Making Sense of the Felt Sense

Your kinaesthetic or  "felt" sense is closer to your Core, than thinking.  

Let me say that another way…

Your felt sense brings you closer to your Core than mental analysis. 

When we use the word "Core", we are referencing a deeper, spirited awareness of your being that is the sum of all your parts, -your essential nature. 

(For the purpose of this article we will use the terms "Felt sense " and "Kinaesthetic sense" interchangeably.  I am referencing the same thing when I use these phrases. )

When we avoid the felt sense or ignore the opportunity for that awareness to deepen, there is an entire field of information that is being left out of our consciousness for us to make use of. The felt sense helps bring us into presence, it helps us make more informed choices and decisions, brings greater understanding to a growth factor or challenge, and supports us deepening and connecting more in our valued relationships. 

Now, here's the rub... we can feel as well as think with our mind. It just depends on what part you're engaging. It's not simply about shutting the mind off, it's about taming the way its used and being able to discern when it is thinking and when it is feeling. 

Thoughts will often rush in to rescue what we are feeling, without ever giving the feelings a chance to flesh themselves out. We've been taught as a society of "Doers", to do something about the way we feel,  and that proclivity can completely squash our understanding of WHY we are feeling the way we are, and thus inhibit a very important piece of our conscious intelligence. 

When we work with the Kinaesthetic Sense, we give ourselves the time, the grace, and the permission to slow ourselves down and allow our feelings to unwind, reveal themselves, and inform our presence.   

The value of somatic presence.

We know through objective psycho-therapeutic research that often people will continue to move through the world at a rushed pace, loading their plates with stuff to "do", because they are in some way avoiding slowing down and feeling what is there in the stillness, or absence of movement.

When we grant the mind permission to slow down and make the invitation for it to feel, all sorts of information and awareness can rise to the top for us to utilize. We can use this information to foster healing, forgiveness, and self-compassion, release stress and anxiety, and even allow us to get clear on challenges that are present in our lives, and change our behaviors for the better. The felt sense contains necessary components that create a more fulfilling and holistically-centered lifestyle, when we make the space for it. 

The value of somatic education is that we learn to wield this tool of Feeling, along with our thinking mind, to become more expansive and fulfilled individuals. We become more capable of staying present, and are better able to allow suffering from the past, or worry about the future to fall away. 

Taking the time to drop into the soma (the body), with awareness and facilitation, can mean the difference between a 10 stress level and a 4 stress level, literally in one session. 

Why is somatic education different than massage and bodywork?

Bodywork is essential for connective tissue management and overall mobility and muscle relaxation.  It's a tool that is meant for rehabilitation, relaxation, and physiological reset. Sometimes there is catharsis in bodywork, due to the intrinsic nature of emotions in the body. 

It often restores feelings of lightness and well-being to the individual.

Somatic education teaches us how to be in our bodies and understand how emotions get stored in our physiology, and how we can respond to them.  It takes the mechanics of bodywork and deepens it into a learned sensibility.  It tunes us in and teaches us the language of the often highly nuanced (yet constant) conversation between the body and the mind.  Learning how to understand and relate to the sensations in the body, and stay connected to our feelings and our thoughts, is prime territory for self-discovery, and the deep unwinding process of long-held emotions, sensations, and their affective patterns in the body. 

I won't shy away from saying that it is a completely spiritual experience to explore the body through somatic awareness and opening. It is however, also scientifically explored and data-backed that somatic awareness and opening can create positive neurobiological impact affecting epigenetic factors, just as much if not more than the mechanical impacts of bodywork.

If you're interested in knowing more about somatic education and counseling, I've created a new program for somatic counseling that works both online and in person. Check out this page for a more complete description of what happens in an online or in-person somatic session.