body scan
a practice of moving your attention slowly through the body and noticing what’s there, without trying to change it. it trains interoception, the sense underneath most of this work.
read: body scan meditation, done properly →glossary
the nervous system, in plain words
the words these articles use, each one explained in a sentence or two and linked to where it’s covered properly.
written by saddy babu
somatic practitioner and breathwork facilitator
bottom-up and top-down
top-down work goes through thoughts and insight, like talking something through. bottom-up work goes through the body: breath, sensation, movement. understanding a pattern and changing the state underneath it are two different jobs, and most people need both.
read: somatic experiencing vs talk therapy →capacity
how much your system can meet and still stay with you. capacity grows in small doses, close to the edge of what feels manageable, and never by forcing past it.
read: the window of tolerance, explained →co-regulation
one nervous system settling with the help of another: a steady voice, a calm presence, a hand on the back. it’s how children learn to regulate, and adults keep using it all their lives.
read: co-regulation with your child →dysregulation
when the system gets stuck at one end: wired and unable to settle, or flat and hard to reach. it can show up as broken sleep, a short fuse, numbness or a tiredness that rest doesn’t touch.
read: signs of a dysregulated nervous system →the edge
soma reset’s word for the moment one state tips into the next. the body whispers before it screams, and the edge is the whisper.
read: how soma reset works →fawn
protection through pleasing: the automatic yes, smoothing things over, keeping other people happy so you stay safe. the term comes from psychotherapist pete walker.
read: fight, flight, freeze and fawn →fight
mobilising against a threat. it can feel like heat in the face, a tight jaw, clenched hands and the urge to push back.
read: fight, flight, freeze and fawn →flight
mobilising away from a threat. it can feel like restlessness, racing thoughts and the pull to leave, or to stay so busy you never have to stop.
read: fight, flight, freeze and fawn →freeze
when fighting or getting away isn’t possible, the system puts on the brake: stillness, numbness, a sense of being far away from yourself.
read: fight, flight, freeze and fawn →functional freeze
a partial shutdown you can operate through. the deadlines get met and the messages get answered, while sensation and feeling go dim underneath.
read: functional freeze →glimmers
small moments when something in you eases: warm light on your face, a friend’s laugh, the first sip of tea. the word comes from therapist deb dana, and noticing them is a skill that grows with practice.
read: what are glimmers? →high-functioning anxiety
anxiety that looks like achievement from the outside: organised, early, always on. it’s a description people recognise in themselves, and doctors don’t diagnose it as a condition of its own.
read: high-functioning anxiety →interoception
your sense of what’s happening inside your body: heartbeat, breath, hunger, tension, warmth. it’s the sense this work trains most.
read: body scan meditation, done properly →the long exhale
breathing out for longer than you breathe in. slow breathing with a longer out-breath is linked with a slower heart rate and a calmer body, which is why it sits at the centre of so many practices.
read: breathwork for anxiety →parts work
getting to know the different parts of you, like the one that pushes or the one that pleases, with curiosity instead of a fight. internal family systems (ifs), developed by richard schwartz, is the best-known model.
read: parts work, explained →pendulation
the natural swing between activation and ease. noticing the swing back, again and again, is how a system learns that a hard feeling can rise and still pass.
read: titration and pendulation →regulation
your nervous system’s ability to rise to meet something and then come back down. a regulated system still gets activated; what marks it is how it finds its way back.
read: how to regulate your nervous system →somatic experiencing
a body-based approach developed by peter levine that works with sensation in small doses, rather than through the story alone.
read: somatic experiencing vs talk therapy →titration
working in small doses: touching a difficult sensation briefly, then stepping back, so the system can take it in without being flooded.
read: titration and pendulation →triggers
cues that set off a protective response, often before you know why. a trigger is information about what your system learnt to watch for.
read: fight, flight, freeze and fawn →window of tolerance
the range of activation you can be in and still think, feel and respond. the term comes from psychiatrist dan siegel, and the window can widen with practice.
read: the window of tolerance, explained →with self and not with self
how soma reset reads the way you’re arriving, on one line: with yourself at the top, not with yourself at the bottom, and the edge in between. activated and still able to feel yourself is with self; activated and losing yourself is not with self.
read: how soma reset works →
written by saddy babu
everything I share is anchored in somatic and nervous-system work, but expressed through the language of presence, intuition, and emotion.
- certified somatic practitioner & nervous system educator
- certified breathwork facilitator
- specialising in parts work & emotional integration
your body learnt the pattern.
it can learn a new one.
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— saddy