We all have our stories. Whether they are true or not, we have stories that we tell ourselves to make sense of the world. When things are uncomfortable – like we get pain in our bodies or our hearts – sometimes those stories (whether true or not…) may not serve us in the healthiest and most open ways. Pain can create disconnection with ourselves and others, we can shut down, close out the world, withdrawing into our own story of how we got here in the first place. And anything that threatens that story can be rejected outright, to preserve what we know, even if what we know is painful.

Differentiation can be a hard thing to do, but simple. Just noticing something that you’re not used to changes perspective, and may actually lead you to more easeful ways to move through your life. Remember those “spot the difference” pictures in the backs of some kids magazines? Two pictures look identical at first, but you look a little closer, and start to see differences. When I was a kid, it got so excited to find those differences! Something new & fresh! (TBH, I still get excited) The first step in changing habits & stories that no longer serve us is to notice what’s there, without judgement, guilt, or another story to pile on top of it. From there, we can start to notice what’s a little bit different. Nothing too drastic – we still maintain the story – but we can start to shift that story little by little by spotting the differences. The brain loves habits, but the brain also loves novelty to learn new habits. Novelty creates new neural pathways in the brain, helping you learn new actions, clearing the way for new connections inside the body, and out.

Somatics is a great way to gently and safely find ways out of pain by taking the time to get to know your habits and body stories. Creating a safe space at first to allow awareness, then you can trust yourself to move into other new, fresh place for change. Slow movement makes for big changes! Try this free soma scan to get a sense of how to start noticing “what is” in your body, and then explore any little differences that you might not expect to be there. See what happens from the new connections.