Trauma Education: Sensory Skills

Question 1

What is Interoception?

Answer 1

The ability to identify bodily sensations, bring awareness to emotional states, and regulate physiological processes that help the mind-body system function effectively

Question 2

Helpful to replace the word “symptom” with what word?

Answer 2

“sensation” because symptom can be loaded with a lot of negative connotation

Question 3

How to create an allied relationship between the thinking brain and the survival brain?

Answer 3

thinking brain can learn to collect information from the survival brain by bringing curious, empowered awareness to bodily sensations and emotional states.

Question 4

New relationship between thinking brain and survival brain?

Answer 4

my survival brain is so fiercely committed to protecting me and sometimes it gets a little hyper vigilant or stuck in survival mode so I’m going to collaboratively work with it to understand what it’s experiencing and therefore what my body is experiencing so that I can bring all my wisdom and power to help to effectively create change in my body

Question 5

Survival brain communicates via what?

Answer 5

sensation and emotion, so we can bring awareness to these things to develop fluency in the language of the survival brain

Question 6

When cultivating interoceptive awareness, use what kind of words?

Answer 6

Start with descriptive words and avoid judgmental words like “good” or “amazing”, to detach the negative stories that come with our judgmental words of those sensations