speaker-0: Welcome to the Bodyworkers Table, real conversations on bodywork, relationship, nervous systems, and the human experience.
speaker-1: We are Carrie and Jamie from Healing Hands Training. We teach craniocacral therapy and bodywork programs, and between the two of us we've spent a few decades sitting with bodies, nervous systems, stories, symptoms, surprises, and all the things that don't fit neatly into a textbook.
speaker-0: This podcast is really just an extension of the conversations we already have together after working and teaching. Today we're stepping a little outside the treatment room and talking about some of the ideas and assumptions that surround body work. There are lots of stories about what this work is, what it can do, and even what it's supposed to feel like. Some of those stories are helpful and some are oversimplified. And some have changed as we've gained more experience. So today we're exploring the myths of bod, what people misunderstand, what we've questioned along the way, and what we've come to understand after years of practice. Let's dive in with a question about something people commonly misunderstand about cranio or about bodies in general. Harry, what do you think people expect when they come in? If they've never done it before and they have no idea what it is.
speaker-1: Think that can really different person to person or be really different person to person. Some people come in expecting to have all of their problems solved in a session. Some people come in expecting me to be a fairy godmother that taps them with my magic wand and and they feel great after. Some people are quite Cynical or mistrusting. I think whenever we're whenever we're are put in a place of authority, whether that's a parent, a teacher, a body worker, someone you're going to for help, it tends to put that person in a bit of a place of authority. And I feel like there's lots of people that just hope that we are the magic pill that can can make them feel better. And that's not the case. One of the beautiful things I love about cranio and many types of bodywork is that we are giving the potential of healing back to the clients. So we're looking to kind of declutter the essence of their health or or help them find their way back to health. But it's not us doing the work. We are facilitating, we're supporting. And I think when we're first starting out it's easy to to get on our high horse or want to climb up on that pedestal when we see that our clients are starting to feel better. Wow, look what I did. I'm really magic. And I know how wonderful it can feel when a client does feel better or they've had a chronic pain that dissipates and ultimately it's not us doing the work. So that was a long drawn out answer to your question. I've got a good question for you, Jamie.
speaker-0: Let's hear it.
speaker-1: What's one thing in the bodywork world that makes you roll your eyes a little? And what do you feel like the deeper truth might be underneath it?
speaker-0: My truth or the reality?
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: There are so many facets to this and the biggest one that makes me roll my eyes a little bit one that you and I both have in common is when I see content, really, that's what I see it as content being made of people receiving a session, if we can call it that, where they are gyrating.
speaker-1: Ooh, I love the gyration. Yes. Those ones are catchy, aren't they?
speaker-0: They are very catchy or sounds moaning and roiling and rolling and flailing and all of those wonderful exaggerated motions that are now being connected to healing trauma. And when I see that, I don't see trauma being healed. And not to say there isn't a therapeutic benefit. I think maybe for people who have been stifled in their decision making in their life or their expression, maybe a session like that where they can fully let go and be wild, that could be really freeing. But I don't think it's repairing trauma. When I see it, my
speaker-1: For sure.
speaker-0: First instinct is that it feels really inauthentic, and that's just my honest opinion. So that's what makes me roll my eyes a little bit.
speaker-1: Yes, I gotta admit that that makes me roll my eyes as well. Especially when it's a male practitioner that is encouraging his female client to I don't even know why you would call it. ⁓ it doesn't just feel authentic to me. It feels a little bit sad too and like people are are just getting further away from from maybe what they're looking for.
speaker-0: I think that's why I try and share more about the quietness and softness of the work, because I do realize Instagram has its benefits, especially when you have a business. It's a way for people to find you and learn about your work. However, with this influencer culture, we've come into a place where content reigns. It's less about promoting your business and more about promoting content so that you have more eyes on it. On your profile. Sure, maybe your work too, but it's it really is more about numbers, isn't it?
speaker-1: Yeah, and how edgy you can be or how how much you can stand out. Yeah. And I think one of the reasons that that that particular idea kind of gets to me is because I would have I would have been one of those people that would have fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker, as they say. I would have looked at the person next to me, ⁓ they're bouncing around and flailing and moaning. So I'm gonna jump on that boat and I'm going to I don't know why I'm using so many boat and sea references. I'm going to I'm gonna heal through that.
speaker-0: And so what do you think someone is experiencing when they're on the table gyrating?
