In this “The Body Keeps the Score”-esque conversation, Rebecca and I we explore how our nervous systems hold onto past experiences and how movement-based practices (cough like yoga) can help reprocess these patterns that are quite literally stuck in our brains.
Rebecca explains the difference between big “T” and little “t” trauma, why we hold on to the familiar, top-down vs. bottom-up approaches to therapy, and how EMDR works.
“When someone is drowning, it’s not the time to teach them how to swim.” Sometimes we need to feel safe before we can go into that deeper work. Once we start the deeper work, as overwhelming as it might seem, remember that even a 1% change can shift everything.
Whether you're working through your own trauma or simply curious about the mind-body connection, this episode offers insight, personal reflection, and hopefully gives you a few tools for moving forward.
Rebecca is a trauma and somatics therapist and fellow Ashtangi, and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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Rebecca’s website and teaching schedule: https://www.malayogaco.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabUDxxQIUVU1GqOn_tglMU3RmHnlGEEdprQYQRtFbC6LKoJUxiIOyXSuQ4_aem_GYNezuFw8J9nwRtipvdHEA
Find Rebecca on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccagraceferguson/
Find me on Instagram:@marlasyoga
Practice yoga with me on Sādhaka Studio:
https://sadhakastudio.uscreen.io/catalog
Come with me to Costa Rica:
https://www.wetravel.com/trips/for-the-seekers-ashtanga-yoga-retreat-sadhaka-67726403
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
05:40 Defining trauma: Big “t” trauma versus little “t” trauma
14:13 How to begin to process stuck traumas
16:12 Marla’s experience with talk therapy
19:04 Top-down approaches vs. bottom-up approaches and getting to the root of trauma
22:18 How EMDR reprocesses the stuck patterns
26:20 It gets more familiar for us to stay stuck than it is to heal
27:13 How to get to the “root” of the trauma
31:28 How yoga can be another bottom-up approach to reprocessing trauma
36:14 Self-study
38:58 Having a teacher that believes you can do it when you don’t
43:27 How trauma can be inherited or passed down through generations
51:40 Asking myself why
52:42 A 1% change is a change; it’s a different system
56:35 The power of finding your thing