I can manage this for a while. What do you do? (What guard dog? Swat team?) Walk out? Judge? Look at me, Kardashian? Get busy? Steam train? Social masking... Notice the box … what are you doing somatically, hows your breath, movement? How do you engage with others and they with you?.. so that might work a while… but if you can’t get back up to social engagement…
2. (Hypo arousal) so after that stops working or gets intolerable… might head down to Dorsal. Collapse, flop, dissociate … For me.. I have to go and sit somewhere quiet/disengage.. get some food/drink? Collapse a bit, might scroll, numb out … blank Lets notice the box – check out how your body feels.. posture? whats your breath like? Resonance? Movements? What about touch?
3. Inviting you here to shake it off and/ or remember you’re here, with us.. Pause, breathe (sip incoming breath, short out breath, get some oxygen), look round the room, feel your feet on the floor. (social engagement) hopefully when you’re out of that you can get back to feeling good, connected, in the flow, surrounded by Self energy, nature, glimmers, playing, singing, with an animal or someone you love…
The good news, of course, is we have neuroplasticity and with Self Energy and care we can begin to flow again. To get back to Social engagement you have to reverse the flow.. have to go through a bit of sympathetic to get to ventral vagal.
You can do this in the moment. PAUSE Breathe. Feel your feet on the floor, feel the air. How am I relating to myself and others? Wonder if there’s a movement that needs doing, or a touch imaginary, real? We can also work in sessions with each of these body sensations/chronic holding patterns, interrupted movements.
" The feral animal of our body, startled by the light, may scurry back to hide in the dark corners. The touch, the nourishment, the movement that our body craves may be buried under history of neglect and trauma. We may feel our body has betrayed us. We may have internalized an objective attitude toward our body. Our individual hurts and collective societal burdens lodged in our tissues await the light of our courage and compassion shining into the depths of our interiority, leading us to the essence of our being."
How to do Somatic IFS?
We do the same IFS, bringing in the body and breath in every step.
Self energy expanding to heal trauma.
We’re befriending protectors that block body awareness
We’re resonating with the hyo and hyper aroused parts and welcome their responses.
We witness the feeling story
We support reversal of the ANS sequence, and finally anchor physiological unburdening.
Is there a place in your body right now that could benefit from your compassionate focused awareness?
Extra Notes… These aren’t so finished, just helpful for me as I was doing the talk, these are the nuggets from Susan’s book I found particularly helpful for me.. I encourage you to read the book and study further if it’s interesting to you!
How does this relate to IFS and how we would work?
In IFS terms our managers, many are hyper aroused, from mini or major traumas… they get pretty busy … inhibit body awareness. They tense, brace, constrict the body, they're hypervigilant, there's rigid or diffuse boundaries. They objectify the body, blame, and criticize the body. Maybe you can ask a manager you know well to blend with you just a moment or two (ask others just to relax a minute, you have this!). What is your body feeling like? Notice your breathing.. How do you relate to yourself and others? How is the movement here when you have this part blend with you? What’s the quality of your own and other’s touch? … then you can do the 6 F’s and include all these ..
Our firefighters. Can be hyper or hypo arousing… various substances or self-harm to try to soothe from the upset of the trauma and distract from the feelings of overwhelm so that the system can function better. They also kind of go hypo and dissociate or numb. Maybe you can ask a firefighter you know well to blend with you just a moment or two (ask others just to relax a minute, you have this!) and again look at yourself through a tv screen or ask inside? What is your body feeling like? Your breathing? How do you relate to yourself and others? How is the movement here when you have this part blend with you? What’s the quality of your own and other’s touch?
Exiles. The feeling ones. I won’t ask you to blend with them in this session today, maybe we can send them some care and warmth if that feels congruent to you. We’re on our way, please can they be patient … These tend to live mostly in hypo – exiled – but they can come out from behind the guards into hyper. They hold the frozen body stories of trauma. frozen in time and place. And they're also frozen in the body because all of those chemicals that were released into various body tissues and organs that were activated by the trauma they're left there, causing pain and eventually chronic illness.
Core assumptions – therapist and client embodiment is facilitated every step of process. Self-energy needs to be embodied to be fully potentiated. Parts stories may be stored in implicit memory, recorded subcortically, and expressed nonverbally. The body has innate intelligence, creativity, and healing capacities. Embodying the internal family facilities both individuals … as well as societal transformation. Transcending dualism of mind and body leads to spirit. Trauma stories are written in our bodies, shape our bodies and ways we live and love. Protectors block awareness to prevent exiles body story being told.
Somatic Awareness - reading the body story.. how do we inhabit our body? We are being a body rather than having a body?
Can you inhabit your body from the inside… notice one hand… sensations… now compare to the other one. Awareness of leads to awareness in. Notice, accepting, observing, focusing, deepening, allowing, … being the sensation.
70-80% communication non verbal.
Noticing where you are… feet on floor, sit bones, .. connect with the EARTH.
We need a secure solid place where we know we belong. Originally through our navel connected to our mothers. Feminine element of being.
Notice, the tensions, the numbness… Befriend protectors that exile the body, no agenda… body stories of vulnerable parts are stored in the tissues! They don’t want to risk being crushed again.
Guard dog at the gate… matters less that the baby is screaming. Dog is there for good reason.. don’t want to be taken down again, flashbacks etc …. So needs to be befriended and appreciated. No agenda.