speaker-1: I think trying to fit in, trying to show others, hey, I'm healing, I'm doing the work, or maybe show ourselves, hey, look, I am I am contorting my body in such a way that look how hard I am working and what a good job healing I am. That's my perspective. I understand that this may not be everybody's perspective. And people might might not agree with us and that's just A OK.
speaker-0: The other layer that I think is present with what makes my eyes roll a little bit is that it really has been washed over so much healing on the internet, healing on social media. Everyone now is not only a somatic practitioner, whatever that means to that person, but also They're a somatic practitioner offering a course to become a somatic practitioner. Whether or not they were self-taught or not, I think being self-taught is okay for some things, but you have to be self-governing as well, and I think that's a piece that's missing hugely. So people are going rogue with it and making a lot of shit up.
speaker-1: Yeah. Gotta agree with that.
speaker-0: Mm hmm. My four year old daughter is a somatic healer now.
speaker-1: So Well, so is Indy, my eleven year old Minnie accent. She's
speaker-0: Very good actually. She's quite skilled.
speaker-1: She is very good, yes. But she she keeps her cool on the inside. She is not running around barking and moaning.
speaker-0: Okay, so you asked me something, what's the deeper truth underneath the eye roll, you know, I think it is that I I can sense inauthenticity and to me that doesn't feel safe. And the reason I can sense that is because I was also that person in a in a different way, but I have absolutely been inauthentic. And I went through a chapter where I was a somatic practitioner.
speaker-1: Roll? Yeah.
speaker-0: And I really loved exploring
speaker-1: They're
speaker-0: Flail in different ways, but more in the feminine expression. I was all about the feminine and healing through tantra and intimacy. And I look back at what I was doing back then. And I have to be honest, I'm a little embarrassed. And that's very humbling. So that's why, because I know and I have seen videos of myself talking about this stuff. And boy. Inauthentic, I'll tell you what. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I was just regurgitating stuff that I heard from teachers who I didn't know. I loved the books by David Data, and I loved his teachings. And that led me down a rabbit hole of other teachers who I never met. I just consumed their content and made it my own. I hate to admit that.
speaker-1: It's okay. I look back at some of my really old social media posts and yeah, I I cringe. And but and I laugh. And I laugh too because it's it's ridiculous and I was t taking myself fairly seriously. And I have a an idea, a a good experiment we could we could do. How about we maybe we use a different social media cap than our healing hands.
speaker-0: Let's hear it.
speaker-1: But maybe we start promoting a new type of healing called somatic farting. Where we teach people how to somatically fart and see how far that goes or if it gets picked up by by other people.
speaker-0: could learn to release in a new way.
speaker-1: More authentic.
speaker-0: You know, I'm remembering we had a student join one of our trainings. Shout out to Jamie. And r I remember at lunch one of the days he called me out straight up and said, You are way too fake on your Instagram with what you're sharing. But you know what's so interesting was at the time, deep down I I knew that. Mm-hmm. But on the surface, I was actually a little bit offended because how dare you embarrass me. But it's true. I was writing I was writing in such a hmm. It was very fluffy. It was very fluffy spiritual and it wasn't grounded. And like I said, a lot of it was just regurgitating teachers that I was listening to and
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: No, learning about in my own way. And so it wasn't true to me. It was just something that I, you know, enjoyed the sound of. And that was that was actually really great for me to hear that because it also gave me permission just to be who I am. And what's happened over the over the years is that the more I am who I am, the less I am going to bend over backwards to please everybody.
speaker-1: Event
speaker-0: And me, who I am, is going to resonate with someone or not. And that's great, because then the people I do connect with enjoy being around me. And if not, that's okay. And that's the gift of being authentic and who you are.
speaker-1: Yeah, very nice. And ⁓
speaker-0: Just going back to that somatic piece a little bit, there's so much language around healing and somatic work online. Right. So what are your thoughts on how this work is being portrayed?
speaker-1: You know how things get really trendy? Like the vagus nerve has been trendy for a few years or SIBO's been trendy. So things that have been around forever, but they they kind of come up and they dilute social media so more people learn about things and are educated, which is great, but but yeah, I think things get diluted and I I think that's what's happening with somatic work. Somatic work at its core is is incredible. ⁓ it's not for everybody in every moment. When I think when it's trauma informed and when the client and practitioner are on the same page and the practitioner is experienced, then I think it's beautiful and yeah, I think it's I think it's diluted. I think somatic is that word is is paired with so many other words now. Like there's probably gonna be somatic protein powder before we know it. It's everywhere in in every way.
