Latest / Celeste The Therapist / Ep 501 The Benefits of Somatic Work: Emotional Release, Stress Reduction, and More

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Ep 501 The Benefits of Somatic Work: Emotional Release, Stress Reduction, and More · Celeste The Therapist

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You are now tuned in to Celeste, the therapist podcast. Hello.
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My name is Celeste. Thank you so much for giving me a try. If
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you are new here, I wanna say thank you so much for checking me
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out. What we do here is I talk about
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areas of our lives that we get stuck in. I talk
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about why we get stuck and I help you shift the way you think
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about it by giving you practical tools. I'm all about
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using what you have, starting where you can. And I
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think a lot of times people tend to give up because they don't
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understand why they're feeling the things that they're feeling
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or why things are happening. And I find that the more
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educated we are about a topic, the better it is
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for us to create change in our life. If
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you are a longtime listener, thank you so much for sticking it out with
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got to do is email me, info at celestatherapist.com. If
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you want to follow me, you can follow me everywhere at Celeste Therapist.
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Also, I have a whole wellness center that I created called
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Shifting the Way You Think. And if you want to learn more about
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the wellness center, get involved, attend 1 of the classes. All
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you got to do is go to dot com again.
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That's dot com.
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All right, let's get into this amazing episode.
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Hey, hey. Hi, beautiful people. So
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I just got back last week from Barbados. Had
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an amazing time. I went to celebrate my husband's birthday. His
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birthday falls on the date we had our first date. So it's always like super
1:52
special. While I was there, I
1:56
was very over, I felt overwhelmed. I felt it in my stomach. When
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I go on vacation, when I just had my private practice, I
2:04
learned I was fine. My clients knew what
2:08
was happening. My systems were in place. So I
2:12
was able to relax a little bit better. And the day
2:15
before I would get back, that's when I would feel a
2:18
little something. But throughout this vacation, now I
2:22
have this wellness center. So if you're new here, I have
2:25
a wellness center called Shifting the Way You Think, where we
2:29
provide different workshops and classes and I
2:32
have other people under me. So it's
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new, right? And I was just thinking how my body was responding. I
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wasn't afraid. I leaned into it. I felt
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when my stomach was turning. I felt all these things. And it
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was OK. I felt fine. When
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I say I felt fine, meaning I felt these things, but it's kind of like, OK,
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I know what's happening. Kind of like if you get a paper cut, you're not freaking
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out. You see the paper cut, you're like, oh, man. And then you put Band-Aid on
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it. You try not to get water on it. You make the adjustments. That's
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what I did. And it had me thinking about my people and
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how much our body's responding. So today,
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I just want to talk about somatic practices. Every
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time I meet with people, I'm always teaching them about different
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somatic practices. It's not something that we hear about
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or we think about. We know about therapy. People talk
3:27
about therapy. We know about psychiatry. People talk about psychiatry. But
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the other things that can help us get to where we need to be I
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don't feel like mainstream media, mainstream society is
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talking about it. So let's talk about it. This is going to
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be really good for people that might feel like stuck. If
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you've been in therapy, you feel like you're missing out on something. I
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feel like you're going to find what you need here. So as we
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get started, the word somatic, right?
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is a new word for some people. So let me just tell you what it means. And also, if you
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are listening to me in audio, don't forget that this podcast does
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stream on YouTube. So if you want to check
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out the visuals, head on over to Celeste Therapist
4:12
on YouTube, and you can find these episodes. I am
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a very visual learner, so that's why it's important to me to provide that for people.
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All right, so the term somatic comes from the Greek
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word soma. Wait, before I get started too,
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don't forget, and for people that are new, use this podcast as
4:30
a learning tool, right? If you're on a wellness journey, if you struggle
4:34
with finances or finding somebody to help you on this journey, I
4:37
talk about so many different things, right? So get
4:40
a notebook, get a pen, take notes, right? Go
4:44
back to these notes. I want you to be able to feel empowered when
4:48
you leave my sessions on this podcast. All
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right, so somatic. The term somatic comes from the Greek word, soma,
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which means body. Somatic practices
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are techniques that focuses on the body as a way to enhance
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awareness, release tension, and promote healing.
