TRUSTING THE PROCESS

Is it truly possible to transform the lived experience of our day-to-day challenges?

With an increasingly clear picture of the neurophysiology behind our experience, the answer is yes. If we want to change our relationship with, and our experience of, our bodymind, all we have to do is apply the research in organized ways.

Below are three insights with the power to change how you feel and what you experience, with links to research that can help you understand the vital work that makes The Healed Space possible.

1. The felt sense of safety is our birthright.

So much is possible when a sense of safety can be created. Unfortunately, modern life is filled with physical and emotional demands that chip away at our experience of safety in our environments, in our relationships and in our bodies. And yet—safety cues are necessary for well-being and our healing.

Safety cues are our primary access point to the physiological and emotional regulation that makes wellbeing and healing possible. Studies show that they’re the key to shifting the state of our nervous systems from survival to growth and repair. In other words, if we want our bodies to allocate energy and resources toward healing and a lived experience of wellbeing, we need to make it safe for that to happen. Research shows that safe cues are necessary to:

  • restore vital resources when emotional and physical symptoms are present (source)

  • reduce symptoms associated with emotional pain and trauma (source)

  • Initiate repair and expedite healing for physical damage to body tissue (source)

2. Claiming our birthright requires a response to threats

Threat signals, including stress and pain, have one purpose: to draw our attention to potential danger or harm so that it can be resolved. Understanding how physical and emotional threats operate and how they affect the body is important if we want to respond constructively. Make no mistake, responding constructively is vitally important—because things can get out of hand without our presence and response.

The brain’s threat response is designed to keep learning from what’s happening right now. Your brainbody stays aware of your awareness, and will treat the absence of your response as evidence of an emergency that warrants louder signaling. Somatic tools are required to intervene in this neurophysiological process—and research shows that it’s in our interest to have them:

  • Threat signals, including emotional and physical pain, activate the brain’s threat response (source)

  • As the stress response is allowed to continue, it can impede physical and emotional healing and exacerbate symptoms (source)

  • If exposure to threat signals becomes chronic, maladaptive changes tend to occur including heightened sensitivity to pain (source) and various forms of dis-ease (source)

3. It’s possible to respond safely—with the right tools.

Studies consistently show that when we know how to respond to stress and pain by establishing a balance of safety cues, we become able to regulate our bodies, evolve our symptoms, and promote emotional and physical healing.

Re-establishing balance requires an authentic experience of safety, though—so this requires tools. Because they are grounded in applied neurophysiology, tools like healing inquiry (e.g., somatic experiencing) and cognitive restructuring (e.g., narrative medicine) effectively facilitate safe and resourceful inquiry. If you can learn to use them consistently, you can transform your body’s threat response and cultivate a more effective and sustainable healing and recovery process.

Studies show that somatic tools work by leaning into your neurophysiological design. They assist the brain in differentiating safe and resourceful cues from threatening ones. By helping the brain attend and organize inputs, a felt sense of safe presence can naturally emerge that balances feelings of chaos or rigidity. This pathway to regulation has incredible potential to restore our well-being and transform our relationship with our bodymind.

Because here’s the thing: your brain is learning while you do. Studies show that

  • The more we learn to attend and differentiate safety and threat cues, the more agile the brain becomes at putting threats in context, reducing their severity, and promoting “threat extinction”—the natural resolution of fears and anxieties (source)

  • Integrating a felt sense of rewards can unplug neurophysiological maladaptions that occur when we have prolonged exposure to the threats of pain and suffering (source)

  • We can rewire the outcomes our bodies expect by working consistently with resourceful inputs (source)

  • The more we mind safe cues, the more our brain architecture evolves to support the kind of experience we want to have (source)

  • Engaging with safety cues strengthens the brain's capacity for emotional regulation and resilience, fostering neural pathways that support recovery and well-being (source)