speaker-0: And is there anything in that that feels like it could be supportive by oversimplifying or having all of this awareness? 'Cause right now it feels very oversimplified and that feels less supportive. But I wonder if there's anything that might be beneficial from all this increased awareness I'm sure.
speaker-1: Sure, there is. You know, sometimes having something really simplified makes it more accessible to to people, and then they can do their own research on how that might fit for them. And I think even even the process of going to a well, I was gonna say the process of going to a practitioner that doesn't resonate with us or doesn't work in the way that feels supportive to us. was gonna say even that can be good learning, but sometimes that can be harmful too, right? If I go to someone and I don't feel safe, they're just maybe not able to hold space for me, then that could potentially shut me down as well. Which I think is why it's experience and how do we get experience? We get experience by doing the work. But s yeah, staying true to ourself and not climbing up on that pedestal and saying, Well, I did a two hour workshop so now I'm diffs and come to me with all your all your trauma because I'll fix ya.
speaker-0: What I'm thinking about often is that with this reality that we live on live in, being so connected on our phones, listening to audiobooks, all day we're connected in some kind of way. The somatic work just feels like we're doing it online. Why not just live our life? The way where we actually tune in to ourselves. I just don't feel like we even have the space for that. I don't even know how do you do do you understand what I'm saying?
speaker-1: do understand what you're saying and where my thoughts are going is maybe that's why people are s ⁓ seeking more seeking more healings for themselves or wanting to unpack things because we are so wired and fried that there's there's more necessity whereas you know, when when I grew up not that there weren't lots of things to be traumatized about, but I didn't have you know, we didn't have phones, we didn't have yes, we had rotary phones. I'm not that old but there was no cell phones, there was no internet. I d I didn't have cable in my house growing up for most of my childhood. So life was lived outside or playing a board game or things like that.
speaker-0: Feel like we're in a time of the narrative being feel more, but we're actually in reality feeling less. And when we do feel more, it's excruciating.
speaker-1: Right.
speaker-0: And it almost feels impossible to navigate. It's like we'd we've lost the ability to to do that, to sit with the difficult feelings and to experience this complex human three.
speaker-1: Experience, yeah. What do you think are some phrases or ideas in the healing world that deserve a little more nuance?
speaker-0: Using the phrase your body's inherent wisdom.
speaker-1: I use that all the time.
speaker-0: I know so do I. That's why I think it needs more nuance.
speaker-1: So there's a disconnect between between the phrase and what's being offered, is that what you mean? Or it's being simplified?
speaker-0: Yes. Yeah. Just just listen to the inherent wisdom of your body. What if someone doesn't know what the hell that means?
speaker-1: Well that is most of us most of the time, isn't it? That's
speaker-0: kind of it. I just feel like the inherent wisdom of your body is becoming this
speaker-1: Pegline.
speaker-0: Yes, that's it. It's a tagline. And that's the thing though, is that I also I I believe that to be true. I believe our bodies do carry an innate wisdom. But I feel like again, a lot of people are using that and just regurgitating it maybe without fully understanding what it means for them.
speaker-1: Thought of one too. The body stores trauma, which also is is true. Yeah. of course, our body stores trauma, our brain stores trauma, our tissues store trauma. And if I am presenting that to a client, I want to be careful how I use those words because I don't want someone to go home and go, ⁓ my God. I have trauma in my body. What am I gonna do with it? Or how am I gonna get it out? And this is really bad. And and like that's, you know, part of being human is experiencing ups and downs and happy times and restful times and traumatic times. And having trauma in our system, it's it's not something that needs to be pulled out immediately because a lot of that is our building blocks and is a network of how we navigate through the world. So unpacking it has to be, I think, slow and gentle, and you're gonna love this. We have to do it as we trust the inherent wisdom of the body. Because, you know, if I if I decide that this client I'm seeing has trauma stored in their pelvis and well They're gonna think I'm a great practitioner if we take that thing out, whether it's ready or not. I definitely wasn't that extreme when I first started out, but that was, you know, my, ⁓ there's trauma here. I better help them release it. I just didn't have the layered understanding of how trauma actually supports us a lot of the time. And it's not about, you know, I'm not healed because I I release my trauma. I am healed because I'm living life and I'm I'm offering myself grace and and that building block is built on trauma. And if I pull that away, I'm probably gonna fall. So let's not look at it as black and white. And so when I talk to trauma, I talk to my clients about trauma, I I'm careful how I talk about it, especially for someone that's maybe just starting to get in touch with their feelings or their experiences or their bodies. That could be a scary thought. ⁓ that person told me I have a bunch of trauma sitting there. What now? Is it gonna is it gonna cause cancer? Is it gonna give me a heart attack? Etcetera, etcetera.