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They can include a variety of activities like yoga, dance,
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body work, and mindfulness. These practices encourage us
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to tune in our bodily sensations, emotions, movements,
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helping us to reconnect with ourselves on a deeper level. That
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was a mouthful. So I want to kind of break that
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down for you a little bit. So when you think about the body, when
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you think about your experiences, a lot of times people can
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remember their experience. There's a lot of times people cannot remember their
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experiences, but guess who's remembering the experiences, the
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body. A lot of times things are happening and
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these emotions, these things that are happening are trapped in
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our body, right? Some people are walking around, if you're watching
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me, my shoulders are up, very tense all the time,
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not realizing it, having back aches, right? Someone
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said, you know, I'm so young. I realize I need to do somatic work. I'm
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so young, but I feel old. Like my body feels
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so like broken down. And a lot
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of that is happening is because of the way we live our lives, right? We're
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going through things and we're not processing them. We're not dealing with them
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and they're being stored in our body. So let's talk about like
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just talk one-on-one therapy. We can intellectualize things.
6:24
I can teach you about what's happening, how it's happening, help
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you understand things better. You can come to a great understanding and
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still feel like something is going on in your body. I talk
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about this a lot. A lot of times we don't realize it, but the
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things we go through can get trapped in different parts of our body. For me, it's
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my back, my stomach, and my healing, the inner child
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class. This is something that we talk about during the
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first session. It's a three-week course that I do in person at
6:53
the center. And we talk about how the body can
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hold pain in your body and create other ailments that
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may come up. So that's essentially what somatic
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practice is used for, right? It's used to
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help release things, to release the tension that's happening
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in your body, to become more mindful and
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aware of what you are feeling. Remember
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as children, and I know this happens a lot in black households,
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we were to be seen and not heard. And if you didn't experience that,
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like that's really great. Like if you were, you had a caregiver, a
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parent that said, look, how are you feeling? Like, how's your body feel?
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Right. And this isn't about blaming anybody, but
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a lot of times our caregivers were in survival themselves. They
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didn't have the capacity to even know what they were feeling or what they had
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going on. They were probably operating from a depressed or anxious
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state a lot of times, right? So we
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were never taught how to check in with what's going on in our body.
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If we weren't bleeding sometimes, a lot of times it's
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like any kind of pains, if there's nothing happening, you learn to
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ignore, you learn to adjust, right? There's people
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that's hunched over, typing all the time, don't even realize all
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of the things that are going on in their body. because of their
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positioning and their posture, right? So somatic
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practices can allow you to get more in tune with what's going on
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in your body. Now let's talk about the benefits of somatic work. So
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benefits of somatic work, emotional release. So many people find
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that somatic practices can help them process and
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release emotions that are stored in their body, leading to
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a greater sense of emotional wellbeing. This emotion chart
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here that I'm pulling up by beam, as you can see, all
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of these emotions, these are things that we go through. And
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unfortunately, a lot of times they are trapped in our body and
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we're rooted with so much struggles that are going on
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because we don't know how to release them. Another benefit
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of it improves your movement and posture. So by becoming more
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aware of our bodies, we can improve our movement patterns and
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posture, which can lead to a better physical health. So
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for me, like I'm very in tune with when I'm hunched over, when
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I'm not sitting up straight, right? As we get older,
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unfortunately what happens is that when we keep leaning over
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and when we're not really adjusting our posture, staying
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uncomfortable, is we start to experience some things that
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don't reverse, right? So really being mindful of
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that. Let's talk about some more benefits. So stress reduction,
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engaging in somatic practices can lower your stress
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levels by focusing on the body. We release
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pent up tension. Breath work. Breath
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work is a practice, right? When people are overwhelmed in
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stress, unfortunately, we don't know what we can do about
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it. Something as simple as putting my hands over my heart. and
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I'm taking a deep breath, that little bit, that
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one breath can help me reset a little bit, right? Working
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on creating somatic practices in your life can
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allow you to breathe better, can do a lot of
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things to think better, right? Because you don't have all this stuff that's pent up
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in you. Also, if you're working on
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doing somatic work, it can enhance body awareness. So
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it can allow you to recognize when discomfort happens, when things
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are going on. I always tell you, if you listen to this
10:26
podcast, sometimes you could be struggling and
10:30
you may not intellectually know it. It's not in your conscious
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mindset. but your body's responding. When
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the pandemic hit, I was already working from home. It
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wasn't a lot of pressure. But then when I started working with people and
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the anxieties and fears, what happened was I started
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to feel like my back. It felt like something just hit my back.
