There are many ways of being stuck, e.g. Breath, gut-brain connection, in our body. When our Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) gets stuck on “on”, Fight/Flight (FF) or hyperarousal, or “off”, Freeze (F) or hypoarousal, due to childhood adversity, acute or complex traumas, life can feel very overwhelming. If we’ve been stuck on “off” or “functionally frozen” for most of our lives, we miss feeling a range of emotions, participating (collapsed), having sustained close relationships, good digestion, sleep etc. If we’ve been stuck on “on” in hyperarousal, we may miss the subtlety of presence, feel irritated often, unable to rest, sleep, digest, or inhibit our emotional and behavioural responses. When we are not stuck in either of these states, we are free to hang out in our Parasympathetic Nervous System in rest and digest mode and enjoy the ease that it brings.
Our Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is working 24/7 to help us to distinguish which of these 3 states is appropriate at any given time and to provide appropriate responses to safe and unsafe situations: 1) Parasympathetic – safety; 2) Sympathetic – Fight/Flight – danger; or 3) (Parasympathetic) Freeze – life-threat.
To integrate our biggest traumas in life, we need to gain the capacity to feel into and track the uncomfortable sensations from the FFF, and express the meanings and emotions of our experiences in words. This helps to discharge bound survival energy related to both stuck states, and connects us to internal resources to experience flow again. Gaining capacity to do this brings more aliveness and vitality into our bodies and we start to look, feel and behave differently, e.g. posture opens and aligns itself, facial nerves begin to relax, we become guided from our guts, and make more life-enhancing choices.
When you feel into your body now, which one of these states do you think you primarily get stuck in when stressed or if a traumatic event happens? Hyperarousal (Fight/Flight) or hypoarousal (Freeze)?
Ultimately, any stuckness related to these states is a reflection of how safe/unsafe we feel/have felt, and forms an underlying foundation for our feelings and emotions, often from our developmental years. We can always choose to strengthen our capacity to feel into our bodies now and build more internal resources to help to meet any remaining stuckness with our attention and somatic movement, so that it can begin to shift and we can begin to thrive in all ways.
Click here for a brief video on how to know if you are a Fight/Flight or Freezer and what to do!
