Reclaiming our Bodies | The Power of Embodied Self-Awareness

If you’re seeing self-development as a mental exercise, you’re missing out on the foundational, fundamental well-being that comes from understanding your body! 

There is great power in embodied self-awareness! Reclaiming & returning to the body provides exponential growth & capacity for change. 

In this episode, Laura and Sonya explore the messages our bodies send us, and why it’s vital to pay attention to them. They’ll explain why we must remember to tune into our bodies, and how tough but rewarding that learning process can be.

Join us as we discuss

  • 24:01 Why it can be so scary to rebuild a relationship with our bodies.
  • 28:10 Approaching our body’s responses from a places of curiosity and consent.
  • 33:21 Learning to prioritize the body and its messages.
  • 38:29 The ways our nervous systems are constantly monitoring our safety.
  • 42:23 How understanding the body can help us cultivate empathy.

Resources mentioned in the show

Learn more about Sonya & Laura

—> Sonya Stattmann is the host & creator of Reclaiming Ourselves™. She is a TEDx & corporate speaker, and has been working with leaders around personal development for the last 22 years. She teaches workshops & offers small group programs around emotional intelligence, transformational & embodied leadership and energy management. You can find more about her here:

Website: https://www.sonyastattmann.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonyastattmann/

—> Laura Shook-Guzman, co-host of Reclaiming Ourselves, LMFT, and Somatic Psychotherapist for entrepreneurs has been a mental health professional for 23 years. She’s the founder of three businesses; the world’s first Wellness Coworking Community Soma Vida, the global community Women Who Cowork, and her own therapy practice, Conscious Ambition. You can find more about her here: 

Website: http://www.laurashookguzman.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurashookguzman/ 

What you can do next:

  1. For more episodes, opportunities and information on the hosts, visit http://reclaimingourselvespodcast.com/
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  3. Need a little weekly magic? Sign up for Worthy Love Notes & weekly affirmations here https://www.sonyastattmann.com/self-worth-affirmations-2/  

Thank you for being you. We are so honored to have you as a listener!

Transcript
Laura Shook-Guzman:

this is why, like when you are walking in the middle

Laura Shook-Guzman:

of a beautiful, sunlight woods, like you're walking through the woods

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and the sun's coming through and you hear the waterfall and like there

Laura Shook-Guzman:

these moments in nature that you're just, Oh, I feel so clear right now.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I feel like I know what I'm gonna do next for work.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I feel like I'm gonna know what to do now with this thing.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like we take these walks to clear our head

Laura Shook-Guzman:

, because we're literally getting out of it.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

we're trying to get out of the head and be in the body.

Sonya Stattmann:

Like so much of how we're we are experiencing the world,

Sonya Stattmann:

is connected to our perception, and perception is connected to our body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yes.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah.

Sonya Stattmann:

because I think we've just been misled because we

Sonya Stattmann:

have this perception or this idea, or this perception that perception is

Sonya Stattmann:

related to the mind, that everything's

Sonya Stattmann:

related to the mind and how we think.

Sonya Stattmann:

But the body comes first, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

The body perceives unconsciously like our autonomics, you know, nervous system.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

It's, it's like it perceives unconsciously, and then sure, we go

Sonya Stattmann:

and make meaning and we like do all these things in our thinking brain,

Sonya Stattmann:

but that is not where it originates.

Sonya Stattmann:

That's not where experience is.

Sonya Stattmann:

If you know there is something deep inside of you that is yearning to be

Sonya Stattmann:

seen, to be known, and to have expression.

Sonya Stattmann:

If there's something you need to reclaim and remember: maybe it's your

Sonya Stattmann:

power or your purpose, your gifts.

Sonya Stattmann:

This is the podcast for you.

Sonya Stattmann:

Welcome to Reclaiming Ourselves.

Sonya Stattmann:

I'm your host, Sonya Stattmann and I'm honored to have three amazing

Sonya Stattmann:

co-hosts, Laura Shook-Guzman, Belinda Haan, and Emily Soccorsy, here with

Sonya Stattmann:

me on this journey to self discovery.

Sonya Stattmann:

Every week we're gonna help you unravel and remember what it means to reclaim

Sonya Stattmann:

yourself, to own who you are, to recognize your innate worth and greatness.

Sonya Stattmann:

Now this podcast is a deep dive into self-development,

Sonya Stattmann:

healing, and empowerment.

Sonya Stattmann:

So hold on.

Sonya Stattmann:

Here we go.

Sonya Stattmann:

welcome back to Reclaiming Ourselves.

Sonya Stattmann:

And just before I dive into this week's topic, just a reminder

Sonya Stattmann:

that you can find a lot about our amazing co-host and a lot about the

Sonya Stattmann:

podcast@reclaimingourselvespodcast.com.

Sonya Stattmann:

Just wanted to mention that and I'm really excited about today's podcast.

Sonya Stattmann:

I have Laura here with me again.

Sonya Stattmann:

I love our conversations and we're gonna talk about something that is

Sonya Stattmann:

very, very, um, I know near and dear to her heart and When we talk about

Sonya Stattmann:

reclaiming ourselves, one of the things that I think is really important is

Sonya Stattmann:

that we talk about a return to the body.

Sonya Stattmann:

Now, what does that even mean?

Sonya Stattmann:

What does embodied mean?

Sonya Stattmann:

What does it mean to reclaim ourselves and reclaim our bodies?

Sonya Stattmann:

Well, that's what we're gonna break down today.

Sonya Stattmann:

So welcome Laura

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Mm.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Thank you Sonya.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yes.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

One of my favorite conversations.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

we often find ourselves teaching what we're here to learn.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I feel like, um, I've been on a lifelong journey of returning to the body

Laura Shook-Guzman:

to the intelligence and the wisdom.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

that is about our.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Sense, my felt sense, of myself, of the world.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I think every time I have this conversation with you or just

Laura Shook-Guzman:

in the world, there's like new, insights that I gleam myself about.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

What is this, ongoing relationship we have with her physicality

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and our energetic self?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And, um, and we're gonna talk a little bit today, I think more

Laura Shook-Guzman:

about what do we even mean, right?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

What do we mean by.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And Soma.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Mm-hmm.

