There is a lot of noise about body-based (somatic) healing, but not a lot of people talking to those of us who identify as neurodivergent. When your nervous system operates in ways that The Powers That Be deem 'disordered' or 'non-typical', it can lead to confusion about where we fit in with somatic healing. Is it available to us? Possible?
Often somatic healing is boiled down to the ability to notice and track body sensations. But what if you're in a body that doesn't signal as loudly as needed to know what you feel? Or you're in a body that signals much louder than seems necessary for the circumstances? Tracking for body sensations can be frustrating for many neurodivergent folks. The emphasis on it as The Way to unlock next level living then creates a doom and shame cycle for people who are already burdened by plenty of 'not measuring up' energy in the world.
The good news is that somatic healing is not just about a particular way of tracking body sensations.
As humans, we have many channels of experience that shape our lives, and all of them are valuable. In Somatic Experiencing®, the names of the channels are Sensation, Image, Behavior, Affect, and Meaning. Another expert in body-based work, Kathy Kain, lists them as Soma, Environment, Emotions, and Meaning & Metaphor.
We tend to have preferred channels of experience to help us make sense of the world. In somatic healing, part of the goal is to bolster what works and explore what is available in the other channels when processing an experience or pattern.
If body sensations are harder to tune into, that's okay! You are not doing it wrong. You are not disqualified from somatic healing. The path to healing your nervous system will be uniquely yours, neurodivergent or not.
The path to healing your nervous system will be uniquely yours, neurodivergent or not.
The next time you hear or see a prompt to notice what sensations come up in your body, I'd invite you to also be curious if there is an image, a phrase or word, or even an emotion you can name instead. What inputs can you find easily? Notice those and celebrate being able to hear from you.
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