Somatic Solutions for Traumatic Grief Episode 3


Join us as we explore how new findings in neurology, psychology, resilience studies, composition studies, the science of creativity, narrative studies and somatic education, including the Feldenkrais Method®, offer a host of new options to resolve traumatic grief. How do we transition from trauma into transformation? How can we use our greatest wounds as a catalyst for a return to love?

As a FELDENKAIS® practitioner, I knew the power of emotions could cause physical pain long before the traumatic experience of losing my daughter to a drug overdose happened to me. What was less clear until I experienced it myself, was the havoc trauma causes to the entire system: hormones, sleep disturbances, exhaustion and suspicion. In this episode, gain clarity about how to realize a new freedom from loss.

Episode 3 – Grief Makes Us Smaller

One of the somatic consequences of grief is that we shrink from the world. We don’t just tend to isolate, we physically shrink, as if that could protect us from harm. This is not something we can make an impact on by simply stretching muscles because it’s a response from within the nervous system. To address this primal sense of feeling unsafe, persecuted, violated…the approach must go far deeper, and be much more subtle. What can we do to alleviate this symptom of grief that effectively keeps us from living life with the innocence and trust which characterizes how we were when we first came into the world?

About GabrielleP

Description: When my daughter was born, I made a commitment to life. When she died, that contract was broken. After years of grief, it's time to renew my contract with life. If this speaks to you and you, too, wish to renew your contract with living, after grieving the death of a child join us for an exploration of life after grief. This topic has the potential to bring not just personal healing, but global healing, for unhealed trauma usually begets more trauma. Finding that spark that allows us to regain some dignity and to be whole again after the death of a child allows us to regain the ability to feel joy, compassion, and love once more.

Yet, it does involve rethinking things. I will always be a mother, but I needed an entirely new reason for being...or so I thought.

My situation is a bit unique in that when my daughter died, I was working as a resilience coach with people dealing with trauma, PTSD and abuse. So, when I got that 3 a.m. call that my daughter was on life support and might not make it, I watched in horror as I descended into all the phases of shock and paralysis I had been trained to recognize in others. Even though I’d worked with veterans with PTSD and taught them processes to detach from the horror and yet, there I was, in the very midst of it myself.

What I discovered was that I could regroup, but only after the grief had had its way with me.

I made several attempts to start over. Eventually, I realized that years of grief has a momentum all its own, a negative momentum. If I was really going to be able to turn my life around, I was going to have to work at looking forward. I would have to find new ways to think about who I was now. I would have to create an entirely new life. If this speaks to you, join us!