Sonya Stattmann:

And so let's, let's start there.

Sonya Stattmann:

let's look at what is the body like, if we're gonna talk about a return to

Sonya Stattmann:

the body, are reclaiming our body, Like what is the body, and at least in the

Sonya Stattmann:

framework that we're talking about.

Sonya Stattmann:

And I love that you mentioned Soma, because I think that's a

Sonya Stattmann:

great word to explore as well.

Sonya Stattmann:

So let's start with, you know, how do you define the body in this context?

Sonya Stattmann:

Laura, let's start.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Well I love that, you know, the, Greek word for body

Laura Shook-Guzman:

being soma, but being more than just.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Muscles and bones, like the somas, the, all encompassing physicality

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and energetics of the human self.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So our ability to not only, um, have like our heart beating, lung breathing, like

Laura Shook-Guzman:

that our body is physically operating, but that it has this, um, energetic component

Laura Shook-Guzman:

in which we can feel and interact.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Through the senses with the world around us.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So, you know, when someone walks in a room, you don't have to see

Laura Shook-Guzman:

them to know that they're there.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like you can feel like, Oh, somebody just entered the space.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Or, or I have a, a sense of something that's light or heavy or around me, right?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

We're, we're constantly taking in information through our senses to help

Laura Shook-Guzman:

us know what is happening in and around.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And, you know, a lot of the neuroscience of, of the current day has actually

Laura Shook-Guzman:

been really helpful because they've been able to map these things in our

Laura Shook-Guzman:

nervous system and in our brain to understand that yeah, this sort of mind.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Site as Dan Sigo calls it is like this awareness of our mental, cognitive,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

thinking and our physical understanding and senses and our meaning making

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and our interpersonal relationships.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And you know, so when we say like, get back to the body, I just wanna

Laura Shook-Guzman:

really name that it's not just like, get back into your physical

Laura Shook-Guzman:

earth shell it, it's like, get back.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Into your most, whole sense of yourself, the way you orient and move

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and take in information and connect.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And so all of these different aspects, happen when we are fully

Laura Shook-Guzman:

present inside the body, inside Thes.

Sonya Stattmann:

and what does that feel like?

Sonya Stattmann:

Right?

Sonya Stattmann:

Like I think this is important and we probably both have different perspectives

Sonya Stattmann:

on this as well, and it's probably individual according to everyone.

Sonya Stattmann:

But I think that's an important question to ask because what does

Sonya Stattmann:

it feel like to be in our body?

Sonya Stattmann:

Cuz you know, is it just that like we've worked out really hard and we're

Sonya Stattmann:

like, we can, we can feel our body and our could feel our muscles move.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

What does it feel like for you to be embodied?

Sonya Stattmann:

And then I'll share what it feels like for me to be embodied, because

Sonya Stattmann:

I think there's a lot of different perspectives on this and it helps our

Sonya Stattmann:

listeners kind of look at for themselves.

Sonya Stattmann:

What does it feel like when I'm back in my body?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

yeah.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

No, I agree.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I think, um, and I have clients ask this question all the time and

Laura Shook-Guzman:

they're like, What am I looking for?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

You know, what's the base point ? It's like, I don't even know

Laura Shook-Guzman:

what I'm supposed to feel like.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and so it's very common that most of us will kind of live

Laura Shook-Guzman:

quite a few feet outside of our.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

felt sense of ourselves because we do, and we talked about this on past,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

episodes, you know, we do live in a culture that very much glorifies the

Laura Shook-Guzman:

mind, the, the mental cognitive thinking of taking in all the information

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and making sense of it in the world.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And so we can be very reliant on, what is our mental interpretation

Laura Shook-Guzman:

to be able to come back into the body and feel more present.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

For me, it has certain qualities and attributes that

Laura Shook-Guzman:

are there when I am embodied.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So I guess I'll start there.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like for me, when I, come and often, you know, it's become more and more

Laura Shook-Guzman:

automatic over the years as I spend time as a somatic therapist, but,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

there's still times that I'm like, You know, let me come back in.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Let me just bring my energy and my attention.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So it can start with sort of a, bringing attention to the breath,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

bringing attention to the edges of my physical body to own that space.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And I think this is where like A lot of the Eastern teachings, the mind

Laura Shook-Guzman:

body connections around yoga and meditation, these are all practices.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

The reason why they're effective is that there are practices for like

Laura Shook-Guzman:

aligning that attention and awareness into this more holistic frame, you know?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So it's like, let me notice the thoughts and pull those in and notice my body

Laura Shook-Guzman:

breathing and come back to that.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So we're bringing all these different elements of.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So those are very important functions for me to, to keep having

Laura Shook-Guzman:

the form of meditation and yoga.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and so what that feels like as I return to my breath and to my edges is often

Laura Shook-Guzman:

it's the sensations of expansion of a centeredness kind of can feel more of my.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Sense of where I am energetically as relation, you know, as it

Laura Shook-Guzman:

relates to things around me.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So it's like I'm more centered and I feel this expansion and often kind of

Laura Shook-Guzman:

like enough of a weight, like a, like a gravity aware of the gravity, kind

Laura Shook-Guzman:

of like feeling that, um, and then feeling my dimensions, like feeling

Laura Shook-Guzman:

how far my energetic body is, like how much space am I taking up in this?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

But it gets very clear and centered and calm.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And these are all sort of the eight Cs that Dr.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Schwartz uses to define self energy.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I find it's really interesting because when I am feeling very embodied

Laura Shook-Guzman:

back into my self and in my physical energetic body, I do have all.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Quality is a feeling really curious and calm and centered and compassionate.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And so self energy is more present when I call all of that attention back to myself.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Right.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So that's what it's like for me, but I love that you asked us

Laura Shook-Guzman:

that, cause I'd love to hear Yeah.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

What is it like for you and I think for listeners just to remember.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah, it's not, it's not, it's like a.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Fingerprint.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

You know, it's like everybody's gonna have their own unique experience.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

but I think there's some qualities that are shared, but it's, yeah.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Everybody's unique experience.

Sonya Stattmann:

Yeah, I, I think for me, it's really being

Sonya Stattmann:

back in the present, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

It's like even being aware that I'm in a present , like, you know,

Sonya Stattmann:

like, because I can spend so much time in my thinking brain, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

Which is never really in the present.

