Lesson 1: Processing

We’ve briefly mentioned that Processing is when the body metabolizes somatized trauma. As mentioned in the previous module, Allowing gets Processing to move more quickly or strongly. In this lesson, we're going to talk about what Processing feels like. 

The first thing to remember about Processing is that it's very natural. Your body is doing it all the time, working to heal you. So becoming aware of Processing is a little like paying attention to the dishwasher noise in the background. You're in the habit of tuning it out, so the task isn't to hear something new, it's to bring something familiar into the forefront of your awareness. And the attitude of Allowing does that. 

When you first start to tune into Processing, it can feel like you're 'just imagining it.' You're not. The number one thing people struggle with doing this practice is not believing their own senses. Because our culture tells us to only trust what's written by authorities. So, yes, it will probably feel like you're imagining it at first. Just go with it anyway and trust how you feel after you're done. 

Do you have more range of motion? Do the tissues feel more integrated? Is the pain diminished? As long as you're getting results, who cares if it feels like you're imagining the processing at first. If you just keep practicing, within a year, you'll be able to identify Processing more reliably.

When you're working on someone else, Processing often feel like tingling or heat emerging from the body. I sometimes think of it as little elves in there, working away. Sometimes you'll see shaking. The patient's belly will often start to gurgling. That's a common sign that the body has gone into its rest, digest, and heal mode. 

Sometimes the patient will report that they suddenly start thinking of something or remembering something. Tears can pop up. All kinds of things can happen when you start processing and we’ll take any of them: Shaking, sighing, flushing, burping, tears, spasms. You might also have an experience of synesthesia, where colors or sounds or smells occur to you. 

If you're the patient, you can often feel where the practitioner is working on you, but it's also very common that your own sensations will be different from the practitioner. Your practitioner will be processing your stomach but you’ll feel something run up and down your legs. It doesn’t matter. As long as the body is responding then you’re processing.

To recap: Processing is a sign that your body’s healing reflexes have been turned on and/or trauma is being transmuted out of the tissues. Here's list of how that might show up:

Heat

Cold

Gurgling

Sighing

Burping

Tingling

Momentary shooting sensation, especially down a channel

Memory 

Emotion

Clicking, shifting, and movement in tissues

Dizziness

Synesthetic sensations such as colors, smells

Sleepiness

And, very occasionally, you might even see vomiting or diarrhea

Once you get processing going, your task is just to hold steady with your attention + allowing and stay there until the processing resolves. In the next lesson, we'll cover what it feels like when that occurs. Join me.