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And I was like, oh my gosh, this is a lot. Intellectually,
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I didn't realize how heavy it was because I'm used to
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working with people and doing heavy work. But
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now I'm doing heavy work that is across the nation,
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across the world. We're talking about the same thing. There's no
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like, okay, this was hard. Let me reset. But it's like
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every single session, there was similar things that were going on. And
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it created this energy in my system that
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was full of like, oh my gosh, what's next? What am I going to do? How
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am I going to help these people? So be
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mindful of the somatic practices being
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able to allow you to get more in tune with
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your body. Because when you're in tune with your body, you can start to
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re-correct and change the pattern that
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you're finding yourself going. If you recognize, for
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instance, I was just keep that same example, my back starts hurting.
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So I'm like, ooh, I got to really check in with myself. I got to start amping
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up some of my practices because my body and my system is starting to
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feel stress. Then I'm not getting myself to a place where
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I'm hunched over, my stomach's turning, where I'm overwhelmed because
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guess what? I understood the signs that was happening and
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I was able to change the pattern in the way I was doing things
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so that it doesn't continue to increase. And then another
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benefit is mindfulness and presence. So somatic practices encourages
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us to be present in the moment, fostering a sense of mindfulness that
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carries on in our daily lives. The thing about
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being mindful and present is that that's kind of
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the only way you can have peace. It's hard to have peace if
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you're dwelling on the past. It's hard to have peace if you're
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worried about the future. And I understand being
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present for so many people in different times
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of their lives has been hard, and you may have allowed yourself
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to escape through imagination,
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through checking out, through ignoring the problem, right? But
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if you lean into the problem, if you lean into the
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present, it'll allow you to feel more empowered. It's really
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hard to feel empowered if you continue to recycle all
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the past and bad things that's happened. Because when you're doing that,
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your mind is only focusing on all the bad things. So
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it's only going to show you all the bad things that are going on in
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your life. And I'll give you an example. If you
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have a red car, what's gonna happen, a red Toyota,
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let's just use Toyota, what's gonna happen is you're gonna find yourself
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seeing a red Toyota all the time. Nobody went
13:30
out and said, oh, you got a red Toyota, let me get a red Toyota, but
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your mind is seeing it every day, so then you're seeing the same car
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all the time, right? So that same mindset goes
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for the things that we're thinking about. If
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you don't allow yourself to be present and redirect
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some of that dwelling on the past, some of that negative
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things that are happening in your head, if you don't do that, your
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mind is going to help you continue to be in that way of living and
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the way of thinking. And it's not about ignoring, it's
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not about pretending that things aren't happening, but it's
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about balancing it out. Yes, these
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things are happening, but what can I do? What do I have? What
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am I grateful for? One practice
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that I've seen online that I would encourage you
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to do, you can get a jar. Once
14:24
a week, write down something positive that's happened for the week and
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put it in the jar. Anytime you're struggling, you can
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go to that jar, look up the things that are going well,
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especially if you're somebody that is not used to practicing gratitude.
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Another thing you can do to help you practice gratitude and bring in the
14:42
present is to have a journal where
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you are writing down the things that you're grateful for.
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That's something that I do with my kids every night. I ask them a few questions, but
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one of the questions is, what are you grateful for? Allowing me
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to ask them what are they grateful for, it puts them in the present to
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help them think about their day and how it went. These
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are not things that we've been taught how to do. So
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those are just some benefits of having a somatic practice.
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What are some examples of somatic practice, you ask? So
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yoga is one. And when I first
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started therapy as a client and started
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doing somatic work, yoga was the first practice. And
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for people that think about finances, I started
15:28
practicing on YouTube. I did not have
15:32
the money means time. My kids were young.
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We only had one job. I had just adopted my oldest
15:39
kids who were both special needs. So I was at
15:43
home and I didn't have the luxury of being
15:46
able to afford even a gym membership. So when
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they would go to sleep or when they were at school, I
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would put YouTube on and start following someone that
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did different yoga practices. I'm somebody that I'm like, okay,
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I don't have this, but what do I have? It's really hard
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for me the way my mind, the way I've built my mind to
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allow my circumstances to stop me, right? Even
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I have more now, but even when I didn't have more, my
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mindset wasn't like, poor me, I don't have this. My
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mindset was like, okay, I don't have this, but what do I have? And how can
16:22
I get to that point? I'm always planning and
16:25
thinking about things. And to the point where at
16:29
one point the planning and thinking was more survival where I
16:32
was like, okay, what's the next thing? And always looking at
16:36
the worst case sometimes, that kept me kind of stuck. But
16:39
I'll think about the worst case, but I don't sit in that. I
16:42
used to sit in that. I don't sit in that anymore. I'll think about
16:46
the worst case, but a lot of times I sit in the best case scenario.