Sonya Stattmann:

It's like I'm, I'm solving problems for the future, or I'm thinking about

Sonya Stattmann:

the past, or I'm, I'm putting things together and nothing's wrong with that.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right?

Sonya Stattmann:

I love my mind, my, I have a beautiful mind.

Sonya Stattmann:

It's, we all do.

Sonya Stattmann:

it does great things.

Sonya Stattmann:

I love its visioning.

Sonya Stattmann:

I love its ability to put things together.

Sonya Stattmann:

I love its creativity.

Sonya Stattmann:

It's like all amazing.

Sonya Stattmann:

and it is also amazing to be in the body and be, feel like I'm present

Sonya Stattmann:

and I'm dealing with, what is the sensation I feel in my body now?

Sonya Stattmann:

What is my relationship to my environment right now?

Sonya Stattmann:

What is my relationship with people that I'm, connecting with right now?

Sonya Stattmann:

Like there's something about.

Sonya Stattmann:

That present moment that I think is so key, like we don't think about

Sonya Stattmann:

how often we aren't there, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

How often we are really not there.

Sonya Stattmann:

We don't, we It's like we're not actually dealing that often with the present.

Sonya Stattmann:

We're dealing with the past.

Sonya Stattmann:

We're dealing with the future.

Sonya Stattmann:

We're dealing with what will be so there is a very different quality when I am.

Sonya Stattmann:

Here , like in my body in this moment, and I'm actually paying attention to the

Sonya Stattmann:

relationship between me and the present.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah.

Sonya Stattmann:

and I do feel a lot of the things you talked about, like

Sonya Stattmann:

I feel expansive when I'm there.

Sonya Stattmann:

I feel grounded.

Sonya Stattmann:

I feel like, Oh, I have a body like, Oh wait.

Sonya Stattmann:

There it is.

Sonya Stattmann:

Yeah.

Sonya Stattmann:

And even when it's sore or maybe even in pain, it still feels better

Sonya Stattmann:

to be connected to it than to not.

Sonya Stattmann:

It's interesting, like we, I think we have so many survival mechanisms that

Sonya Stattmann:

disconnect from our body when we feel pain, and yet I still find that when

Sonya Stattmann:

I let myself just be with it or I'm present with it, it actually feels a lot

Sonya Stattmann:

better than being disconnected from it.

Sonya Stattmann:

So, you know, I think that's, that's a whole interesting piece as well.

Sonya Stattmann:

But yeah, I feel, I feel, I definitely feel present and

Sonya Stattmann:

expanded, more compassionate.

Sonya Stattmann:

More resourced.

Sonya Stattmann:

Like when I'm in my body, I'm so much more resourced.

Sonya Stattmann:

I'm not reacting right?

Sonya Stattmann:

Often I leave my body when I have a, my nervous system reacts or when

Sonya Stattmann:

I'm having a, you know, a survival mechanism kind of come into play.

Sonya Stattmann:

And when I'm present and kind of in my body, I'm able to take

Sonya Stattmann:

in information more effectively.

Sonya Stattmann:

I'm able to respond to things more effectively and so

Sonya Stattmann:

yeah, it's a really powerful.

Sonya Stattmann:

Experience?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It is, it's a very powerful experience and when we are disconnected from the body,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

it's a very disempowering way of being.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

you know, this is where like Pedro Levine has said trauma is a disorder of presence.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Trauma is one of those things that happens.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And if it doesn't move through and the body doesn't come back into the

Laura Shook-Guzman:

present moment, then that past trauma.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Causes one to live outside of the body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Fear of going into that sensation, it's like, I'm gonna relive that trauma.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And so then we're constantly in the past or anticipating a future pain.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

what I try to help my clients understand is there is a cost to be paid of

Laura Shook-Guzman:

living outside of the present moment

Laura Shook-Guzman:

that long, the longer we spend.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Trying to hold something in the past or keep it from happening in the future.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

We don't have our full vitality.

Sonya Stattmann:

Mm-hmm.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And you know, this is that the chi, the life

Laura Shook-Guzman:

force energy, something that.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Easter Medicine knows a lot about it.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's like the reason all of those postures in yoga and the breathing,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

it's all about that vitality of, of the integration, the ability for

Laura Shook-Guzman:

all things to be lit up and working together instead of compartmentalized,

Sonya Stattmann:

Yes, a hundred percent.

Sonya Stattmann:

Uh, and there's like so many, so many things that I think, you know, I

Sonya Stattmann:

want to kind of untangle here, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

Because.

Sonya Stattmann:

This is a very big topic, obviously.

Sonya Stattmann:

I mean, I know you spent many decades of working in this area and I think

Sonya Stattmann:

it's a very important topic because I don't think we can talk about reclaiming

Sonya Stattmann:

ourselves if we're not including the body.

Sonya Stattmann:

what are we reclaiming if we're not reclaiming our soma, our body, our

Sonya Stattmann:

connection to that piece of ourselves?

Sonya Stattmann:

and I think a lot of.

Sonya Stattmann:

Even therapy.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

I, you know, I noticed this in like, the difference between talk

Sonya Stattmann:

therapy and say somatic therapy.

Sonya Stattmann:

You know, oftentimes when we're reclaiming ourselves or personal

Sonya Stattmann:

development, you know, talk therapy will often exclude the body, Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

And the stuff that's in the body.

Sonya Stattmann:

And, you know, I was thinking about what, you know, what we, you were just

Sonya Stattmann:

saying just a minute ago, recognizing that not being in the present, we

Sonya Stattmann:

lose it's, it's such a cost, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

We lose so much of our vitality.

Sonya Stattmann:

And I wanted to mention as well that, you know, often we're not in the

Sonya Stattmann:

present because of our body responses.

Sonya Stattmann:

one of the things I've really been kind of struggling with are sitting with

Sonya Stattmann:

is that in, you know, so much of my own personal development experience,

Sonya Stattmann:

which has been, you know, my, pretty much my whole life, a lot of personal

Sonya Stattmann:

development realms and a lot of practices, they, they have this idea that, The

Sonya Stattmann:

mind is all we have to change, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

We just, if we change our beliefs, we change our, our responses.

