Fear to feeling

For the last year I have practiced Somatic Tracking in a variety of ways, slowly learning that the “attention” you give the symptom briefly is a very light, slight attention - simply being with the symptom and not being afraid of it. It is a form of acceptance. Being the perfectionist, I started by offering symptoms concentrated attention, which isn’t helpful. An easy typed of somatic tracking often called pendulation was helpful in showing me how “much” attention to offer. The symptom can be anything (but not your strongest sensation, pick something mid range), as long as you are attuned to the physical sensation of it. The goal is to reduce fear and teach you to begin noticing what is happening in your body - the process of moving from thinking to feeling. Recently someone mentioned Gail Brenner, who here, essentially takes that somatic tracking into the next level and explains it so well. She focuses on the physical feeling of emotion in the body, without focusing on anything but the emotional sensations. Gail also elegantly explains what Claire Weekes called “floating” - not giving attention to the thoughts around the emotion - just feeling the sensation. The thoughts are what trap is into holding on to the feelings, feeling them lets go. TMS folks are generally afraid of feeling them, Gail explains how to get past the fear: