'Can you notice that?'
Noticing is powerful. It supports our learning about our felt sensations in our bodies, our emotions, our thoughts. As Bessel Van Der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score says:
“As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself…The critical issue is allowing yourself to know what you know. That takes an enormous amount of courage.”
Noticing takes practice - it isn't always easy and can be extremely challenging. However, noticing or 'knowing what you know' can provide a fresh relationship with your body, experiences, as well as supporting you to articulate your needs in relation to others.
Noticing and TRE®
TRE® is a practical way to support this noticing - it integral to all my sessions. As a practitioner, 'What do you notice?' is an extremely important question, allowing clients to articulate their relationship with their body before, during and after the shaking. It is also a skill that takes practice but is endlessly rewarding.
Noticing can generate new perceptions about the body's state; the root of emotion. We often hear people exclaim how they are led by their emotions...'my emotions are all over the place', 'I was driven to do that by my emotions' and how emotions need to be 'controlled'. However, research suggests that emotions emerge from the body and emotions start from a feeling within the body, for example a tightening of the chest, a churning of the stomach.
The shaking experienced through TRE® is always emotional. We actively discharge adrenaline and create a new positive feedback loop between the emotions and body. We pause to receive the sensations and notice what is occurring in our bodies through the integration/rest periods during, and at the end of, a session.
Noticing during a TRE® session supports us to regulate emotions. By noticing pain, discomfort, engagement or, perhaps, disengagement and floaty feelings (caused by our natural opioids) as understandable responses, we can, overtime, build a stronger relationship with our body and our emotional responses as a result of events and situations; building our emotional resilience. We can sit with our challenges and 'icky' feelings for an increasing length of time which often changes our relationship with those feelings. This can massively alter our perceptions and ability to deal with challenges calmly.
If you are interested in how TRE® might support you, I have a range of options available from private individual sessions to regular groups and workshops. I'm always happy to chat about how TRE® might help you so get in touch through instagram (tre_with_kate) or email (kate@trewithkate.co.uk).
