Shania Twain and Body Psychotherapy

In Shania Twain’s autobiography, she talks about her history of witnessing domestic abuse, living in poverty, and the tragedy of her parents’ death.  She mentions learning to keep her feelings to herself and learning not to show weakness.  In her life she experienced losing her voice and being unable to sing when she began having marital problems.  In our most intimate relationships, we will often relive the pain of our childhood if that pain has been unresolved.  According to body psychotherapy, our bodies hold the pain of the past at a cellular level.  When we re-experience a traumatic event in adulthood or a re-triggering event, our bodies will respond as though the old trauma is happening again.  In Shania Twain’s case, she was abandoned by her husband in the marriage and she was abandoned by her parents in a car crash.  The pain of abandonment can be overwhelming and devastating.  When we are young, the loss of our parents is a loss of our basic ability to survive in the world.  As an adult, a major loss that resembles the original loss, will feel as devastating as it did the first time.  As for the loss of her voice, the throat segment of the body represents the ability to express oneself and receive nourishment.  In witnessing domestic violence as a child and being helpless to do anything about it, the body will often manifest this trauma as a block in the throat.  As she was unable to ask for help or tell anyone about it and had to continue to live with the ongoing abuse in the home, it is no wonder that she would lose her voice in adulthood feeling helpless once again.  Body psychotherapy can resolve these issues by connecting with the subconscious language of the body using breath and movement and integrating the memories of the past with insight.  In Shania’s case, opening up the held muscles in the throat with breath, sound and movement and expressing the emotional pain of the past connected to the pain of the present, would allow her body to release the pain of the past and find a new pathway in the body to experience well-being.   It is like being released from a cage that has kept you prisoner all your life.  The body may hold the trauma, but it is also the key to freedom from it.  If we listen to our bodies, the body will let us know when something is wrong and the body will guide us to its natural state of openness, energy, and aliveness.

Honoring the Feminine Energy Within

Seeing as Mother’s Day is coming this weekend, not all of us are mothers but we can still use this day to honor the feminine energy within.  In our society, we find ourselves being pulled in multiple directions fulfilling all of our different roles living from a place of predominantly masculine energy.  In Chinese medicine, this is the yang energy which is energy directed outward, being active, and focused on doing.  Often we forget that to stay in balance, we also have to slow down and direct our energy inward.  In Chinese medicine, this is the yin energy.  This is the self-nurturing that we neglect and our bodies respond by experiencing fatigue, tension, weakness and burn out trying to get our attention by slowing us down.  Like the seasons, we have cycles in our energy where we can be more active and times when we need more rest.  By engaging in practices that slow you down such as meditation, relaxation yoga, stretching, deep breathing, nature walks, a massage, a Reiki treatment, or any nurturing activities, you will find yourself restored with renewed energy.  Every cell of your body will respond with a deep sigh of gratitude.  Often my body will respond with the message “welcome home” and I know that I've listened to my body's needs and tapped into a deep well of plentiful, restorative energy.  This year, allow yourself to reflect on a new meaning of Mother's Day that will honor your energy within.