Sonya Stattmann:

If we change our beliefs, we transform our lives.

Sonya Stattmann:

And yet so much of what's happening in our life is, is based

Sonya Stattmann:

on the evolutionary processes.

Sonya Stattmann:

Inside our body and the mind and your beliefs will not change those . Right?

Sonya Stattmann:

Like the more I understand the nervous system and neuroscience and understanding

Sonya Stattmann:

how we respond to things, you know, it isn't a matter of like, Ooh, if

Sonya Stattmann:

I just believe something different, then my body will completely change.

Sonya Stattmann:

It all live in the present moment.

Sonya Stattmann:

That's not how it works.

Sonya Stattmann:

And I think we have to mention that because I see, have seen so many

Sonya Stattmann:

people in my life shame themselves for not being able to change their

Sonya Stattmann:

beliefs or shame themselves for not living in the present moment.

Sonya Stattmann:

And so like, this is not an easy process to get back into our bodies,

Sonya Stattmann:

especially if we have had a lot of harm done to our bodies and many

Sonya Stattmann:

women have, and many men as well.

Sonya Stattmann:

And so, it's not necessarily an easy process where it's just, , You

Sonya Stattmann:

change your beliefs or you know, you decide you wanna be present like,

Sonya Stattmann:

it's like that's not how it works.

Sonya Stattmann:

And I think we have to mention that cuz it's an important piece.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah, absolutely.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I mean, and it's, it's a really good point.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And I've shared this in my story with you, you know, and other conversations

Laura Shook-Guzman:

about, that's kind of how I got started in, um, somatic psychology is that,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

back in the, in the day when I was in grad school, which was like the late.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

nineties, early 2000, there was still a huge focus on cognitive behavioral C

Laura Shook-Guzman:

B T interventions, you know, um, that was where most of our research was.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So that was like the empirically, you know, evidence based

Laura Shook-Guzman:

therapies.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and I happen to be working in, uh, women's shelters and domestic

Laura Shook-Guzman:

violence and, with a lot of children that were in systemic and famili.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

violence in homes and in their schools.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And, you know, the stories that kept coming to me were just like, We get it.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

We get it.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

We understand, um, what you're telling me.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like it makes sense and I'm trying to change my thoughts and I'm

Laura Shook-Guzman:

trying to change my behavior, but my body isn't listening.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like my body has its own agenda and it's gonna do whatever it

Laura Shook-Guzman:

needs to do if it perceives danger.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So if it hears those gunshots, or even if it doesn't hear the gunshots, but it hears

Laura Shook-Guzman:

something that reminds it of the gunshots and it's like these are the things that

Laura Shook-Guzman:

just constantly are happening in the physical body, then how am I supposed

Laura Shook-Guzman:

to use those cognitive behavioral tools?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and then that's when I really started to look for more understanding of,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

yeah, like how are we supposed to be?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It seems like up Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It seems like if we've already established that there's safety, maybe we can work

Laura Shook-Guzman:

on our meaning making, but if there's literally a lack of safety in the physical

Laura Shook-Guzman:

body, and then we've talked about this, you know, a bit, and you know, where

Laura Shook-Guzman:

you and I as white women are still learning more and more of like, what

Laura Shook-Guzman:

does that mean for the white bodies?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

What does that mean for bodies of color?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Um, to be in a situation in which the systemic violence is constantly present.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like, how am I supposed to drop into, to feeling really, you know,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

safe and aware when I have all of these different stressors and life

Laura Shook-Guzman:

threatening, issues in my environment.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So this is such an important point about coming back into

Laura Shook-Guzman:

the present because the body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Is telling us the story that it needs to tell us to keep us safe.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

But when we slow things down and you know, like one of my clients might

Laura Shook-Guzman:

be having anxiety, which they know that if left unchecked could lead

Laura Shook-Guzman:

to a panic attack the body will eventually just escalate that in

Laura Shook-Guzman:

order to discharge extra energy and, um, And seek safety.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So once you start noticing that escalation in the body, you could

Laura Shook-Guzman:

go, Oh yeah, stop being anxious.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like, there's nothing to be anxious about.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And, you know, use all those mind, uh, tricks.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Or what I teach them is come into the physical body in that present moment.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Bring awareness into the edges.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Feel yourself in the chair.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Feel your feet on the floor.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Fill your lungs breathing.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's like, let's get every bit of information in the present moment,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

because then the body has no other choice, but to realize that it's

Laura Shook-Guzman:

actually okay, it's breathing.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

In that moment, nothing bad is happening.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

You're not failing that test or having that conversation or

Laura Shook-Guzman:

conflict that you're anticipating.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

You're not doing any of that.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

You're just in the.

Sonya Stattmann:

Yes.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

you're okay and you're safe.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So coming back, and I use that invitation a lot, that phrasing has

Laura Shook-Guzman:

come back to the edges because some clients feel to come in anywhere deeper

Laura Shook-Guzman:

is like too hard or too confusing.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And so I will use that, like come to the edges, like where do you

Laura Shook-Guzman:

feel your physical body come into contact with the environment?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And what in the environment supports the body?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Do you have a supportive chair that like gets to hold the gravity

Laura Shook-Guzman:

or maybe it's the floor, or maybe you have like a really soft hoodie and

Laura Shook-Guzman:

you really like that on your skin?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Right?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So we really literally can use very specific language.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's like come back in to this moment and feel your edges.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And often people are surprised by how good that feels.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Something so simple is like coming back to my body and just feeling my edges and then

Laura Shook-Guzman:

like, what does that, you know, feel like?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And they're like, Oh, I feel more relaxed.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like I can breathe a little bit more deeper.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And it's like, well, because all of a sudden now your body is tracking

Laura Shook-Guzman:

that you're here now, and that past or present isn't where its attention is.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's just right.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Right now?

Sonya Stattmann:

Yeah,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah.

Sonya Stattmann:

so let me ask you, Laura, cuz I feel like

Sonya Stattmann:

this is an important question.

Sonya Stattmann:

I know this comes up for me and it probably comes up for a lot of people,

Sonya Stattmann:

is when we've had an adversarial relationship with our bonding, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

We've objectified it, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

We've, it's been objectified.

