Somatic Bridging: How to honour what is while embodying what’s possible

Jul 5

For the last few years, my personal hope and healing has been found in the contemplations of ‘what is possible?’ and ‘how do we access possibility?’ I dove headfirst into the teachings of the mystics and scientists who were telling us that we were missing a primary aspect of reality. Their message was repeated time and time again, so I decided to experiment with applying this knowledge of reality and possibility, with profoundly life-altering results. I would like to share what I discovered with you. You might think it’s a bit ‘out there’, but stick with me!

An exploration of reality and possibility:

Newtonian physics (the summation of physical law that our current thought paradigm operates within) holds that that which I can see, hear, feel, taste and touch is real; thus, what is possible is limited to that which is realistic in accordance with all that I have observed before, or that which is likely to occur based on what is currently accepted as possible due to previous experience.

Newtonian Physics: observable = reality

Whereas quantum physics (the arising model of physical law(s) that continues to confound and shift how scientists perceive reality) has discovered that what we observe becomes real.

Quantum Physics: reality = shifts in accordance with what I am observing

Now, it is key to understand what is meant by observing in each of the two contexts. In Newtonian physics, observation refers to that which we are perceiving through our physical sensory organs. In the quantum model, observation is enacted through our belief, expectation, thought, and emotion.

Physicists studying the quantum model have learned (and mystics have shared throughout time) that our universe/world is made up of energy, a field of frequencies, a matrix of electro-magnetic information presenting itself in two forms: a particle and a wave.

* Consider that we are like fish swimming in an ocean. We are indeed swimming in a sea of frequency, or information in the form of energy or vibration. *

This quantum field is made up of every possibility or potential we can imagine. Every problem and solution, challenge and desire, our current experience and our longings. These possibilities exist as waves, information in the form of energy. And it is what we are observing through our personal and collective beliefs, expectations, thoughts, and emotions that determines whether a potential will remain in wave form or, through our focus, collapse into a particle (the collapsing of a particle = materiality that I can thus perceive with my five senses).

So, what does all this mean? This information can feel exciting, interesting, or arouse some curiosity, but its application is more complex (which I think directs people to return to the ease of Newtonian physics). However, stay with me.

As you may have guessed, I discovered the applicability of this information in somatics, and created a process I call somatic bridging to help guide myself and others along the path of healing, transformation and creation.

The quantum model suggests that we must shift our beliefs, expectations, thoughts, and emotions if we are to change anything in our environment. Albert Einstein stated that it is field that is the sole governing agent of the particle; thus, we must shift our focus within the field in order to shift our experience in our observable reality. This is much easier said than done. Our world, our culture, our society, our families have established within us a paradigm of thought, a neurobiological network that ensures maintenance and longevity of what IS. In other words, I believe what I believe because of a lineage of thought and a lifetime of proof/ validation. One cannot simply detract from their lifetime of experiences to perceive anew. And when we try to do this, we bypass what is present in our bodies.

So, how do I offer new focus within the field of possibilities, while also honouring what IS in my current reality?

Somatic Bridging

Authentic change cannot happen by force alone — it happens when our bodies learn (ie. cultivate a felt sense for what it means) to recognize both what is and what’s possible. Somatic bridging is the practice of moving gently between these two states: honouring the truth of our present experience, while slowly cultivating the sensations of what we long for. In this way, the body becomes not only a witness to our pain, but also a fertile, living ground for our deepest desires to take root.

Through somatic bridging, we offer ourselves the pendulated process of honouring what IS and exploring new beliefs, expectations, thoughts, and emotions.

I offer myself the practices of somatics to complete the charge of my current experience, which then brings spaciousness to my physiology.

With this space, I can learn to track (locate) a visceral experience of that which I would like bring into my life. Ease, liberation, connection, love, prosperity. These emotions live as sensations within a body, first in tiny fragments and eventually wholly as one’s baseline. And then we titrate (move slowly) towards what IS and back to what I am longing for. In this practice, we are teaching our body to embody what we desire.

And when we learn our longings within the body, a new electro-magnetic signature is broadcast authentically to the field, which elicits the particle-ization of the wave, or draws into our material reality the potentials and possibilities of our deepest imaginations and wildest dreams.

This process is more complex and beautiful than I could dream of writing about in a few paragraphs. It is a lifetime of study and exploration that I invite you to initiate in your own life. And you are so welcome to join us at our next gathering, where I will be sharing more about this quantum model of reality and somatic bridging!

Journal Prompts

Take in your space with your physical senses. What do you notice in your body as you see, smell, or feel the space around you?
…(this is a practice in somatics called orienting)
As we heal trauma and learn to cultivate a primarily regulated nervous system, it is important that we learn to track our own nervous system.
What does activation feel like?
What does safety feel like?
Where are these experiences located in your body?
Consider a challenge you are experiencing. And now consider its opposite, or that which you would prefer to be experiencing.
i.e. a relational challenge would inspire a desire to experience connection
Take a moment to notice in your body the sensation of the challenge. Allow that experience to be present.
When you feel ready, locate or elicit the experience of its opposite. Connection? Liberation? Space? Ease? Notice with all your noticing effort this sensation.
And now you can oscillate between the two, allowing what IS and locating what is desired. All within your body.

The magic that this process offers us in the contexts of somatic shape, transformation and materialization is beyond the scope of the above journal prompts, but this is exactly what I discuss and teach in Brain Body Being!

Learn more about my clinical somatic educator professional training