The Body~A Pathway to Change

The Body~A Pathway to Change

Written by our Licensed Professional Counselor, Jody Cecil

If you’re new to the process of counseling, you might imagine it looking something like this: the client does most of the talking while the therapist listens. During the session, the therapist might provide insights into your experiences, share advice on how to navigate issues and help you feel and express emotion. Even as you read this, you might recall a scene from a movie or book you’ve recently read.

Counseling or psychotherapy does involve our thoughts, beliefs, behaviors and emotions. But what about the body?

Will you join me in a little experiment? For just a moment, pause. Put everything down and turn your attention to your body. Slow down and notice your breath. Follow it as you breathe in and out. You don’t have to change it or fix it. Simply be curious, much like watching the flow of a river or clouds in the sky. What did you notice? Perhaps you’ve found yourself caught in thoughts, unable to follow your breath. Maybe your chest tightened, and your breathing became more shallow. Perhaps, as you were breathing in and out, you noticed your shoulders drop and there was an openness in your chest.

When I first began my work as a counselor, my focus was primarily on the narrative – what the client was saying and feeling. What I eventually learned was that I was missing a large part of the client’s “story” and an important pathway for change, healing and growth. The body was telling us something; we needed to slow down and pay attention to it.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP), developed by Pat Ogden, is a therapeutic modality that incorporates the body in the treatment of trauma and attachment/relational issues. You may have heard the phrase, “the body keeps the score,” taken from the title of Bessel Van Der Kolk’s well-known book. Our bodies remember and adapt to keep us safe. Returning to our breathing experiment, even how we breathe is a part of our story. If you learned to “hold it all in” and not feel emotion, you might also hold your breath when feeling distress. Using SP, clients can discover how their body currently functions and work with it to change patterns that currently interfere with health and well-being.

As a licensed professional counselor, I have completed extensive training in SP and other modalities that incorporate the whole person – mind, body and spirit. If you’re interested in a wholistic form of therapy, please contact me to schedule a session: https://takingrootcounseling.com/get-started.html. For more information on Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, visit https://sensorimotorpsychotherapy.org.

Cultivating Beauty

Cultivating Beauty

Written by our Licensed Professional Counselor, Jody L. Cecil

As I continue to enjoy the summer season, I’ve spent a fair amount of time tending to the flowers planted in the yard of our home. New to Oregon, I’m learning about each plant’s needs and growing seasons. Water, sunshine, and fertilizer all matter. And then there’s deadheading.

For those who might be new to gardening and flower care (like me!), deadheading is the process of removing the old blossoms and seed heads from the plant. While it’s not always necessary, many flowering plants need it. With the dead blossoms gone, the plant directs its energy into growth and more flowers. If I’m being honest, I often find the task of deadheading quite tedious. The flowers I have seem beautiful enough, right?

Surrounded by daisies, I recently paused and saw the process of deadheading through the eyes of a growing and healing human being. Caring for ourselves requires a type of pruning at times, doesn’t it? Long-lasting change often occurs when we accept the invitation to “prune”, to explore old wounds and survival strategies that may no longer be serving us. Growth must be stimulated, and much like a plant, our brains have the ability to change and rewire themselves. Our energy can be redirected to create even more beauty.

As a member of the Flourish team, I’d be honored to walk with you on your personal journey of healing and growth. If you feel counseling might be helpful, please contact me. Together, we’ll collaborate on a plan that invites more beauty and hope into your life.

The Fear Melters®

The Fear Melters®

Shared by our Founder & Nurse Practitioner, Jen Owen, N.P.

In February 2024, I finished a yearlong coaching program with the Hendricks Institute to become a Big Leap Coach. One of the main areas of exploration was Body Intelligence, how we have innate wisdom within our bodies and how we can unlock and unblock this wisdom.

One of the main ways our body wisdom is blocked is by fear.

Fear, even in small doses, can get locked in the cells of our bodies causing anxiety, insomnia, depression, worry, stress, etc. We get stuck in fight-or-flight. Read the details about what it means to be in fight-or-flight here.

Through the Hendricks, I learned an easy and effective way to release fear called the Fear Melters.

You may know that I’ve had a particular challenging year so far in 2024. Without doing the Fear Melters every day, I’m not sure where I’d be.

There are four ways that fear shows itself: fight, flight (flee), freeze, or faint.

All of these are accompanied by shorter and shallower breath. We cannot be talked out of fear. Fear is a physiological response and can only be melted with breath, movement and love. There are specific movements that can be applied as an antidote to each type of fear.

FIGHT

Is often confused with anger. Your body weight moves forward, arms get tight, hands may form into fists, talking is faster and louder. You are ready to fight.

To combat FIGHT: OOZE your body

Begin to move slowly as if you are warm chocolate oozing off a spoon. Ooze your arms, shoulders, and hips and even your jaw; slow your words down and change your tone of voice.

FLEE

Part or all of you leaves the vicinity. Can be accompanied by a nervous laugh or eyes glazing over. You may flee by using drugs, alcohol, technology, or food. You’re not present in the moment.

To combat FLEE or FLIGHT: ROOT your body

Widen your stance and bend your knees a little or a lot. Let your toes spread out as you imagine beautiful roots extending from your feet into the nourishment of the earth. Imagine the earth’s energy infusing you with aliveness here and now. Learn more about rooting (grounding) here.

FREEZE

Your body becomes stiff and tight and you might have a nervous smile. Your thoughts may go round and round in your mind. You are frozen in place.