Sonya Stattmann:

Maybe we've had abuse, you know, I was raped, which I've talked about

Sonya Stattmann:

a few times in many different areas when we've had that experience.

Sonya Stattmann:

Where do we start to create a relationship with our body?

Sonya Stattmann:

Like how do we start to reclaim that, that piece of ourselves, and I know I've talked

Sonya Stattmann:

a little bit about my experience of when I, you know, started, I took that somatic

Sonya Stattmann:

class in college and you know, the teacher literally changed my life by letting

Sonya Stattmann:

me feel my body for the first time.

Sonya Stattmann:

I think.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Mm-hmm.

Sonya Stattmann:

but like for listeners and people who are like,

Sonya Stattmann:

Yeah, that's great, you know, , like, I don't, I don't like my body.

Sonya Stattmann:

I don't have a good relationship.

Sonya Stattmann:

It makes me panic.

Sonya Stattmann:

The thought of like appreciating my body or being in my body, like

Sonya Stattmann:

where do we start to create a better.

Sonya Stattmann:

Relationship with our body so that we, we, we can reclaim our aliveness, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

We can re reclaim our full vitality, reclaim our feeling, reclaim our

Sonya Stattmann:

connection to self in that way.

Sonya Stattmann:

you know, through a lot of my life, even with as much experience as I've had, even

Sonya Stattmann:

with as much understanding as I have about it, even with, you know, like my first

Sonya Stattmann:

experience being when I was quite young, I still struggle to stay in my body, to

Sonya Stattmann:

feel my body to come back to my body.

Sonya Stattmann:

So like, Where's kind of a good place to start?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah, that's a really great question cuz I

Laura Shook-Guzman:

have a lot of clients that come into my office hopeful to recover.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

A connection and, and also terrified

Laura Shook-Guzman:

about what would that mean for me to have a relationship with this body that

Laura Shook-Guzman:

has been maybe a source of pain or a place that for a long time they learned

Laura Shook-Guzman:

to live outside of for various reasons.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Or like you said, you know, just, Body shaming and feeling like my body doesn't

Laura Shook-Guzman:

look the way it's supposed to look or doesn't fit into the culture, right?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So there's a lot of wound people can experience a lot of wounding

Laura Shook-Guzman:

that's in the body about the body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And so then to come back into connection with it can feel

Laura Shook-Guzman:

really difficult and off putting.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

However, like so much of.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Healing things can happen in small baby steps.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So it's not about full on exposure therapy type of like, okay, now you

Laura Shook-Guzman:

go from a hun from zero to a hundred.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's like recognizing that returning to your body is going to be a journey

Laura Shook-Guzman:

just like you journeyed out of it.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

When you have all these reasons why you checked out and you didn't like it or

Laura Shook-Guzman:

you, felt shame around it, we are going to return to the body and this is where

Laura Shook-Guzman:

using that to the degree that you're able,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I tell my clients like, just come in to the degree that you're able and that's it.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

We don't push, we don't expect more.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

We just come in to the degree that we're able, Maybe you only feel the tip of your.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and that's okay for now.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And so this very much of a normalization, a lot of compassion,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

a lot of understanding that this is a journey and that there were

Laura Shook-Guzman:

lots of things that happened along the way that eroded the trust.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Returning to your body is just about preparing a relationship.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And people know, like if you stand in front of this person, a person that

Laura Shook-Guzman:

you've had conflict with, you know, you don't feel completely just ready

Laura Shook-Guzman:

to go and embrace them and hug them.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

You've gotta reestablish trust.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So I find ways in which people can learn to trust their sensations,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

again, to feel the body just for a few moments, and then we come out of it.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So let's just feel your feet and like what, what's the safest part

Laura Shook-Guzman:

of the body to feel, You know, for a lot of people it's feet or hands.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So it's like, okay, just feel that for a little bit and notice, and then

Laura Shook-Guzman:

when your body says no, cuz if the body is holding some of that pain or

Laura Shook-Guzman:

trauma, it might say, Nope, no more.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And we respect that.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

We're like, Okay, the

Laura Shook-Guzman:

body says no.

Sonya Stattmann:

yes.

Sonya Stattmann:

I think that's so important because I think, you know, in our life

Sonya Stattmann:

we've been taught right, because of society, because of the way the

Sonya Stattmann:

structures are that we should push.

Sonya Stattmann:

We should.

Sonya Stattmann:

Just get it done.

Sonya Stattmann:

You know, high achievers, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

Or just like, We should just accomplish it all.

Sonya Stattmann:

We should just do it, but we should be resilient.

Sonya Stattmann:

We should just go for it.

Sonya Stattmann:

We should just bring it on, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

Like it was like, so much of the thinking is there, and yet, coming back into the

Sonya Stattmann:

body is a very gentle, very respectful.

Sonya Stattmann:

I love that.

Sonya Stattmann:

Like understanding that our body is protecting us.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

Just that, I think just that piece, our body is not working against us

Sonya Stattmann:

cuz so many of us believe that, Right?

Sonya Stattmann:

Our body is never worked against us.

Sonya Stattmann:

It is always in support of us and what it perceives, whether it perceives

Sonya Stattmann:

threat or doesn't perceive threat, like everything it does is wise and operational

Laura Shook-Guzman:

That's right.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

That's

Sonya Stattmann:

And so like, you know, having that understanding is so

Sonya Stattmann:

important so that we, we listen to it and we're gentle with it, and so we can

Sonya Stattmann:

guide that process, but it is not about shoving ourselves back into our body.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

Like forcing ourselves, packing it in.

Sonya Stattmann:

I, I think that like, sometimes we think that, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

I know sometimes I do.

Sonya Stattmann:

Where I'm like, Okay, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna get in my body today,

Sonya Stattmann:

you

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah, Conquer that

Sonya Stattmann:

And then we're, we're frustrated with ourselves when it

Sonya Stattmann:

doesn't happen, or we're frustrated ourselves when we disconnected instead

Sonya Stattmann:

of being curious or being kind or just saying, Yay, you know what?

Sonya Stattmann:

Like for five minutes I was in my body, or, Oh, I can feel my hands today.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right?

Sonya Stattmann:

So just like this, this respectfulness, and I really love that.

