From numb to reconnecting with feeling.
Are you working hard on yourself through your own personal development work or talk therapy, but you still don’t see the changes you want in yourself and your behaviour? Why?
Because to make life long shifts you ALSO need to engage with the unconscious patterns held in your body.
Core Energetics is a process that helps restore you restore the natural flow within your body and connection to the Core of who you are, so you can experience more pleasure and fulfilment in your life.
At CoreExplore online, we focus on you. What you hope for and what your unique gifts are, and then guide you step by step at your pace to resolve the unconscious patterns holding you back.
Natalia’s journey below is just one example of how the Core Energetics process and our CoreExplore principles of change, work in practice; and how they can help you make lifelong changes that can completely change your life.
Natalia had been regularly seeing a psychologist before she started with CoreExplore, and progress was ‘good but slow’.
She was aware that experiences from childhood were ‘colouring and shaping’ her adult experiences’ and was looking for something to work on a deeper level.
Natalia joined the CoreExplore classes out of curiosity after a referral from a friend, but she stayed because she felt Dana’s support gave the group the ‘courage to face ourselves on a weekly basis, to check in and just be with what is’.
Over the years, I learnt to cope/manage my feelings quite effectively, however CoreEnergetics provided me with a safe space to explore, acknowledge and process these, transforming them into something new.
With all our clients, we are constantly working with our 6 key principles of change.
One of the first aspects of our work together in the classes was to support Natalia to connect with and feel her body, rather than be an observer of it. For Natalia, herself observer skills helped her to cope with her past experiences, but could put her in the watch tower of her life, rather than fully feeling it.
At first, she needed some extra cuing and support in class to help her become aware of areas of holding in her body.
“Dana is very perceptive, even over the computer screen she can 'sense' that one is holding their jaw, its freaky sometimes”.
Based on Natalia’s feedback about her experience at the end of each class, we worked together to consider what at home exercises she might be able to practice between class to help her when she was on her own and feelings bubbled to the surface.
“She has a good intuition about the needs of each of her participants and she genuinely cares. I think these qualities are crucial for this sort of work”.
Natalia is highly intelligent and has a lot of insight about her past and how her behaviour was impacted. Where Natalia needed some support though was in developing body-based awareness and feeling.
Upon reflection, Natalia learned through the classes that ‘I am not very good at feeling my own feelings. Feelings like sadness I was well familiar with but feelings like anger were a blind spot for me’.
As Natalia began to return to her sense of her body, she began to have more access to feelings and gained a deeper understanding of what was impacting her.
“Core Energetics helped me to see numerous details about my life that I was not aware of. Each week's theme helped to uncover something different about myself.”
A key part of Natalia’s transformation was slowly allowing her body to move out of a ‘freeze’ response, where she experienced emotional numbness in her body. As a dancer, Natalia was familiar with lots of movement patterns, but found the involuntary movement of vibration used to regulate the nervous system as integrate the whole body didn’t come as easily.
“I remember in the beginning I found it all very strange, I could not feel the vibration and I just didn’t really get what she was on about.”
This was in part because Natalia had a well-worn pattern of controlling or numbing the body to help her survive experiences in the past. Spontaneous movement and vibration is only possible when the mind lets go and allows the body to self-correct through vibration.
Sometimes these engrained patterns can take time – it is not about forcing the body (frankly, most of our bodies have been forced enough). It is simply about regularly inviting the body to let go.
“Over time I grew more sensitive and could listen better to my body. I think it took between 3 to 6 months to start to really sense changes.”
As Natalia’s body felt safer to move spontaneously, and emotions would move but would stay trapped under the surface (and below Natalia’s conscious awareness). With support, Natalia was allowed herself to feel with the group.
“Sometimes I would end the class releasing something that I was not even aware I was holding onto.”
Natalia has a lovely gentleness and sensitivity about her and was slowly able to soften into her body and her nature.
“Somehow, at a point I just had to trust that this is what my body needed, and it was correct. This was a beautiful process of discovery”.
Natalia feels that she is ‘more resilient now’.
‘This comes from learning how to pay attention to the body and letting the body speak. Now I am able to deal with stress and bounce back from difficult situations more easily’.
Natalia still hopes for ‘many things’.
‘I can always become more intuitive, confident etc. It is a process. Life throws all manner of difficulties our way and we need to skills and the support to deal with them. These classes help me to deal with them’.
Thank you so much to Natalia for sharing your experience so generously and courageously.