I attended the second somatic healing meeting led by Luciana and to be honest it was a completely eye opening experience. She taught us some theoretical concepts and techniques to apply them.

To start off Luciana gave us different scenarios and asked us to imagine what we would feel. I loved how she kept on asking us how it would feel in our body rather than just giving her an emotion. I think this is essential as it taught me that each person feels an emotion in their own way. For example I could feel anger as suffocation while someone else might feel anger for them is heat rising through their body.

Secondly, she explained the difference between states of hyperarousal and states of hypoarousal. They are both states where we don’t feel safe; hyperarousal is a high energy negative state while hypoarousal is a low energy negative state such as depression. For states of hyperarousal one of the regulation techniques is breath work. This technique is best for when we are experiencing external stressors rather than anxiety from within. Luciana highlighted that the reason this works is that it is connected to the vagus nerve which is an essential part of our nervous system. I could use this technique before a test, talk or presentation if I’m feeling anxious to calm myself down. The second technique we were taught is orienting which is most helpful for internal stressors; I plan to use this technique when I’m feeling very overwhelmed or if I am having a panic attack.

For states of hypoarousal a great technique is sensory input such as putting your wrists under cold and warm water or dunking your face in Ice water. I believe this is super effective; I’ve tried several times before dunking my face in Ice water and found it gave a refreshing feeling and woke me up. Learning that it can also help when I’m feeling depressed is really important. The second technique Luciana gave us was self contact such as “tapping”. This exercise involves tapping your fingers on several parts of the body such as above the eyebrow, the side of the eye, under the eye, under the nose and much more while saying to yourself affirmations. I had previously heard of this technique but was sceptical about it, but after trying it out with the guidance of Luciana it was very calming. The last technique is co-regulation which involves sitting with someone who is feeling down and using your nervous system to help their nervous system. This could be as simple as watching TV while sitting with your parents which is something I try to do everyday.

Overall, this somatic healing session was highly informative and provided us with a plethora of exercises which we can use in our daily life to better our mental wellbeing.