speaker-0: That's also why I think the tagline could be harmful, just listening to the innate wisdom of the body. Because what if someone is navigating something truly challenging, and then you have a practitioner say, Well, just trust the wisdom of your body to hear something like that when you are really struggling?
speaker-1: Vulnerable, yes, for sure.
speaker-0: So it's not that those statements are not necessarily true, but they definitely deserve more nuance and understanding when might be the right time to use them.
speaker-1: Yes, I agree.
speaker-0: Wow, this was fun. Before we finish up today, we've started ending each episode with a little question for each other. Not about bodywork or teaching really, just a chance for you to get to know us a little more as humans. Kari, today's question is, What's something you're currently enjoying or appreciating in your life right now?
speaker-1: I appreciate everything in my life, but I'll be more specific. So right now I'm really enjoying the summer. I love the warmth, I love the long nights or the long days I mean. And I've started an osteopathic program. And so I'm really enjoying practicing practicing the very, very little that I've learned and am currently flailing about with. It's exciting and it's fun and I it's been a long time that I've been out of my comfort zone that way. I have felt like I've known what I've been doing as far as work goes for a long, long time. So learning something new and and being like, ⁓ my God, I just I just don't have a clue what I'm doing here is yeah, it's fun.
speaker-0: Thank you for joining us at the Body Workers Table. If you want to share something that you roll your eyes a little at in the health and wellness world, leave us a comment below. We would love to hear it. And if you're enjoying these conversations, we'd love for you to follow the podcast and leave a review. It helps other practitioners find us. We'll see you next time.
speaker-1: We are Carrie and Jamie from Healing Hands Training. We teach craniocacral therapy and bodywork programs, and between the two of us we've spent a few decades sitting with bodies, nervous systems, stories, symptoms, surprises, and all the things that don't fit neatly into a textbook.
speaker-0: This podcast is really just an extension of the conversations we already have together after working and teaching. Today we're stepping a little outside the treatment room and talking about some of the ideas and assumptions that surround body work. There are lots of stories about what this work is, what it can do, and even what it's supposed to feel like. Some of those stories are helpful and some are oversimplified. And some have changed as we've gained more experience. So today we're exploring the myths of bod, what people misunderstand, what we've questioned along the way, and what we've come to understand after years of practice. Let's dive in with a question about something people commonly misunderstand about cranio or about bodies in general. Harry, what do you think people expect when they come in? If they've never done it before and they have no idea what it is.
speaker-1: Think that can really different person to person or be really different person to person. Some people come in expecting to have all of their problems solved in a session. Some people come in expecting me to be a fairy godmother that taps them with my magic wand and and they feel great after. Some people are quite Cynical or mistrusting. I think whenever we're whenever we're are put in a place of authority, whether that's a parent, a teacher, a body worker, someone you're going to for help, it tends to put that person in a bit of a place of authority. And I feel like there's lots of people that just hope that we are the magic pill that can can make them feel better. And that's not the case. One of the beautiful things I love about cranio and many types of bodywork is that we are giving the potential of healing back to the clients. So we're looking to kind of declutter the essence of their health or or help them find their way back to health. But it's not us doing the work. We are facilitating, we're supporting. And I think when we're first starting out it's easy to to get on our high horse or want to climb up on that pedestal when we see that our clients are starting to feel better. Wow, look what I did. I'm really magic. And I know how wonderful it can feel when a client does feel better or they've had a chronic pain that dissipates and ultimately it's not us doing the work. So that was a long drawn out answer to your question. I've got a good question for you, Jamie.
speaker-0: Let's hear it.
speaker-1: What's one thing in the bodywork world that makes you roll your eyes a little? And what do you feel like the deeper truth might be underneath it?
speaker-0: My truth or the reality?