To combat FREEZE: WIGGLE your body

Begin to wiggle your fingers and toes, eventually wiggle your hips and shoulders; to unfreeze you will eventually need to wiggle your core. Literally “shake it off”.

FAINT

Your thinking becomes foggy and confused. You may feel drained or sleepy with your jaw hanging open. You may feel “stupid” and not like yourself.

To combat FAINT: give yourself LOVE SCOOPS

Reach your arms out around you as if you are gathering energy and love towards you. Bring your hands towards you, touching your head, chest, belly or wherever love is needed.

Often, you will be experiencing a combination of fears. Do the one(s) that feel(s) best in the moment. I find that the right Fear Melter feels very good in my body.

For prevention, do the Fear Melters for at least 2 minutes every day and do them more often during times of high stress. While my dad was dying and tensions were high, I practiced the WIGGLE move many times a day.

If you need help, let me know at an appointment and I’ll walk you through them. You can learn about the Fear Melters from my teacher, Katie Hendricks, in this video.

Please report back about your experiences with these helpful and easy tools as you shift from FEAR to FLOW.

Scar Tissue: Why Treatment is Important

Scar Tissue: Why Treatment is Important

Written by our Massage Therapist, Monica Bradley

What do acne, surgery, stretchmarks, cuts and the COVID 19 vaccine injection all have in common?

They all form scars.

I recently took the McLoughlin Scar Tissue Release course and learned a lot about scar tissue.

When a scar is formed it will go through 4 different stages of wound healing.

These are:

  1. Hemostasis:  the blood clots for 1-3 days
  2. Inflammatory: the immune system works to remove debris and bacteria for 1-4 days
  3. Proliferative phase: the wound is rebuilt with new tissue which is formed in random patterns. 
  4. Maturation phase: the wound continues to mature and strengthen

There are 5 types of scars:

  1. Hypertrophic which are raised scars
  2. Atrophic scars lack collagen production and have a hollow look as in acne and stretchmark scars.
  3. Contracture scars have the tissue pulled taught over the scar which is common when you get burned.
  4. Keloid scars are raised aggressive scars that extend beyond the initial incision.
  5. Normotrophic scars are the simplest form of scarring. They are elastic and similar to the surrounding tissue. They are not always active or problematic.

After scars are formed, the new tissue is not as elastic and strong. The scar tissue impedes blood flow to the area and also blocks the lymph from passing through the tissue. This blockage causes the scar tissue to grow, affecting the surrounding tissue by reducing elimination and blocking drainage which creates swelling, joint stiffness and can also block nerve pathways. Mobility is lost and more structures and tissue gets involved throughout the body.

The treatment protocol I learned and am now practicing is easy to apply and gentle on the body. It was created by a Bowen instructor and therefore follows some of the same principles such as “less is more” meaning only 15 min of treatment time will be spent on the scar. This is so that the scar tissue which is weakened does not get aggravated and create more swelling. The pressure is light and the idea is to create more collagen growth around the scar to allow more blood and lymph to be able to clean and drain the area resulting in healthier tissue and so that the scar stops growing and becomes more functional. Often, people will experience different sensations around the scar or in other areas of their body. Greater mobility can be enhanced.

I’m excited to share this technique with anyone who has scars and has decreased mobility or pain, stiffness or swelling. We can do a lot to help your body heal after the initial damage has been done.

Schedule a session with me here

Learn more about Bowenwork here.

What is Tensegrity Medicine?

What is Tensegrity Medicine?

Shared by our Massage Therapist, Monica Bradley

The definition of tensegrity from wikipedia is: “the characteristic property of a stable three dimensional structure consisting of members under tension that are contiguous and members under compression that are not”.

Some examples of tensegrity structures are the Munich Olympic Stadium, the Biosphere, and Denver International Airport. Tension and compression are the forces that make these structures.

In the game of Jenga, I am often surprised by a block that is so easy to move even though it is near the bottom.  Again, tension and compression are involved.

In the human body, our spine is an example of a tensegrity structure. The bones float in the fascial matrix.

When I treat you using the tensegrity principles, I am testing your fascial system to see which structures are out of balance. The muscle that is not contributing to the tension and compression principle is held by a fascial sheath that is too tight for the muscle to fire to its full potential, causing compensation patterns to occur.

I look at any of your muscles that are not firing as the “criminals”-not participating and creating “victims” as the tissue that is overworked, usually sore and often the source of pain that you come in for. The “criminal” tissue is often soft and therefore not drawing attention to needing to be massaged. Most of the effort is spent treating the “victims” which are tight and sore, demanding relief.

However, when the tight muscles get treated, the relief is often temporary as the criminal is still at large, unless it gets some treatment as well. Since the muscle is not firing due to the tension in the fascia, the treatment must be focused on the fascia.

The main goal of the treatment is to create balance 3 dimensionally, so that the pain patterns are alleviated for longer if not forever.

A typical session will start with a fascial test followed by treating the tightest tissue, using the ligaments and having you contract the muscle or by treating the fascial sheath surrounding the muscle directly.

Other bodywork modalities can be mixed in as well. 

You will walk to integrate the system and then another fascial test will be done to see the results and to guide further treatment for a balanced system.

I would suggest a Tensegrity treatment if you are experiencing pain patterns that are chronic and not being relieved by other modalities.

This modality is also helpful for people who are hypermobile and are unable to get relief from stretching.

The other reason is to try Tensegrity is for cost effectiveness. Bodywork is expensive and if the pain is requiring many different treatments for pain management, then a Tensegrity treatment might last longer since the work is targeted on the pain/compensation pattern, therefore saving money in the long run.

Book your Tensegrity session here