There are many roads that can help us go from being stuck to in flow, and one of them is a principle and practice called pendulation.

This term was popularized by the founder of Somatic Experiencing, Peter Levine, to describe a way of being with an intense experience in the body, like a painful sensation, and then moving the focus and attention to somewhere that is less painful, as a way to dis-arm the intensity of the painful sensation. The goal is to learn how to move between two opposing states, so that the charge in the system can lessen, and the person can experience a little more flow and freedom in their system.

Peter once said to us in a class: “Pain is trapped sensation.”

From my professional and personal experience, this is true, and this means that in order to lessen and release the pain, we must learn to move our sensations, and more importantly, we need to BE with them and befriend them.

Learning how to pendulate between things that feel bad to things that feel less bad, or maybe better or pleasant, is an important somatic skill to practice, especially when we’re easily hijacked by chronic pain and over-thinking, as an example.

In this week’s vlog, I dive into this topic and give you some concrete examples of how one might work with this concept of pendulation.

Irene's Musings

Did you get a chance to check out the article I released last week?

It’s titled, ‘Made these for you (plus an important note about staying embodied).’ It’s a short article with some handpicked resources for calming overwhelm and intense emotions.  I hope you take some time to read it through. I believe we’re being offered a massive opportunity to rewrite our global healing patterns, and shape shift how the human collective acts in times of crises.

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Resources I Mention In The Vlog:

VLOG: What do you do when you have unresolved trauma – two types of orienting.

ARTICLE: How To Live Longer with Less Sickness. PART 1: Stop Scaring Yourself

ARTICLE: How To Live Longer with Less Sickness. PART 2: The Goldilocks Nature of Cortisol

ARTICLE: How to Live Longer with Less Sickness PART 3: 7 Ways To Become Your Own Medicine.