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: There are so many facets to this and the biggest one that makes me roll my eyes a little bit one that you and I both have in common is when I see content, really, that's what I see it as content being made of people receiving a session, if we can call it that, where they are gyrating.
speaker-1: Ooh, I love the gyration. Yes. Those ones are catchy, aren't they?
speaker-0: They are very catchy or sounds moaning and roiling and rolling and flailing and all of those wonderful exaggerated motions that are now being connected to healing trauma. And when I see that, I don't see trauma being healed. And not to say there isn't a therapeutic benefit. I think maybe for people who have been stifled in their decision making in their life or their expression, maybe a session like that where they can fully let go and be wild, that could be really freeing. But I don't think it's repairing trauma. When I see it, my
speaker-1: For sure.
speaker-0: First instinct is that it feels really inauthentic, and that's just my honest opinion. So that's what makes me roll my eyes a little bit.
speaker-1: Yes, I gotta admit that that makes me roll my eyes as well. Especially when it's a male practitioner that is encouraging his female client to I don't even know why you would call it. ⁓ it doesn't just feel authentic to me. It feels a little bit sad too and like people are are just getting further away from from maybe what they're looking for.
speaker-0: I think that's why I try and share more about the quietness and softness of the work, because I do realize Instagram has its benefits, especially when you have a business. It's a way for people to find you and learn about your work. However, with this influencer culture, we've come into a place where content reigns. It's less about promoting your business and more about promoting content so that you have more eyes on it. On your profile. Sure, maybe your work too, but it's it really is more about numbers, isn't it?
speaker-1: Yeah, and how edgy you can be or how how much you can stand out. Yeah. And I think one of the reasons that that that particular idea kind of gets to me is because I would have I would have been one of those people that would have fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker, as they say. I would have looked at the person next to me, ⁓ they're bouncing around and flailing and moaning. So I'm gonna jump on that boat and I'm going to I don't know why I'm using so many boat and sea references. I'm going to I'm gonna heal through that.
speaker-0: And so what do you think someone is experiencing when they're on the table gyrating?
speaker-1: I think trying to fit in, trying to show others, hey, I'm healing, I'm doing the work, or maybe show ourselves, hey, look, I am I am contorting my body in such a way that look how hard I am working and what a good job healing I am. That's my perspective. I understand that this may not be everybody's perspective. And people might might not agree with us and that's just A OK.
speaker-0: The other layer that I think is present with what makes my eyes roll a little bit is that it really has been washed over so much healing on the internet, healing on social media. Everyone now is not only a somatic practitioner, whatever that means to that person, but also They're a somatic practitioner offering a course to become a somatic practitioner. Whether or not they were self-taught or not, I think being self-taught is okay for some things, but you have to be self-governing as well, and I think that's a piece that's missing hugely. So people are going rogue with it and making a lot of shit up.
speaker-1: Yeah. Gotta agree with that.
speaker-0: Mm hmm. My four year old daughter is a somatic healer now.
speaker-1: So Well, so is Indy, my eleven year old Minnie accent. She's
speaker-0: Very good actually. She's quite skilled.
speaker-1: She is very good, yes. But she she keeps her cool on the inside. She is not running around barking and moaning.
speaker-0: Okay, so you asked me something, what's the deeper truth underneath the eye roll, you know, I think it is that I I can sense inauthenticity and to me that doesn't feel safe. And the reason I can sense that is because I was also that person in a in a different way, but I have absolutely been inauthentic. And I went through a chapter where I was a somatic practitioner.
speaker-1: Roll? Yeah.
speaker-0: And I really loved exploring
speaker-1: They're
speaker-0: Flail in different ways, but more in the feminine expression. I was all about the feminine and healing through tantra and intimacy. And I look back at what I was doing back then. And I have to be honest, I'm a little embarrassed. And that's very humbling. So that's why, because I know and I have seen videos of myself talking about this stuff. And boy. Inauthentic, I'll tell you what. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I was just regurgitating stuff that I heard from teachers who I didn't know. I loved the books by David Data, and I loved his teachings. And that led me down a rabbit hole of other teachers who I never met. I just consumed their content and made it my own. I hate to admit that.
speaker-1: It's okay. I look back at some of my really old social media posts and yeah, I I cringe. And but and I laugh. And I laugh too because it's it's ridiculous and I was t taking myself fairly seriously. And I have a an idea, a a good experiment we could we could do. How about we maybe we use a different social media cap than our healing hands.
speaker-0: Let's hear it.
speaker-1: But maybe we start promoting a new type of healing called somatic farting. Where we teach people how to somatically fart and see how far that goes or if it gets picked up by by other people.
speaker-0: could learn to release in a new way.
speaker-1: More authentic.
speaker-0: You know, I'm remembering we had a student join one of our trainings. Shout out to Jamie. And r I remember at lunch one of the days he called me out straight up and said, You are way too fake on your Instagram with what you're sharing. But you know what's so interesting was at the time, deep down I I knew that. Mm-hmm. But on the surface, I was actually a little bit offended because how dare you embarrass me. But it's true. I was writing I was writing in such a hmm. It was very fluffy. It was very fluffy spiritual and it wasn't grounded. And like I said, a lot of it was just regurgitating teachers that I was listening to and
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: No, learning about in my own way. And so it wasn't true to me. It was just something that I, you know, enjoyed the sound of. And that was that was actually really great for me to hear that because it also gave me permission just to be who I am. And what's happened over the over the years is that the more I am who I am, the less I am going to bend over backwards to please everybody.
speaker-1: Event
speaker-0: And me, who I am, is going to resonate with someone or not. And that's great, because then the people I do connect with enjoy being around me. And if not, that's okay. And that's the gift of being authentic and who you are.
speaker-1: Yeah, very nice. And ⁓
speaker-0: Just going back to that somatic piece a little bit, there's so much language around healing and somatic work online. Right. So what are your thoughts on how this work is being portrayed?
speaker-1: You know how things get really trendy? Like the vagus nerve has been trendy for a few years or SIBO's been trendy. So things that have been around forever, but they they kind of come up and they dilute social media so more people learn about things and are educated, which is great, but but yeah, I think things get diluted and I I think that's what's happening with somatic work. Somatic work at its core is is incredible. ⁓ it's not for everybody in every moment. When I think when it's trauma informed and when the client and practitioner are on the same page and the practitioner is experienced, then I think it's beautiful and yeah, I think it's I think it's diluted. I think somatic is that word is is paired with so many other words now. Like there's probably gonna be somatic protein powder before we know it. It's everywhere in in every way.
speaker-0: And is there anything in that that feels like it could be supportive by oversimplifying or having all of this awareness? 'Cause right now it feels very oversimplified and that feels less supportive. But I wonder if there's anything that might be beneficial from all this increased awareness I'm sure.
speaker-1: Sure, there is. You know, sometimes having something really simplified makes it more accessible to to people, and then they can do their own research on how that might fit for them. And I think even even the process of going to a well, I was gonna say the process of going to a practitioner that doesn't resonate with us or doesn't work in the way that feels supportive to us. was gonna say even that can be good learning, but sometimes that can be harmful too, right? If I go to someone and I don't feel safe, they're just maybe not able to hold space for me, then that could potentially shut me down as well. Which I think is why it's experience and how do we get experience? We get experience by doing the work. But s yeah, staying true to ourself and not climbing up on that pedestal and saying, Well, I did a two hour workshop so now I'm diffs and come to me with all your all your trauma because I'll fix ya.
speaker-0: What I'm thinking about often is that with this reality that we live on live in, being so connected on our phones, listening to audiobooks, all day we're connected in some kind of way. The somatic work just feels like we're doing it online. Why not just live our life? The way where we actually tune in to ourselves. I just don't feel like we even have the space for that. I don't even know how do you do do you understand what I'm saying?
speaker-1: do understand what you're saying and where my thoughts are going is maybe that's why people are s ⁓ seeking more seeking more healings for themselves or wanting to unpack things because we are so wired and fried that there's there's more necessity whereas you know, when when I grew up not that there weren't lots of things to be traumatized about, but I didn't have you know, we didn't have phones, we didn't have yes, we had rotary phones. I'm not that old but there was no cell phones, there was no internet. I d I didn't have cable in my house growing up for most of my childhood. So life was lived outside or playing a board game or things like that.
speaker-0: Feel like we're in a time of the narrative being feel more, but we're actually in reality feeling less. And when we do feel more, it's excruciating.
speaker-1: Right.
