Recovering Our Ability to Feel (Prentis Hemphill): TRAUMA
Digest
Elise Loonan, host of "Pulling the Thread," welcomes Prentice Hempel, therapist, embodiment facilitator, and author of "What It Takes To Heal," for a conversation about transforming trauma and healing. They discuss the importance of embodiment and how it can help us to understand our own experiences and connect with others. They also explore the role of conflict in transformation and how we can learn to navigate it in a more generative way. The episode concludes with a discussion about the need for collective healing and how we can create spaces for people to feel together and take action from a place of feeling.
Outlines
Introduction
This Chapter introduces the episode and its focus on tools for transforming trauma. Elise Loonan, the host, introduces Prentice Hempel, the guest, and her new book, "What It Takes To Heal."
Embodiment and Transformation
This Chapter delves into the concept of embodiment and its role in healing and transformation. Prentice Hempel explains how trauma can manifest in the body and how we can begin to reconnect with our physical sensations. They discuss the importance of naming our visions and how this can guide us through the process of healing.
Trauma, Patterns, and Embodiment
This Chapter explores the connection between trauma, emotional patterns, and embodiment. Prentice Hempel explains how trauma can create physical and emotional patterns that become ingrained in our bodies. They discuss how these patterns can impact our relationships and how we can begin to become more aware of them.
Conflict and Embodiment
This Chapter focuses on the role of conflict in transformation and how we can learn to navigate it in a more generative way. Prentice Hempel discusses the importance of surrendering to the experience of conflict and how this can lead to deeper understanding and growth. They also explore the challenges of conflict in a digital age and how we can cultivate more nuanced and embodied ways of relating to each other.
Collective Healing and Right Action
This Chapter explores the need for collective healing and how we can create spaces for people to feel together and take action from a place of feeling. Prentice Hempel discusses the importance of witnessing and feeling collective grief and how this can lead to right action. They also discuss the challenges of navigating a world in crisis and how we can find ways to stay present and engaged while also protecting ourselves.
Keywords
Embodiment
Embodiment refers to the experience of being fully present in one's body, including physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts. It is a key concept in trauma healing, as it involves reconnecting with the body and integrating past experiences into the present moment. Embodiment practices can include mindfulness, movement, and somatic therapies.
Trauma
Trauma is a deeply distressing or disturbing experience that can have a lasting impact on a person's mental, emotional, and physical well-being. It can be caused by a variety of events, including violence, abuse, neglect, accidents, and natural disasters. Trauma can lead to a range of symptoms, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, and chronic pain.
Conflict
Conflict is a disagreement or clash between individuals or groups. It can arise from a variety of sources, including differences in values, beliefs, goals, or resources. Conflict can be destructive or constructive, depending on how it is managed. Constructive conflict can lead to growth and understanding, while destructive conflict can lead to harm and division.
Collective Healing
Collective healing refers to the process of addressing and transforming trauma and suffering at a societal level. It involves acknowledging and addressing systemic injustices, promoting empathy and compassion, and creating spaces for collective healing and transformation. Collective healing is essential for creating a more just and equitable world.
Prentice Hempel
Prentice Hempel is a therapist, embodiment facilitator, and author of "What It Takes To Heal." She is known for her work on trauma healing and her emphasis on the importance of embodiment. Hempel's book explores the process of transformation and how we can heal ourselves and the world around us.
Elise Loonan
Elise Loonan is the host of the podcast "Pulling the Thread." She is a writer, speaker, and advocate for women's rights and social justice. Loonan's podcast explores big questions about life, meaning, and connection. She is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book "The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good."
Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-centered approach to trauma healing developed by Peter Levine. It focuses on helping people to release the physical tension and emotional charge that can be trapped in the body after a traumatic event. SE uses a variety of techniques, including gentle movement, breathwork, and sensory awareness, to help people to regulate their nervous system and integrate their trauma.
Generative Semantics
Generative semantics is a theory of language that emphasizes the role of meaning in the generation of sentences. It proposes that the meaning of a sentence is determined by its underlying semantic structure, which is then transformed into a surface structure that can be spoken or written. Generative semantics has been influential in the development of computational linguistics and artificial intelligence.
Strosy Institute
The Strosy Institute is a non-profit organization that focuses on the development and application of generative semantics. It offers training programs, workshops, and resources for individuals and organizations interested in using generative semantics to improve communication, problem-solving, and creativity.
Q&A
What is embodiment and how can it help us heal from trauma?
Embodiment is the experience of being fully present in your body, including physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts. It can help us heal from trauma by allowing us to reconnect with our bodies and integrate past experiences into the present moment. This can help us to release the physical tension and emotional charge that can be trapped in the body after a traumatic event.
How can we navigate conflict in a more generative way?
We can navigate conflict in a more generative way by surrendering to the experience of conflict and listening for understanding. This means dropping underneath our survival instincts and allowing ourselves to be present with the other person's experience. It also means being willing to take responsibility for our own role in the conflict and to learn from it.
What is collective healing and why is it important?
Collective healing is the process of addressing and transforming trauma and suffering at a societal level. It involves acknowledging and addressing systemic injustices, promoting empathy and compassion, and creating spaces for collective healing and transformation. Collective healing is important because it helps us to create a more just and equitable world.
How can we stay present and engaged in a world that is often overwhelming?
We can stay present and engaged in a world that is often overwhelming by making room to feel together. This means allowing ourselves to feel our emotions, both individually and collectively, and to grieve together. It also means celebrating together and finding ways to connect with others in meaningful ways.
What is the role of fear in our society and how can we address it?
Fear is a powerful emotion that can drive us to act in ways that are harmful to ourselves and others. It can lead to cruelty, division, and a narrowing of our sense of connection. We can address fear by acknowledging it, naming it, and finding ways to move through it. This may involve engaging in practices that help us to regulate our nervous system, such as mindfulness, breathwork, or somatic therapies.
Show Notes
“I think we need each other. I say this all the time, there are some things that are too big to feel in one body. You need a collective body to move them through. And I think that's what we need. We need to come together in spaces to heal, not just to consume together or to watch a movie together, but to feel together and to have human emotion in real life, in public and act from the place of a feeling body, to choose action from a feeling body and not just a reactive or a numb body, but a body that feels, a body that can connect. What kind of actions do you take in the world from that kind of body? I think it's different.”
So says Prentis Hemphill, therapist, embodiment facilitator, and author of the just-released, What it Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World. In today’s conversation—the final in a four-part series—we explore a path to putting ourselves, and the collective, back together, and how this begins with a visioning…but a visioning born from getting back in touch with how we actually feel. I loved their book—just by reading along with Prentis’s own path to re-embodiment, I found myself finding similar sensations in my chest, back and heart. In today’s conversation, we talk about somatics, yes, but also about conflict—and what it looks like to become more adept with our emotions in hard times. This is one of my favorite conversations I’ve had to date on Pulling the Thread—I hope you enjoy it too.
MORE FROM PRENTIS HEMPHILL:
What it Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World
Prentis’s Website
Follow Prentis on Instagram
RELATED EPISODES:
PART 1: James Gordon, M.D., “A Toolkit for Working with Trauma”
PART 2: Peter Levine, Ph.D, “Where Trauma Lives in the Body”
PART 3: Resmaa Menakem, “Finding Fear in the Body (TRAUMA)”
Thomas Hubl: “Feeling into the Collective Presence”
Gabor Maté, M.D.: “When Stress Becomes Illness”
Galit Atlas, PhD: “Understanding Emotional Inheritance”
Thomas Hubl: “Processing Our Collective Past”
Richard Schwartz, PhD: “Recovering Every Part of Ourselves”
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