Sonya Stattmann:

You know, in a way we're asking consent of the.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Mm-hmm.

Sonya Stattmann:

us.

Sonya Stattmann:

Like, can we come in a little bit?

Sonya Stattmann:

And when you say no, that's okay.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

We'll, we'll honor that consent.

Sonya Stattmann:

And so I think that's a really cool way to look at it and helpful.

Sonya Stattmann:

Cause I feel like oftentimes we're applying our other learning

Sonya Stattmann:

, Laura Shook-Guzman: Mm-hmm.

Sonya Stattmann:

to, to forcing things or pushing things or.

Sonya Stattmann:

not being gentle with our bodies and, and that's what it's reacting to, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

All the ways we've not been gentle to our bodies.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yes.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So many, Things that we have done to the body to make the body conform

Laura Shook-Guzman:

or to meet our expectations and to just change that, you know, to being

Laura Shook-Guzman:

able to be, oh, like what does my body need and can I just, Gently give

Laura Shook-Guzman:

it that or, or back up, you know?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And, and so that's, that, that trust is being reestablished.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and that's probably the focus of the work when people come in and they

Laura Shook-Guzman:

really want to reconnect to the body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's not just like, let's jump in.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

You know?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's, it's a reestablishing of that relationship and that

Laura Shook-Guzman:

trust, and that takes time.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And then as you start to realize, you can trust yourself to feel the body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Trust yourself to feel what aliveness is or what that sensation, you know, cuz

Laura Shook-Guzman:

we're nervous about intense energy in the body and it's like, oh, but I just

Laura Shook-Guzman:

felt that and I was okay and I took deep breaths and I like grounded it down or

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I moved that energy through, you know, I'm really grateful for the, the vantage

Laura Shook-Guzman:

point that it gives me and like the ways that I see my body now when I experience

Laura Shook-Guzman:

discomfort or experience pain before I was as aware, I think that I would have,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

you know, Physical pain and just be like, Oh, you know, I must have tweaked

Laura Shook-Guzman:

something, or I must have, I don't know.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's like, what's wrong with that?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And you just kind of think, uh, you just kinda wait for your

Laura Shook-Guzman:

body to heal or get better.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

But now I'm so much more attuned.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

To know, so what my body feels like at its resting state, and then

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I can tell when something's off.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like recently I had the flu and so, you know, there's like the usual aches and

Laura Shook-Guzman:

pains and stuff that come with the flu.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

But after I was recovering, I noticed, I'm like, hmm, there's something

Laura Shook-Guzman:

feeling really still stuck in my body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and I can feel the difference.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And I feel like it has something to do with recovering and being

Laura Shook-Guzman:

exhausted and and energy being kind of like stuck in the body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

But um, I need to tend to it.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And it's not about taking ibuprofen or just like numbing it out.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I was like, I need to figure out what's going on with the body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So I just started following the sensations of like, what feels good.

Sonya Stattmann:

Mm-hmm.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

like, Oh, I wanna lay on my back, or I wanna.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Or I wanna stretch or pull my hamstrings up, you know?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And just following and following and following, like,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

what is it that's happening?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

What do I need?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And then I would notice like just exercise, like stretching

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and being with the body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I'd get up and I'm like, Oh, that feels better.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And then when I was finally feeling a lot more, um, recovered, I went to a

Laura Shook-Guzman:

yoga class and I told the teacher, I was like, I really just need to work on

Laura Shook-Guzman:

spinal twists cuz I'm like, I have so much energy still in my body from being sick.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And so after that class, my body felt like back to its self again.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And it made me realize that we really underestimate.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

The power of just knowing intimately the way that our body moves energy

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and what it needs, and how energy can get stuck or it can get stagnant

Laura Shook-Guzman:

or it can need recovery and support.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

That's not just like time passing, but like my body needed some of this

Laura Shook-Guzman:

really specific poses or movements

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and so I just wouldn't have known that.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

A decade ago,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I would've just been like probably waiting for my, Oh, I'm still achy from

Laura Shook-Guzman:

the flu, but this time I knew, I was like, my body just took a hit and it

Laura Shook-Guzman:

needs some extra movement and support and postures to fully recover and,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and get back to its resting state.

Sonya Stattmann:

Yeah.

Sonya Stattmann:

And you know, I don't even know that a lot of people understand

Sonya Stattmann:

the role that the body plays.

Sonya Stattmann:

Like, so, you know, we often talk about the body in terms

Sonya Stattmann:

of like physicalness, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

So we talk about the body in terms of like health or in terms of how we feel

Sonya Stattmann:

or, you know, But I don't think that a lot of people recognize that almost

Sonya Stattmann:

all of their challenges in life are in some way connected to the body, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

Like, I cause I was thinking about.

Sonya Stattmann:

How a lot of people are like, Oh, well this is.

Sonya Stattmann:

Like, Yeah.

Sonya Stattmann:

I'd like to be connected to my body.

Sonya Stattmann:

That's nice.

Sonya Stattmann:

And you know, but then they'll go off and still prioritize the things

Sonya Stattmann:

that are in their way, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

The things that are like affecting them, you know?

Sonya Stattmann:

Um, maybe it's like they're struggling socially or maybe they're

Sonya Stattmann:

not able to step into, the voice they wanna have in their business.

Sonya Stattmann:

Or maybe they struggle with sales or maybe they, um, they hate their job

Sonya Stattmann:

and they're just challenge, you know?

Sonya Stattmann:

So all kind of the day to day challenges that we have in the

Sonya Stattmann:

world, I think oftentimes we never connect it to our body.

Sonya Stattmann:

But the body that we're talking about is at the core of all of that.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

And I think if we can make that connection for our listeners, I think that's a

Sonya Stattmann:

really important piece, Oftentimes, the way we're responding to things in

Sonya Stattmann:

the world, the way we're experiencing things in the world is about the body.

Sonya Stattmann:

the body is determining how we're experiencing things.

Sonya Stattmann:

Whether we're able to take in information or we're not take information.

Sonya Stattmann:

Whether we perceive things as a threat or not is a threat.

Sonya Stattmann:

Like so much of what we are doing is a hundred percent related to our body.

Sonya Stattmann:

And I think the world because it's disconnected and

Sonya Stattmann:

objectified our bodies, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

it's left out all the truth.