16:50
which has allowed me to continue flourish and building my business
16:54
and my practice. So yoga is
16:57
one, dance movement is one, right? They have dance classes, but also
17:01
you could just dance at your house, put some music on, start moving your body,
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right? That's another practice. Body scan,
17:09
Pilates, Tai Chi, groundwork, and breath work. Body
17:12
scan meditation, that's something you go on YouTube, you type in body scan
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meditation, somebody is going to come on, there's different
17:19
people that do it. Some people you may not like their voice, right?
17:23
So go to the next one. Don't think you got to pick the first one that comes up. You
17:26
can even start with the five minute body scan meditation. If you're not
17:30
used to being still and meditating, like five
17:33
minutes is like small enough. Don't feel like you got to do 10, 20 minutes. and
17:38
it allows you to go through your body. When they start saying like, okay, we're
17:41
going to start from my head, move your head from side to side, then
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they'll say something like, unclench your jaw. You didn't even realize your
17:48
jaws clenched, right? Right now, I'm just telling you, unclench your
17:51
jaw, right? Put your shoulders down, right? You may start noticing
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like, oh my gosh, I didn't realize my shoulders was up. Oh my gosh, I didn't realize
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my jaw. Oh my gosh, unclench your hands. I didn't realize I
18:01
was holding my hands so tight. Now when I
18:04
drive, when I start doing like this, so if
18:08
you're listening, I have my
18:12
hand squeezed tight like I'm on the steering wheel. And
18:16
I notice when I start doing that, I'll unloosen it up.
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That's how in tune I got with my body, where I'm like, all right, take a
18:23
deep breath, right? If I'm late for something or if I feel
18:27
overwhelmed or anxious about something, I'll find myself clenching
18:30
my hands like this and then I'll just loosen it up and I'll
18:33
just take a deep breath. These are things that I do automatically. Over
18:38
time, I've learned this. I don't want you to think I was born this way. These
18:41
are things I learned how to do to get more in tune with my body, so
18:45
that's why I'm sharing with you. The last thing I want to
18:48
share is how do I get started? That's
18:51
a great question. Before I go into that, I just want to put this
18:55
quick advertisement up. I hope you're enjoying the episode. Quick
18:58
announcement. I want to give you some ways you can support, right?
19:02
I have two books. One is called Relationship Goals. It's a
19:05
guide to a healthy relationship. I also have a guided journal.
19:09
And if you find yourself stuck in thoughts, want to get your thoughts on
19:12
paper, I ask you different questions. And I also ask you
19:16
how you're feeling. I provide you with the feelings chart. If
19:19
you go to celestatherapist.com, you could find 365 days
19:24
of intentional living along with relationship goals. Another
19:28
way you could support me, I have this wellness center that
19:31
I'm so excited about called Shifting the Way You Think Wellness Center.
19:35
At my center, I do not want finances to be a reason why
19:38
people can't get what they need. So, if you want to donate a
19:42
class to someone, please feel free to go to my website and
19:48
you can give a donation. The classes run between 15. and
19:53
$35. My goal is for everyone to be able
19:57
to access these services regardless of finances. So
20:01
if you can donate, please donate to your girl center. I
20:04
would be greatly appreciated. All right, y'all let's get back
20:08
into this amazing episode. All
20:11
right, y'all, let's get into how to get started. So one,
20:15
you can find a class or workshop that focuses on somatic practices.
