What is Healing? The Brain and Body Connection
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Melinda tells a story of grief in her family and the deep healing it brings. She then defines trauma and names its impact on bodies and brains. Trauma gets us stuck, in our brains, bodies, relationships, and development. She connects this expectation of resilience and white knuckling to young people\\u2019s state of being now, in this time of ongoing trauma. Melinda explores her own \\u201chigh pain tolerance\\u201d as a disconnection from the body, borne of physical abuse and fatness, and how the power of her brain is praised. She shares her practice noticing tension, even in moments of safeness. Melinda asks what is beyond relaxation and questions the cost of dissociation. She talks about her recent experience of returning to an amusement park, but this time for her first FULL experience. Bravery sometimes means the body did it, but the brain did not. Melinda explores healing as the ability to feel joy wholeheartedly.
\\nThe Doodle: Go on a play date with yourself. Do something fun and enjoyable where you have to use your body the best of your ability. Before the play date, write down the physical sensations you can feel. Do a full body scan of yourself. Noting everything as if you were a doctor. Then after your play date, write how your body feels.
\\nPlay date ideas:
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- Go to a live performance of music, even if it\\u2019s not a genre you love (keep yourself safe). Dance and hum as you can. \\n
- Workout if that is something you find enjoyable. \\n
- Make some art. Get your favorite art materials, a blank piece of paper, set a timer and make something for 20 minutes. \\n
- Go to a playground and swing on the swings. Go down the slide if you are physically able to. \\n
- What did you love doing as a child/young person? Return to that activity even if you know you\\u2019re not nearly as good at it now than you were as a child. \\n