Bouncing Back by Linda Graham Mft

Author:Linda Graham, Mft [Linda Graham, Mft]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781608681303
Publisher: New World Library
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Recovering Our Balance through the Body

To touch is to give life.

— MICHELANGELO

THE EXERCISES IN THIS CHAPTER are designed to help you learn to use body-based (somatic) tools to bring the prefrontal cortex back online and bring you quickly back into your window of tolerance. Once you have recovered your balance, you can use more somatic tools to help you rewire old body-based memories that might derail your resilience now.

When Cortisol Runs Amok, Oxytocin Calms It Down: Activating Oxytocin Release

The hormone oxytocin is the neurotransmitter of the “calm and connect” response and is the brain’s direct and immediate antidote to the stress hormone cortisol. The fastest way to regulate the body’s stress response and return to a sense of calm is to activate the release of oxytocin in the brain.

When oxytocin is released by the hypothalamus (in the limbic system) into the brain and bloodstream, cortisol levels plummet and blood pressure drops. Oxytocin is the neurochemical basis for the felt sense of safety and trust, of connection and belonging. When we know how to activate the release of oxytocin, we can quickly return to our window of tolerance and feel reassured that “everything is okay; everything is going to be okay.”

Stephen Johnson, in his book Mind Wide Open, offers a dramatic story about the power of oxytocin to keep someone calm and in their window of tolerance. Stephen’s wife had given birth to their son just two days before the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. From their apartment in downtown Manhattan that morning, Stephen could see debris and ash floating past the living-room window. While he was pacing the floor, half-crazed with anxiety, his wife was calmly nursing their son in the rocking chair. Childbirth and breastfeeding activate oxytocin release, generating a feeling of devotion between the mother and the newborn and a sense of blissful contentment. