Today we welcome Rebecca Stone to the podcast to talk about somatic therapy - the intersection of mind, body, and emotions. I had been wanting to speak to someone with this expertise because sometimes I feel like emotions are almost “trapped” in my body, and thinking my way out feels impossible. We hear a lot about the nervous system these days, but I wanted to speak to someone who works practically at the intersection of mind and body.
Rebecca teaches us about Hakomi therapy and the bioenergetics and Core Energetics models. She shares a framework of five character structures and how they can develop in childhood based on when wounding occurs, how fragmentation can affect our core beliefs, and what healing can look like as we develop greater freedom of expression and new options for responding. We also explore how these strategies map onto other frameworks we know within psychology, such as attachment theory.
Throughout the episode, we also discuss how intergenerational family trauma can impact all of this. So much can be passed down across generations, and Rebecca encourages us to expand the scope beyond looking only at our parents to consider what they may have inherited themselves - whether genetically or through learned behaviors, family patterns, and experiences.
Timestamps:
00:00 Somatic therapy: mind, body, and emotions
01:30 “How did personality develop to protect pain?” - and the 5 character structures
13:45 What does healing look like? “What is the core belief that perpetuates the wound?”
16:20 “If we only talk about what we know, we are not going to get anywhere” - the body and trauma
19:31 What is healing? Expanding our window of tolerance
Rebecca's practice at Brooklyn Somatic Therapy: https://www.brooklynsomatictherapy.com
This episode was transformative for me, and I hope it will be for you too! Thanks for tuning in, and thank you Rebecca for coming on Immersion.
Instagram - we will be posting here soon
