What do you mean by “sense into your body”?
When I began my somatic journey as a client I thought “sensing into my body” meant I had to find all my physical sensations, and that was it.
But the more I’ve been doing this work, both as a client and as a therapist, I’ve come to realize that physical sensations aren’t exactly the whole picture. They can be an important way into the body, but they’re not everything.
I learnt that sensation doesn’t equal “felt sense,” which is invaluable for this kind of healing work.
The felt sense is everything we know and feel about something all at once.
This includes:
Sensation - “it feels tight in my chest”
The emotional tone of that sensation - “It’s sad”
The imagery that it expresses itself through - “it doesn’t want to be left alone”
it’s connection to our life/It’s meaning - “I really don’t want him/her to leave me”
The “it” refers to the felt sense.
The felt sense isn’t always easy to find. At least not right away.
You know how sometimes you feel something, but you don’t quite know what it is or how to describe it?
You need to sit with it. Spend time with it until you get a fuller picture.
You can start by slowing down and sensing into the physical body first.
Then it might start to reveal itself in one of the ways mentioned above.
Some people start with sensation, others with an emotion or an image.
The process of trying to put it in word form, and the practice of constantly checking to see if these words fit is what allows the felt sense to make itself known. As you continue to sit with the felt sense, it will become even more clear.
This is how healing and movement forward happens: when we understand the full picture of what’s bothering us, way beyond the mental level.
This picture comes from the body, but when I say body it doesn't mean it in the way we are used to thinking of body; as an inanimate object with purely physical features, but rather as a living process interacting with the environment.
The body includes sensation, emotion, imagery and meaning.