Episode 10: Building the Bones

Welcome to Episode 10, friends! This is probably my favourite episode so far.

Not only did I get to use the term ‘batshit ’ in a complete sentence, Allison brought forward the Bones card from the deck, which is one of my favourites to work with and explore in the Soma section.

The bones ask us to look at our core beliefs about ourselves, other people, and the world at large, and to question whether we are truly being ‘good friends to ourselves’. And then…what really gets in the way of doing that for ourselves and each other?

In short, it’s shame. And the very normal experience of not wanting to/not knowing how to feel our shame so that it no longer controls us subconsciously.

We explore here three different approaches to working with shame. You’ll hear about:

• Somatic Psychotherapeutic work like Focusing (Eugene Gendlin) and ‘Affect Tolerance’ as a means of moving towards uncomfortable emotions like shame.

• Shamanic perspectives on the ‘soul retrieval’ work that is necessary to heal the parts of us we carry shame for.

• Why it’s necessary to work on our Vagal Nerve tone and to cultivate self regulation if we are to move towards these unwanted parts of ourselves

• …and why co-regulation can be so difficult with other human beings, and what another option for co-regulation might be.

Thank you so much for being with us here. As always, please reach out if you have questions or ideas for a topic you would love explored here! We can be reached on Instagram most easily:

Ciel Grove

Allison Strickland