It’s about getting in touch with what’s happening in your body. This is not an easy task. Joseph Campbell in The Power of Myth once said there are three categories of things in life:
- Feelings that can’t be spoken, for example, feelings evoked by great music like:
- The Second Movement of the Bach Double Violin Concerto
- Edward Elgar ’s Cello Concerto with Jacqueline du Pre on Cello
- The words and metaphors we use to try to express these feelings; for example in emotionally moving films like:
- My Life as a Dog
- The Cider House Rules or
- I’ve Loved You So Long, and finally,
- The ordinary blah blah that we inflict on each other in everyday life.
A skilled sensorimotor therapist from Marriage Couples Counseling can help you recall your feelings about music or scenes in emotionally moving films and explore how they might inspire you to view life differently.
For those of you who’ve seen The Cider House Rules, what feelings came up when Homer Wells realizes his true calling in life is to be a caring doctor who, when called upon, will perform an abortion for a sexually abused young woman?
If you’ve seen My Life as Dog, what feelings come up when Ingemar realizes the guy who’s been beating him in school soccer matches is really a girl?
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is a body-centered psychotherapy that integrates somatic interventions with traditional psychotherapy techniques to address trauma, attachment wounds, and other emotional struggles. It focuses on the connections between body and mind, emphasizing the role of physical sensations and movements.
Here’s an example of how one of my clients used Sensorimotor therapy to reprocess a traumatic memory of a motorcycle accident.
It started as a regular ride on his bike, a chance to clear his head, feel the wind, and lose himself in the rhythm of the road. Everything changed in a heartbeat when he hit an unexpected bump on the road. One second he was riding, and the next, he was airborne, separated from his bike, a burgundy colored Honda Shadow that reminded him of his grandmother who grew up in the Burgundy region of France. He hit the pavement hard, sliding along the rough asphalt, the world blurring around him. When he finally came to a stop, his heart pounded with adrenaline, his body throbbing with the pain of bruises and contusions.
The EMS arrived quickly, assessing him with calm efficiency. Miraculously, nothing was broken. He was shaken, bruised, and sore, but didn’t need to be rushed to an ER. His relief was fleeting. When the tow truck guy arrived, his bluster was as thick as the smell of oil and sweat. He boasted about how he owned the road when things went sideways for others, a self-styled king of the highway’s moments of pain and suffering. My client climbed into the guy’s truck, enduring his smug stories of superiority as he drove back to Manhattan. He tried to focus on the New York City sky scrapers ahead, on the comfort of knowing he’d soon be home.
After getting his bike safely stored in the garage, his body still ached, and he knew he needed to check in with a hospital nearby – just to get some meds, something to help with the pain. He asked the tow truck guy if he’d drop him off, thinking it was a small enough ask. The guy’s face twisted into a sneer as he told my client to go screw himself and then drove off leaving him on the sidewalk.
In the years that followed, that day haunted my client. Every time he thought of the tow truck guy’s contemptuous smile and harsh words, his chest tightened with rage. He replayed the scene over and over in his mind. In his darkest moments, he imagined slashing the tow truck guy’s throat and clubbing his head with a hammer.
Slowly while feeling the sensations deep in his body, my client was able to get to the deeper hurt that fueled his rage. After a while he was able to relive that day with the tow truck driver, not as a passive victim, but as an observer viewing the scene from a distance as if he were a member of an audience viewing everything that happened on stage. With greater detachment, his anger faded and he was able to recall what happened in a calmer state. It was then that it came to him.
He imagined changing roles with the tow truck driver who would ask to be taken to the ER. It was then that my client had a moment of triumph. He told me that if he could go back in time, he would have driven the tow truck guy to the ER.
Call Andre Moore, LMFT at 212 673 4618 for a free consultation on Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
