NeuroAffective Touch
“We may deny that an event occurred, or we may act as though it was unimportant. For instance, when someone we love dies, or when we are injured or violated, we may act as though nothing has happened, because the emotions that come with truly acknowledging the situation are too painful. In addition, dissociation may be experienced as part of the body being disconnected or almost absent. Frequently, chronic pain represents a part of the body that has been dissociated.”
NeuroAffective Touch (NAT) is a professional psycho-biological, somatic practice, in which practitioners work through the ‘wisdom of the body’ along with the power of touch and bodywork as a vital bridge for body-mind integration. Body-mind integration improves our ability to verbalize what we feel in our non-verbal bodies. The body requires equal importance to the mind when addressing emotional, relational, and developmental deficits, as they cannot be accessed by verbal means alone.
NeuroAffective Touch is a polyvagal-informed, psychobiological approach that integrates key elements of somatic body psychology, attachment and developmental theory, affect-regulation and interpersonal neurobiology.
The integration of a body-centered intervention is in its infancy in the United States but has been widely utilized and respected in European countries. Connection with our neurobiological states allows for unconscious or hidden narratives or trauma wounding in psyche to move into the conscious realm for processing, integration and wholeness. When our psychological identity is built on a shaky foundation of an early traumatized physiology, an integrated psychobiological approach is necessary.
Healing developmental trauma wounding begins with offering the missing nonverbal experiences of somatic support, attunement, and safety, a secure bottom-up foundation based in trust, safety and care, from which a new top-down narrative can emerge. Attuned presence addresses the three essential self-states necessary for secure attachment and emotional well-being:
- I exist
- I am loved
- My needs are important
Working somatically with early developmental trauma wounds addresses the nonverbal implicit self. Deeper understanding of how we embody a biological life force, and how the polyvagal energy centers and shapes our patterned behavior of connection and protection. Somatic touch supports a better understanding of how the body speaks to us. Somatic touch work is vital and necessary in working with attachment deficits and deeper exploration of psychological stress and trauma.
Nurturing touch focus supports our core neurological and emotional capacities to trust and yield. Touch develops our ‘felt sense’ ability to notice subtle shifts and changes in our body including tissue tone and density. Touch allows for nonverbal states to move into explicit spoken expression.
Expansion of our embodied presence encourages psychobiological exploration. This exploration builds our capacity for connection and attunement and allows us to better regulate our emotional states. Understanding of our polyvagal informed psychobiology allows us to safely feel connection again.
Through NueroAffective Touch we develop ‘somatic resonance’, a sense of knowing what we are feeling in our bodies. Clarity and safety allow us to deconstruct survival adaptations, adverse defense mechanisms and reconnect to the creativity of our somatic individuation. Lastly, NeuroAffective Touch stimulates the brains property of neuroplasticity, and opens new neural pathways and supports development of our capacity for loving connection often deeply buried by past relational trauma.
Disclaimer: I am not a licensed psychologist or medical doctor. My services do not replace the care of psychologists, doctors, or other licensed medical professionals. Somatic, depth psychological, shamanic healing practices and entheogen facilitation &integration services should not be construed as substitutes for psychological counseling, psychotherapy, mental health counseling, or any other type of psychotherapy or medical advice.
“Having a body that is like a musical instrument, open enough to be able to resonate, literally resonate with what is coming both from the inside and from the outside, so that one is able to surrender to powers greater than oneself.”
- Marion Woodman