20:21
I have this wellness center and a big part of
20:25
why I created it is because I wanted to create wellness practices
20:29
for people to learn about. We have a monthly series
20:33
right now on building programming as we go, but the next
20:36
one is happening called Rest and Recharge. So
20:39
this is an offering that guides you through breath work, chair yoga,
20:43
and a guided meditation. We also have another one called Mindful
20:47
Yin. So Mindful Yin offers yoga postures
20:51
that are held in stillness for short periods of time, focusing
20:55
on the connective tissues, various breath and techniques, and
20:58
concepts of mindfulness are woven into the class as
21:02
poses are held, right? So those are two classes
21:06
right now that are being offered at the center. That's
21:09
an example of finding a class that can focus on
21:14
somatic practices, right? If you're not doing the YouTube thing,
21:17
find out if your local community center, a lot of times these local
21:21
centers have discounted rates that
21:25
are available if finances are an issue. So that's one
21:28
thing that you can do is find in a class or a workshop. Another
21:32
thing you can do, you want to work on... You're saying
21:36
like, dang Celeste, I think I need to start
21:39
working on some somatic work. I'm not quite ready to go into a
21:42
class yet. YouTube is one way, but Practicing
21:46
mindfulness. So if you can work on incorporating mindfulness into your daily
21:50
routine by taking just a few moments to check in with
21:53
your body and notice how you feel. So
21:57
maybe before you hit the shower, before you go to bed, on
22:01
your lunch break, try to create a practice with something
22:04
that you're already doing so you don't feel like you
22:08
don't have enough time. And it's literally just having
22:12
a seat. taking a deep breath, and
22:15
then just paying attention to your body. For
22:19
some people, being still is so scary and so hard.
22:23
And if you're like, what's wrong with me? Why is that hard for me,
22:26
Celeste? Because at some point in your life, being still was
22:29
probably challenging, and so you escaped. So
22:33
I need you to have grace with yourself if you're finding yourself struggling
22:37
with this idea of stillness. The third thing,
22:40
create a safe space. So set up a comfortable space
22:44
at home where you can practice somatic exercise, whether it's
22:47
through movement, meditation, or breath work. The
22:52
next thing is listening to your body. So pay attention to what your
22:55
body's telling you. If you feel uncomfortable, adjust
22:59
your practice accordingly. And if you go to
23:03
a somatic class, like breath work, meditation,
23:07
yoga, You'll see these people that teach
23:10
these classes, they're very, very affirming. They're like,
23:14
there's no wrong way to do it. If that doesn't feel comfortable, lay this way.
23:17
It's a very chill vibe, where it doesn't feel
23:21
like there's a lot of pressure. Um, the last thing I'll
23:24
say is to be patient with yourself on this journey. Remember
23:28
that somatic practices are a journey. Be patient with yourself as
23:31
you explore what works best for you. So I gave you
23:35
some examples of some somatic practices, but there's so many different
23:38
ones. Once you may be like, Oh yeah, I'm not doing that. And once you, you
23:42
might find yourself realizing, Ooh, that works good. So don't
23:45
feel bad if something doesn't work for you. But I will say, Give
23:49
it some time to kick in. Give it
23:52
some time. And don't feel like you have to
23:56
run to a center to get this work done if you're not ready for
23:59
that. Start at home. Something that you're interested
24:03
in. I was interested in Pilates. I still haven't gone to a shop, but
24:06
I've learned so much by following somebody on YouTube
24:10
who does it. breath work, right? You don't have
24:13
to run to a meditation class if you're not ready for that. But I
24:17
would encourage you to try, even if it's in the comfort of your own home, pay
24:20
attention to how you're feeling, right? So the goal
24:24
in this work, the somatic work, is to help you become
24:28
more aware of what's happening with your body so you can
24:32
give yourself the tools you need to relax and settle down. I
24:36
don't want you to put pressure on yourself. So I
24:39
really hope this was helpful. I hope this makes sense. If
24:43
anything I ever say resonates for you, understand you have the power to
24:46
create change, but you have to really work on believing
24:50
in yourself. I wanted to tell you about one more class. One of the
24:53
things I realized is that As adults, it's
24:56
hard to make connections and do things outside of going to
24:59
the club or going somewhere where there's just music, no
25:04
real chill vibes. So I
25:07
created a series called Connections. And
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the first series in Connections is a program
25:15
called Craft and Chill. And what craft
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and chill is about is just, we're going
25:22
to get some coasters, some wine glasses, and
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we're going to create art,
25:31
right? With some music and food behind the scenes. So
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it's not like I'm going to be teaching a class. It's not like you have to like
25:39
present or anything like that. It's literally just getting out of your house,
25:43
coming to the center where the vibe is just so relaxing and
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chill. And I'm not an artist by
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no means, right? I can't give you any tips, but I
25:54
can be there to help you just relax and
25:57
enjoy the vibe. So if any of these classes or
26:00
things that I'm doing you're interested in, all you got to do is go to the website to
26:03
sign up. And
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if there's ever a topic you want discussed on the podcast, let
26:12
me know. You can go to the website, email me and
26:16
I will gladly bring it on here. So thank you all so
26:19
much for rocking out with me and I will talk to you