I’m not exactly sure how to introduce this long form talk that I have for you this week with fellow Somatic Experiencing colleague Will Rezin, but I might try it this way:
One of my favourite words is ‘smitten.’
So much so that when I first started writing a blog [circa 2010], I had a section called Smitten With.
Here is one such article that is of a time before nervous system healing was online. It was a time when people travelled far and wide to learn. In many ways, this old post is more of a diary entry that speaks about my adventures in Virginia Beach and Marin County (Sausalito to be exact).
While I miss these times, I know life has ‘seasons’ and that time was a very different season for me, but I digress, so let’s get back to this week’s video chat with colleague Will Rezin…
As I started to write this email note to you, these old ‘smitten with’ articles popped into my mind, mainly because I’m kinda ‘smitten with’ this talk!
Will and I have a tremendous amount of resonance around our profession and topics such as:
- The new traumatology and somatics
- Massive issues we are seeing with current somatic trainings (to be clear, this is not the principles, or the people who have created these works, but the mode in which people are being ‘trained’ to do them)
- The zeitgeist of “trauma-informed” in the popular press (social media)
- What we both know in our guts to be essential to ensure this work prospers and becomes axiomatic for healthcare and beyond
This talk is the first time we met. Which means the first thirty minutes or so is sort of like a ‘first date’ kind of vibe – we talk about our favourite shows, life, etc., and then we get into the ‘stuff’ mentioned in the bullet points above.
Another topic we dive into is how we both believe that Somatic Experiencing (SE) is the science of shamanism. We speak about how this ‘scientuitive’ birthright often gets missed in a person’s attempt to ‘get that certificate’ and be ‘trained to work with trauma,’ and the like.
It is our hope that this conversation gets folks interested about the true roots of our work, and what we both believe will be needed for it to turn into a real profession.
