18 Comments
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Angela Ellison's avatar

Such an interesting and beautiful read. I'm grateful we can find ways to make our bodies feel safe, especially if we didn't get that at a young age. We can create new memories and stories for ourselves.

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Alexandra Lais's avatar

Oh thank you for the thoughtful comment Angela :) That's right, as adults, one of our tasks is to take care of our wounded inner child, a sort of reparenting. So hard and also with huge healing potential.

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Guta Soares's avatar

Nice text! I believe one of the keys to the portal of our own body&mind is to basically talk to them as if we were talking to someone we like. Gently. This way we can tell our nervous system to relax, for example, or to that body part that aches to release the pain.

Creating a true connection between our entire self is a way to deepen into our own mysteries/beliefs/truth.

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Alexandra Lais's avatar

Oh I really like this idea of talking kindly to the different parts of our body and I can see how this can lead to more inner connection. So beautiful that you are cultivating such connection ♡

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Mac Dohm's avatar

It becomes transparent when we put in the important work of digging deep within how much of our actions and reactions are programmed into our core when certain stimuli appear. Great read. It’s an important reminder of awareness!

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Alexandra Lais's avatar

Yes, the more we uncover about ourselves, the more we realise how deep our patterns go. Thank you for reading and commenting 🙏🏼

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Dr Anita, CBT/ADHD therapist's avatar

Great article Alexandra. We generated our first experiences of safety (or unsafety) as babies, and that was in our bodies, not in our pre-language minds. As a CBT therapist, including somatic work, especially with those who've suffered trauma, is essential to treatment success.

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Alexandra Lais's avatar

Beautiful. I would love to learn more about CBT also. I like to see how many approaches can complement each other or even talk about the same things, but from slightly different perspectives. Thank you Anita.

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JFT Beach 🇬🇧 🏊 🧘‍♂️'s avatar

This is interesting, makes a lot of sense, yet something I know little about! I will share a link to this piece in my Sunday round up newsletter next week. I've also just subscribed to read more.

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Alexandra Lais's avatar

Hi. So lovely of you to leave a comment, and glad to hear this article sparked an interest for you. Thank you so much.

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Stephanie Dalfonzo's avatar

Makes me think of "The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel van der Kolk. I'm curious - where is this black sand?

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Alexandra Lais's avatar

Oh yes I have heard of the book but never read it. The photo does not belong to me so no idea about the black sand :)

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Sally-Anne Rainbow's avatar

Absolutely! The nervous system is the command center of our entire body, and when it’s dysregulated, healing becomes so much harder. Learning how to regulate it—whether through breathwork, mindfulness, or nervous system-friendly self-care—is essential for true recovery. I see this so often in burnout recovery, where people feel stuck until they start working with their nervous system instead of against it. As I was a “in my head “ person also this was key to my burnout recovery. Thanks for sharing

This keeps it engaging and aligns with your expertise. Want to tweak it for a specific audience or tone?

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Alexandra Lais's avatar

Hi Sally-Anne, thank you for the thoughtful comment and for sharing some of your own experiences. I also believe the key for deeper healing lies in creating more safety in our bodies. It is always nice to hear this is resonating 🙏🏼

Regarding your last question, what exactly do you mean with 'tweaking for a specific tone'?

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Sally-Anne Rainbow's avatar

Oops I put all my thoughts into chat gpt & asked it to shorten & tidy up my response - forgot to delete the last bit - I look forward to reading more from you!

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Alexandra Lais's avatar

Oh nice hehe! Thanks for connecting and will check out your work too 🙏🏼

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T.J. Maher's avatar

LOVE this! I often feel like the body is our external harddrive where we store more than we realize, Bernie Clark says "our issues are in our tissues" hehe

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