Hello,
My name is Peggy Cocasian and I am a somatic practitioner here in Los Angeles,
California.
And today I wanted to talk a little bit about what it means to need containment.
And I'm going to first start with a little bit of information on what it feels like and what the body needs to go through to feel safe within and contained in your energy space.
You will find other practices under my teaching account that will guide you through a containment practice but I thought it would be nice to share some information in a little depth and dialogue around why it's truly so important and it's been so beneficial for myself and my own journey with anxiety and regulation as well as for my clients.
So we're going to start with a little bit of context around this so go ahead and take a breath in through your nose and exhale slowly.
Let yourself land here,
Let yourself land exactly where you are feeling the presence of your own body,
Your own surroundings.
Take a couple more inhales and exhales just to bring a deeper presence inward.
Sometimes we feel like we're unraveling,
Sometimes our emotions are feeling so big,
Feeling like the emotions are moving too fast or too much.
And those are really strong indicators that something is going on internally that wants to be felt and maybe even accepted.
This is when we absolutely need containment.
When our body starts to speak,
Our heart,
Our nervous system is asking for something to hold the bigness that we are feeling and experiencing.
Maybe it's a boundary,
A buffer,
A sense that this won't break you in this moment.
This too shall pass,
That you can stay with what's here without drowning in it.
Take a big deep inhale into the language that I'm speaking and if it's really resonating with you,
Invite your body to just fully come online.
This is not about suppression,
It's not about fixing,
It's about holding.
Sometimes that holding comes from another person,
Someone who stays regulated,
Grounded and calm.
Someone who reminds your body you're safe,
I'm here and you're not alone.
And sometimes that holding comes from you.
Placing a hand on your heart or your belly,
Wherever you're feeling a little bit more of an anxiousness or some of where that energy is living within.
Maybe taking a blanket and covering yourself or maybe even sitting on the earth or against a wall to feel held and feeling something solid behind you.
So now that you know a little bit about what containment means and stands for,
We can bring in that language when we're actually having that real life experience of needing containment.
Being able to provide that for ourselves.
Part of this work is recognizing that maybe that young part,
That inner child within never was able to really feel that containment within herself.
Maybe there was no one to attune to her.
So this is that opportunity to bring that attunement to yourself.
And it can feel like a lot in this moment as you're holding these big feelings.
And you can actually affirm that.
You can say,
This is a lot.
And I'm staying with myself.
I'm not going anywhere.
This gets to move,
But it doesn't get to take me out.
I'm going to repeat that one more time.
And just letting your body fully experience the words,
Integrating it into the self.
This is a lot,
And I'm staying with myself.
I'm not going anywhere.
This gets to move,
But it doesn't get to take me out.
With inhales and exhales,
Just keep noticing where there's tension,
Where and when the body is speaking from a somatic experience.
Without containment,
We might feel scattered.
We might feel overwhelmed and even disassociated.
We can easily shut down or a spiral and just the emotion can just get bigger and bigger.
We might reach for things that numb us in that moment or find ways to escape.
But with this containment,
Knowledge and practice,
There's a softer perimeter.
There's a breath that reminds us where we are and who we are.
There's a space to feel without being consumed.
Doesn't it feel so good to feel witnessed and held in this way?
And just recognizing when the body starts to move through these big,
Heavy feelings and then re-inviting the body into a conversation with another person from that place.
Finding that you need containment does not mean it's a weakness.
It's actually the body's wisdom.
And how lucky are we to get to sit with ourselves and have that experience?
It's safe to say that our system is actually asking for safety and honoring those wounded parts of ourself that did not have safety once upon a time.
So just because that is familiar doesn't mean that the pain gets to continue and you get to come back to a regulated state and you have that power within you.
So really paying attention to what words resonate with your body,
What words open your body and allow that freedom and that energy to start shifting so the tension of that containment and the stressor and the anxiety is not stuck.
Take one more breath in.
And with that exhale,
I'm going to end this session with remembering you do not have to hold any of this alone.
I am here with you.
We get to work and move through this step by step.
Many blessings to your beautiful body.
Namaste.