speaker-0: And it almost feels impossible to navigate. It's like we'd we've lost the ability to to do that, to sit with the difficult feelings and to experience this complex human three.
speaker-1: Experience, yeah. What do you think are some phrases or ideas in the healing world that deserve a little more nuance?
speaker-0: Using the phrase your body's inherent wisdom.
speaker-1: I use that all the time.
speaker-0: I know so do I. That's why I think it needs more nuance.
speaker-1: So there's a disconnect between between the phrase and what's being offered, is that what you mean? Or it's being simplified?
speaker-0: Yes. Yeah. Just just listen to the inherent wisdom of your body. What if someone doesn't know what the hell that means?
speaker-1: Well that is most of us most of the time, isn't it? That's
speaker-0: kind of it. I just feel like the inherent wisdom of your body is becoming this
speaker-1: Pegline.
speaker-0: Yes, that's it. It's a tagline. And that's the thing though, is that I also I I believe that to be true. I believe our bodies do carry an innate wisdom. But I feel like again, a lot of people are using that and just regurgitating it maybe without fully understanding what it means for them.
speaker-1: Thought of one too. The body stores trauma, which also is is true. Yeah. of course, our body stores trauma, our brain stores trauma, our tissues store trauma. And if I am presenting that to a client, I want to be careful how I use those words because I don't want someone to go home and go, ⁓ my God. I have trauma in my body. What am I gonna do with it? Or how am I gonna get it out? And this is really bad. And and like that's, you know, part of being human is experiencing ups and downs and happy times and restful times and traumatic times. And having trauma in our system, it's it's not something that needs to be pulled out immediately because a lot of that is our building blocks and is a network of how we navigate through the world. So unpacking it has to be, I think, slow and gentle, and you're gonna love this. We have to do it as we trust the inherent wisdom of the body. Because, you know, if I if I decide that this client I'm seeing has trauma stored in their pelvis and well They're gonna think I'm a great practitioner if we take that thing out, whether it's ready or not. I definitely wasn't that extreme when I first started out, but that was, you know, my, ⁓ there's trauma here. I better help them release it. I just didn't have the layered understanding of how trauma actually supports us a lot of the time. And it's not about, you know, I'm not healed because I I release my trauma. I am healed because I'm living life and I'm I'm offering myself grace and and that building block is built on trauma. And if I pull that away, I'm probably gonna fall. So let's not look at it as black and white. And so when I talk to trauma, I talk to my clients about trauma, I I'm careful how I talk about it, especially for someone that's maybe just starting to get in touch with their feelings or their experiences or their bodies. That could be a scary thought. ⁓ that person told me I have a bunch of trauma sitting there. What now? Is it gonna is it gonna cause cancer? Is it gonna give me a heart attack? Etcetera, etcetera.
speaker-0: That's also why I think the tagline could be harmful, just listening to the innate wisdom of the body. Because what if someone is navigating something truly challenging, and then you have a practitioner say, Well, just trust the wisdom of your body to hear something like that when you are really struggling?
speaker-1: Vulnerable, yes, for sure.
speaker-0: So it's not that those statements are not necessarily true, but they definitely deserve more nuance and understanding when might be the right time to use them.
speaker-1: Yes, I agree.
speaker-0: Wow, this was fun. Before we finish up today, we've started ending each episode with a little question for each other. Not about bodywork or teaching really, just a chance for you to get to know us a little more as humans. Kari, today's question is, What's something you're currently enjoying or appreciating in your life right now?
speaker-1: I appreciate everything in my life, but I'll be more specific. So right now I'm really enjoying the summer. I love the warmth, I love the long nights or the long days I mean. And I've started an osteopathic program. And so I'm really enjoying practicing practicing the very, very little that I've learned and am currently flailing about with. It's exciting and it's fun and I it's been a long time that I've been out of my comfort zone that way. I have felt like I've known what I've been doing as far as work goes for a long, long time. So learning something new and and being like, ⁓ my God, I just I just don't have a clue what I'm doing here is yeah, it's fun.
speaker-0: Thank you for joining us at the Body Workers Table. If you want to share something that you roll your eyes a little at in the health and wellness world, leave us a comment below. We would love to hear it. And if you're enjoying these conversations, we'd love for you to follow the podcast and leave a review. It helps other practitioners find us. We'll see you next time.