Sonya Stattmann:

Of how much our body is at play in every single moment we're living in the world.

Sonya Stattmann:

And so, can we talk a little bit about that?

Sonya Stattmann:

Because I think, you know, I, I can see even like in my own mind, I'm like, Oh

Sonya Stattmann:

yeah, like, you know, Oh, when I'm sick, I can totally see how like I bring the

Sonya Stattmann:

body in, but like, what about my everyday things that I think, oh, the body's not a

Sonya Stattmann:

part of, It's just the thing I drag along.

Sonya Stattmann:

It's working or it's not working.

Sonya Stattmann:

How can we connect that so that people understand that the body is at the

Sonya Stattmann:

heart and the core of every single thing you are dealing with in your world?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Oh, that's such a good, highlight.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And, and I think that I struggle with this, you know, with clients

Laura Shook-Guzman:

in my sessions, um, because it's a very hard thing for people to get and

Laura Shook-Guzman:

they.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And they keep coming, you know, keep coming back to the thinking of like,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

okay, so yeah, I get everything that you're saying, but then, okay,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

so how am I gonna get more clear about what I'm supposed to do next?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Right?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Because we're, we're gonna, I need, by the end of the session, like I

Laura Shook-Guzman:

wanna figure out what my answer is gonna be and then keep going back.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And I'm like, Yep.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So okay, let's come back in.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

You know, if we're gonna find that clarity, we need to keep coming back.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

To the body and into the present moment.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like there's so much information that you're going to

Laura Shook-Guzman:

gain when you learn to source it from there,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

but it's very typical for us as human beings because we're so, um, Used to

Laura Shook-Guzman:

sourcing all this information from the mind that were like, Yeah, yeah,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

yeah, okay, I'll get back in the body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

But yeah, I'm gonna, but I

Laura Shook-Guzman:

need to figure this out, you know?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And

Laura Shook-Guzman:

just keep going back to the narrative and back to the narrative and, and

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I'm sometimes a broken record cuz I'm just like, But we won't know those

Laura Shook-Guzman:

answers until we can stay in the body and

Laura Shook-Guzman:

come back.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

To being present with the south, cuz that's where you're unlocking

Laura Shook-Guzman:

so much of the inner wisdom.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

this is why, like when you are walking in the middle of a beautiful, sunlight

Laura Shook-Guzman:

woods, like you're walking through the woods and the sun's coming through and

Laura Shook-Guzman:

you hear the waterfall and like there these moments in nature that you're

Laura Shook-Guzman:

just, Oh, I feel so clear right now.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I feel like I know what I'm gonna do next for work.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I feel like I'm gonna know what to do now with this thing.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like we take these walks to clear our head

Laura Shook-Guzman:

, because we're literally getting out of it.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

we're trying to get out of the head and be in the body.

Sonya Stattmann:

Like so much of how we're we are experiencing the world,

Sonya Stattmann:

is connected to our perception, and perception is connected to our body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yes.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah.

Sonya Stattmann:

because I think we've just been misled because we

Sonya Stattmann:

have this perception or this idea, or this perception that perception is

Sonya Stattmann:

related to the mind, that everything's

Sonya Stattmann:

related to the mind and how we think.

Sonya Stattmann:

But the body comes first, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

The body perceives unconsciously like our autonomics, you know, nervous system.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

It's, it's like it perceives unconsciously, and then sure, we go

Sonya Stattmann:

and make meaning and we like do all these things in our thinking brain,

Sonya Stattmann:

but that is not where it originates.

Sonya Stattmann:

That's not where experience is.

Sonya Stattmann:

can you talk a little bit about that?

Sonya Stattmann:

Like in a very simple, I mean obviously like the body and biology

Sonya Stattmann:

and nervous system, like they're all very, very big topics, but like in a

Sonya Stattmann:

simple way, how does our experience in the world relate the body?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Well, I mean, is exactly what you just said, that so much

Laura Shook-Guzman:

of the information is coming in, in the present moment in the body, unconsciously

Laura Shook-Guzman:

by the time it ends up in a thought.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

That's like the summary, You know, like the whole story

Laura Shook-Guzman:

started when your body started to.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Sense that something was occurring and started to take information in.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I think even prior, um, I mean, how many years ago, Steven pos as a scientist, um,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

that termed neuroception, but for me, I'm like, did we not have that word before?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Like, how did we not have that word?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So neuroception is the ability to understand what the nervous system.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Perceiving.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's the perception, and you're right, we've always had all these like cognitive

Laura Shook-Guzman:

perceptions, like how we perceive the world through our thinking mind.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

But neuroception is how our body in the nervous system is perceiving what is

Laura Shook-Guzman:

happening, what is safe, what is not safe, You know, who's safe to engage

Laura Shook-Guzman:

with or who do we need to move away from?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

We're constantly needing to find orientation.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

In our natural state.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and then there's also a term called interception.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So this is the ability to perceive inside of self so that we can go,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Oh, I have that fluttery in my.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Stomach.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

That must mean that I'm nervous or I'm excited about something or I feel

Laura Shook-Guzman:

really, distracted or I feel numb.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's like, Oh, something's causing me to feel unsafe right now

Laura Shook-Guzman:

that I'm actually checking out.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And this whole perception of what's happening inside of our body is

Laura Shook-Guzman:

what I spend a lot of time teaching my clients because it's not.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

A perception that we are taught in schools.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's not a perception of language that we hear from our parents very often,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

unless they're on that journey of being, you know, Well, how do you know that?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

How does your body tell you this?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And one of the therapists who've taken Steven Port's work and apply it taught

Laura Shook-Guzman:

other therapists how to use it in the clinical room is, um, Deb Dana.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And she uses the term that the state.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Is what creates the story.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So the state of the body, the state of your neuroception, what you're perceiving

Laura Shook-Guzman:

is what creates the story that you see.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So if I am grounded, am embodied, present, and I walk into a meeting, and

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I see somebody with their head down in like looking really distressed.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I'm probably not gonna personalize that in the moment cuz I'm very

Laura Shook-Guzman:

already grounded within myself.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

So I might just be like, Oh, let me see how I can help.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Is there's something going on, What's going on?

