BODY ARMOURING & DE-ARMOURING
BODY ARMOURING
Trauma is an embodied response, it is the myriad of ways that your nervous system responds to a sense of threat or danger, which you then experience in your body. When you feel under threat your body responds in the only way that it knows in order to survive, through muscular contraction you armour up as a form of psychological and emotional protection. *
This armouring keeps explosive emotions contained, it acts as a protective coping mechanism, it wards off the emotions of others and forms a protective container and creates a sense of physical safety.
Body armour develops slowly over time in response to stress or trauma. And actually a lot of the time you are not even consciously aware of the gradual accumulation of muscular tensions and habits that form as a result.
The layers of armouring that you have are not easily dismantled, even when the threat is removed, the memory is still there plus taking away all your coping mechanisms can lead to deep anxiety and stress. It has been shown that a more compassionate and more effective route is to use the body as a way to heal the brain.
DE-ARMOURING
The good news is that your brain is amazing in its capacity to change. In his book, The Brain that Changes itself, Norman Doidge, shows how through movement, vibration, sound and light we may experience profound levels of healing. I believe that it is the research of people like him, and other folks working in embodiment, that offers so much hope for all of you suffering the effect of chronic pain, trauma and other states that traditional medicine struggle to shift.
“The brain is a far more open system than we ever imagined, and nature has gone very far to help us perceive and take in the world around us. It has given us a brain that survives in a changing world by changing itself.”
There are many different ways that you can de-armour.
Different approaches, different bodies, different experiences; but the underlying theme is a practice that allows you to re-occupy your body and to take back ownership of your self.
Notice how many of the movements that may enable you to stand down and soften are often the same ones that will soothe a baby.
Really we are all just big babies in adult bodies!
Hugging, Stroking, Tapping, Rocking, Squeezing, Jiggling, Bouncing
It all works
Never assume that when you step onto the yoga mat, or when you pick up the phone or enter into a meeting, that you are coming from an embodied place.
So perhaps you may consider this form of work as a “pre-practice”.
De-armouring practices can be done at any time of the day, as often as required, for as long as needed. They can be done before an event, or after an event.
They do not need to follow a structure or a sequence, they are simply a way to step down from hyper-vigilance (bracing for something bad to happen) and for your body to find softness & ease.
When you incorporate a practice of de-armouring into your life, you, quite literally, start to lay down the heavy weight of the armour that lies within your body.
It can become a practice of resilience and centeredness.
It can become a practice of hope.
*The BODY'S response to THREAT
The muscles in the jaw tighten to prevent from being ripped off
The pancreas begins rapid burn of sugar in the blood to provide the body with fuel
The digestive system shuts off - no time to eat or eliminate
The thyroid reduces output to keep the body cooler
The adrenal glands dump adrenaline into the body
The sacrum tucks to protect the spinal cord
The muscles along the spine tighten to protect the spinal cord
The fascial system tightens to protect muscles and reduce potential blood loss