What are the methods offered within somatic compassion?
Method 1. Strengths
Method 2. Mindful noticing of feelings
The person being supported is invited to notice their emotional and physical feelings and to name them by repeating the words out loud. This method helps to create a bridge between the person’s inner worlds and external reality and by acknowledging their feelings, increases self-awareness and self-compassion. Speaking the feelings out loud allows them to be released, rather than being caught up in endless ruminations.
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Method 3. Supported dialogue
When we offer compassionate presence and affective touch, it creates an altered brain state in which the person becomes deeply reflective and insightful. They start to solve their own problems.
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Method 4. Positive questions
All of us have a negativity bias and we tend to find ourselves spiralling into worst-case scenarios and reinforcing our negative core beliefs, especially related to feeling helpless, unlovable and worthless. In the presence of somatic compassion, we can create a greater sense of possibility by the use of positive “What if…?” questions such as, “What if I am enough? What if I wasn’t actually stuck? What if am smarter than I realise? What if I am loveable?”
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Method 5. Using metaphor
When people talk about their life difficulties, they often unconsciously use metaphor. People say, “I just ran into a brick wall” to express powerlessness, or “It feels like a big rock in my chest” to describe hurt, or “I feel caged in” to explain a feeling of being trapped. Metaphor is the language of the subconscious, which does not have words, only images and stories.