(Awareness of the 3 processes of our bodies, in time and space, and in relation to gravity: Interoception… need to develop to find more access to Self energy. Me and client.. Exteroception… or sensitivity to and perception of outside environment (seeing hearing tasting touching smelling) and proprioception.. sensory receptors in skin, muscles and joints .. involves balance agility and coordination.. the relationship of our body parts to each other. )
Let’s be curious. It may be a part! Who is it that is seeing, hearing, smelling… moment by moment.
Something to try… rather than always finding a ‘part’ that’s activated we can focus on the positive or neutral that shows up in the body, some sensations that they can enjoy. And by anchoring that, it's basically anchoring in the present moment. So we're going to be focusing more on that positive sensation. You just ask protectors for their permission for maybe a minute or 30 seconds, and then ask them how that was. Did they notice that overwhelm happened? Would they be willing to try it a little bit longer?
Conscious breathing… Breathing consciously activates the ventral vagal nerve, releasing hormones and enzymes that blunt the sympathetic system. Reduces blood pressure , cortisol levels, anxiety depression and boosts immunity. Supports embodied Self energy. AIR … sky associated with masculine element of doing. … connected to ground and bring awareness to sky above. Vertical plane. Interdependence… gift of oxygen from plants… outbreath sends carbon dioxide… We need each other…. Also bridge inner and outer… air comes into inner world and out to outer. For some consciousness of this activates parts… existential issues…Box breathing Ujjayi breathing. Hypo/hyper.. Supporting embodied Self Energy. Reestablishes psychobiological regulation to bring stability and safety to the internal body mind.
Closely observe your next 5 breaths… pace, rhythm, sensations of in and exhale. Take 5 more imagining you are breathing in and out through your pores.
Radical Resonance… Water and roots too (radical comes from latin radicalis) Communicated relationally through right brain/limbic interaction between people. Increased capacity for resonance and healthy relationships. Involves mirror neurons, heart, gut and ventral vagal nerve. Allows the ANS to rewire and revise DNA and all body systems. Fluids and cells… limbic brain (mirror neurons), the heart coherence and gut… rich complexity of the horizontal field….. brimming with relationship.
(Susan talks of doing a short walking meditation… Side by side.. Connect ground by jiggling body, wiggling toes, feeling bones.. connect with sky and space by noticing breathing reaching up with arms … walk and breathe, connect to earth on first step sky on second.. gather energies of both into heart)
Protectors have needed to block some of our inherent resonant abilities.
Can you bring your compassion and curiosity to one of these parts?
NB societal burdens are at the root of individual traumas ie white supremacy heterosexism, binary, hierarchical, rewards cognition, competition, production, verbal, and written communication. fosters meritocracy, individualism, objectifies body for profit. Susan reminds us that one person’s privilege is another’s trauma… we all lose.
Siegel –process of healing relationship… PART.. presence attunement resonance and trust
Start with the body not the mind… rest, play, connection, tolerate discomfort, explore how we find safety in our bodies and with other bodies…
Cultivating our resonant capacity as therapists.. hurt in relationship… so keep developing, we can all heal in relationship. p166
Bring in Movement. … free expressive empowered movement to restore safe trusting connections with self and others. If we get witnessed, the prefrontal corext is engaged and the bodily sensations, beliefs thoughts images and behaviours can flow again, rather than be compartmentalised, stuck. FIRE The failed attempts to reach out for help, to escape to safety, to push and defend boundaries are evident in habitual repetitive movements, in inhibited moves, in impulses and chronic postural holdings. Mindfulness of these habitual and immobilised movements allow the implicit, frozen body story of trauma to be witnessed and sequenced. Trembling accompanies to restore safe trusting connections.
Can we bring mindfulness to the stories of trauma as told in movement and inhibited movement? Posture – collapse, flexion or extension, misalignment… facial expression… frozen, eye, jaw tension, eye contact (neurodivergence nb), repetitive habitual gestures, chronic stiffness, interrupted blocked movement, impulses to reach out, run away, fight, tremble.
So what can we do? Invite movement to numb, collapsed state? Encourage expression of failed attempts to fight or flee. support the movement to reach out for help and restore a safe connection. reinstate movements – setting limits, to reach out and to push away. To escape or fight. to set and defend boundaries. To find safe, secure connections.
There’s some wonderful work being done in the yoga, Feldenkrais and alexander technique world about these basic movements – Development Body Mind Centring Approach - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxKXMi5Rxc8 (long one) and a lovely set of 5 (15-20 mins each) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3115sM76KgM (this one is yield with a general intro… Yield, push, reach, grasp, pull
Bring mindfulness to a habitual posture, to a gesture of reaching out or pushing away. or to a place that feels stuck. Is this the beginning of the parts story?
Attuned Touch…Combination of the 4 elements What’s good? Most primary and potent form of communication. Releases oxytocin and regulates the vagal brake, calming, bonding. Corrective experience of the pleasure and comfort of touch. Can reverse the physiological effects of trauma.
Includes imaginary touch. clients touch and therapist’s touch. Most primary and potent form of communication.
The client is in charge of the touch, setting boundaries about kind of touch, where and how long. with permission of all parts. Trauma – requires a high level of sensitivity with survivors.
Trauma affects the ability to sense the touch, to notice the affect of the touch, to set boundaries around touch. Important to state touch will not be sexual, carefully track for signs of retraumatisation.