How Somatic Healing modalities connect with Trauma Initiations and Emotions
- Jessina Mehu
- Apr 18
- 6 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
This is my experience with somatic healing modalities, a deeper dive into how it ties into trauma, and why it works for many. In my very human, ADHD style rambling. I initially came on here to finish my blog of my story, and somehow found myself in this beautiful flow going into more depth on a topic that truly deserves to stand on it’s own. So here it is…
I believe with every fiber of my being that the experiences I've had in this lifetime were initiations. They activated something in me. Special gifts that make it possible for me to help others that have walked similar paths of initiation.
I remember seeing an Instagram post once that said, "All my life I thought I was an empath, but really, I was just a child born into trauma so my nervous system became hyper attuned to the energy around me to protect myself"
What struck me as I got deeper into my learnings is that it's not this or that. It's both and… both are true. The reason I have such attuned empathic gifts, is because I went through the initiation process of a traumatic childhood. I'm now able to harness those abilities and use them to help others embody their gifts because my soul was relentless in it's pursuits to heal from these traumas. I made a choice. Not once, but over and over again. So many layers to peel back, always thinking, "This has to be the core. The final layer."
It wasn't.
No... coming to a place of wholeness and ending my suffering meant accepting that more layers will surface, and what a blessing it is when they do. I now tenderly embrace and accept each layer that surfaces because when they're buried; that's when I suffer. I lovingly work through the layer as I would with one of my children or anyone outside of myself prior to my becoming whole.
These layers of suppressed emotions and traumatic experiences just want to be seen, heard, and be able to move and express themselves. I love the connection to this being inner child work because that's what it really feels to be. The beautiful little girl that I was, wanting so badly to have someone see her pain. She wants to express her pain and desires. She wants to cry and stomp and scream. She wants to move her emotions through her the way she was instinctively made to.
At some point in time those expressions in a child became bad behavior... by the time you’re an adult, you surely must have them all stuffed neatly away or you’re really frowned upon.
Emotions are simply energy in motion. That's why when you feel sadness, it tries to flow out of your eyes. That is simply energy moving through your body. It is neither bad nor good. It is a natural part of human expression. We feel "bad" or uncomfortable from sadness when we experience shame of doing something deemed as weak... maybe we've actually been told we are weak when we wept in front of another. That gets stored in the ego, or monkey brain. It's sole purpose is to protect. It's not capable of logic or reason and when we're children, our brains aren't developed enough to see the truth of this situation. It's just programmed as, "crying means we're weak and if we're weak we're susceptible to harm. So do everything we can to not cry." If we have not been taught that sadness and crying is a natural, normal experience and that allowing emotions to move is as important as taking a shower and drinking water, then naturally, we will do everything in our power to keep that energy from moving, storing it into our body. The inner child needs an adult who knows better, to guide her to truth. To reprogram those neuropathways that take us to the false belief that tears equal weakness and that’s a threat to our lives.
Our bodies were not meant to store the energy of emotions...
No different than our bodies not being meant to store urine. This is why there are natural physical reactions that accompany emotions. Such as crying... It’s a detoxing experience. Have you ever felt refreshed and lighter after a good cry? I know I have!
And just as it will greatly harm the body to not release urine, illnesses in the body occur from not releasing emotions.
This ongoing pandemic of suppressing emotions isn’t limited to the perceived bad ones either. People are constantly avoiding emotions that feel wonderful for various reasons such as taking some time to relax and restore because there’s just no time for it…or you’d be selfish if you did something just for you that would make you feel great… or you’re childish if you take time to play! Or maybe you even avoid love… out of fear from the sadness that will come if it ends or you’re rejected.
If this is hitting home for you, you’re so not alone in this. I see you, as well as many others in this fast-paced modern-day society. As we’ve evolved as humans, we adapted somewhere along the lines a story that emotions are not civilized or acceptable. While I do agree that there is a time and a place for emotions to be expressed, and healthy vs unhealthy ways to express them, I have experienced first-hand the liberation that coexists with allowing myself to fully express my emotions in a healthy way.
This is one reason why somatic healing is so transformational.
One major benefit of somatic healing modalities is that it teaches us healthy ways to express these emotions and moves out the stuck ones.
For me personally, I experienced anxiety as a symptom of suppressed emotions and unsurfaced layers of healing that needed to be witnessed. I can say this now, although I had no idea of this until I realized that my anxiety disorder is gone. I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder (among other things, but I will stick to this example for now), given prescriptions for it, although the only ones that really seemed to help I couldn’t function with and were controlled substances. I felt like I was stuck with this suffering forever. I was just wired wrong for some reason. Broken.
I can’t say I intentionally stepped into this world to help my anxiety, but it did. Now I’m not talking about anxiety entirely… because it too, is a natural human reaction to threats. I’m speaking to anxiety disorder that so many of us experience today, where your nervous system flips on the sympathetic side (fight, flight, freeze, etc) over things that are not actually a threat to your life.
I’m condensing all of this for the sake of length, but if this article is resonating with you and you haven’t yet experienced somatic healing modalities, I invite you to give it a try. Whether it’s through the offerings here at Healing Light Studios, or elsewhere, maybe just give it a try and see how you feel from it. If you experience relief from a class, it may be something to explore further. True healing comes from an established practice. It takes time for neurons to make new connections in the brain and glands to restore to health. As you start to integrate pieces you learn from classes into your daily life, you may start to experience profound shifts in the quality of your life.
This is why, for those like me that experience incredible relief from somatic healing and want to deepen their knowledge and incorporate these practices daily to experience this relief not only after a class they took that one day a week, I’m creating a video channel for members specifically with this intention. It’s a living, growing library of short, proficient practices you can easily access throughout your day.
Did life throw you a ton of frustration and you have some anger to release? Pick a 5-10 min. video to guide you through some breathwork/movements for that.
Feeling sluggish and over stimulated after working for hours on the computer? There’s a short video for that.
You get the idea.
I sincerely hope that this will aide in making these practices more accessible and practical on the daily. I’m just a woman, that found a tool that saved her life and had to dig way too hard to find it. I can only hope that I get to do my part in making the path to a more fulfilling life easy to find, no digging required.
Stay tuned for the next article, where I will share my full story of initiation experiences, and offer others this incredibly healing opportunity of being seen and connect with others that relate to your experiences.
XO- Jess
If you feel called to deep dive with a 1:1 personalized somatic healing program, click below to view details on this offering.
Check out some of Jessina's somatic healing workshop style classes below (offered on zoom and in person at our studio in Howell, MI. Recordings offered in member's portal)
Fun side note about my blogs: I do not use AI technology when writing them. I love AI technology, don’t get me wrong. For me, this is a space to connect with others in the most authentic way. I want you to feel my essence in these articles. The undiluted, perfectly imperfect writings straight from my soul. 😊I feel this is the only way the souls I’m meant to reach will be able to connect with me. If you can follow my jumping around ramblings… you’re probably a part of my tribe!
Comments