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And, and staying really calm and being able to just aid someone.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Versus if I was in a state of overwhelm and I walk in, then I'm like, Oh

Laura Shook-Guzman:

shit, I'm getting fired today.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Or like something bad is happening and then, you know, I'm all like panicked.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And so our internal state is constantly causing us to interact

Laura Shook-Guzman:

with our world in different ways.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And so that's another reason why it's so important to learn the language.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Learn how to perceive inside of self, become mindful of those states of

Laura Shook-Guzman:

being, because then we have choice points of to regulate and to calm

Laura Shook-Guzman:

ourselves down and, and change the way that we're interacting with our

Laura Shook-Guzman:

environment in a much more positive way.

Sonya Stattmann:

Yes.

Sonya Stattmann:

I mean, , it's like I, I know we're running like we we're kind of at

Sonya Stattmann:

time, but I'm like, are, there's so much more I wanna like talk about.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

And so, yeah, I mean I think the more that I learn about the nervous system,

Sonya Stattmann:

the more that I realize like, wow, that's at the core of so much of our experience.

Sonya Stattmann:

Right.

Sonya Stattmann:

So, my nervous system is interacting with everyone else's nervous system.

Sonya Stattmann:

And I'm, I'm kind of playing this out and like dissecting

Sonya Stattmann:

this within my family, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

Cuz I know my family fairly well.

Sonya Stattmann:

You know, I can kind of see like, oh, like that's all of our nervous systems and

Sonya Stattmann:

they're all responding and then they're perceiving things in a particular way.

Sonya Stattmann:

And then we're reacting.

Sonya Stattmann:

And then we're interacting and it's like, Where I could look at is all of our

Sonya Stattmann:

problems in our family and say, or all of our challenges in our family and say,

Sonya Stattmann:

Oh, well this person is doing this and this person's doing this, and they're just

Sonya Stattmann:

have bad behavior and they have like a bad, you know, they're not thinking right,

Sonya Stattmann:

and they need to change their beliefs or they're very, you know, whatever.

Sonya Stattmann:

There's a million things.

Sonya Stattmann:

I could look at it, but looking at it from the body.

Sonya Stattmann:

Is very, very different and it's allowing me to have more empathy and

Sonya Stattmann:

compassion to understand how much that's shifting, what we're able to

Sonya Stattmann:

experience with each other, what we're able to appreciate with each other,

Sonya Stattmann:

and that, The body is the key, right?

Sonya Stattmann:

The thinking and the perceptions in the mind, the cognitive perceptions

Sonya Stattmann:

as you said, and the, and the beliefs and the stuff, the, all that stuff

Sonya Stattmann:

up there comes after the body.

Sonya Stattmann:

And so we can keep trying to navigate all that, but the body is the one

Sonya Stattmann:

that is creating the experience.

Sonya Stattmann:

And so, I'm learning so much about how important.

Sonya Stattmann:

The body is in that.

Sonya Stattmann:

And I think a lot of people, the reason why they don't pay more attention to

Sonya Stattmann:

their body or you know, they think that this is kind of nice, it's a nice

Sonya Stattmann:

topic, but you know, I'll prioritize that somewhere down the road is because

Sonya Stattmann:

they don't really understand how the body is at the heart of it all.

Sonya Stattmann:

And so I think, you know, that's sort of just so important to keep highlighting.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yeah.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Thank you so much for highlighting that because I think that even in

Laura Shook-Guzman:

my, um, or because I am teaching it a lot, sometimes I can forget

Laura Shook-Guzman:

the, the most simple statement.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's just like how instrumental it is to not just heal from trauma

Laura Shook-Guzman:

or specifically, you know, um, address a certain disconnect.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's like it is foundational to a happy, integrated, connected

Laura Shook-Guzman:

life and that we are energetic.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Beings, yet we live inside this container and all of that energy is firing and,

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and giving us all sorts of information.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And if we just cut off from that, then we are missing out on so much

Laura Shook-Guzman:

of the experience that we're meant to have and we're missing out on

Laura Shook-Guzman:

deeper connections with each other.

Sonya Stattmann:

Yeah, I agree.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

because the nervous system is wired for love it.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's wired for connection and it will keep us safe.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

If it thinks that there is threat, it will stay in a state of alert

Laura Shook-Guzman:

and threat and that protection.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

But just like Dr.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Schwartz says about internal family system parts, there are no bad parts.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

And I believe that about the body there, there's, there's no bad parts in the body.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It's just the body doing what it has evolved to do to keep

Laura Shook-Guzman:

us safe and befriending the body, returning to its wisdom.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

It has so much to show us, so many ways to guide us, and we are not stuck

Laura Shook-Guzman:

just relying on that thinking brain.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

We have so much information to gather.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

From the body.

Sonya Stattmann:

Yes, Yes.

Sonya Stattmann:

Thank you so much for this great episode, Laura.

Sonya Stattmann:

I just, I think it's so important.

Sonya Stattmann:

Like I said, I could, I mean, I feel like we could have like five other episodes

Sonya Stattmann:

and on extensions of this, but I think this is, was a really important topic and

Sonya Stattmann:

an important part of reclaiming ourselves.

Sonya Stattmann:

And, you know, I, I appreciate you for joining us, so

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Mm, Thank you.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Yes.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

I really enjoyed it as well.

Sonya Stattmann:

All right, and thank you listeners for being here.

Sonya Stattmann:

We so appreciate you and we will see you next week.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Well thanks for joining us today, and I

Laura Shook-Guzman:

hope you enjoyed the show.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

If you wanna learn more about this topic, head over to conscious ambition.com.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

You can sign up for my email list so you never miss an episode.

Laura Shook-Guzman:

Have a great day, and we'll see you next time.

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About Sonya Stattmann

Sonya has spent the last 24 years working with thousands of individuals, leaders & organizations around personal development. She offers resilience-based tools for stress management, mental wellness, navigating change, and dealing with relationship challenges. She currently works 1:1 with founders, leaders & high achievers through her stress management coaching program. She also offers wellness & resilience workshops for teams. She also hosts both public and private podcasts. Her mission is to help individuals and teams build more resilience and navigate adversity, change & stress more effectively. She currently resides in the USA, but you can often find her and her family traveling the globe.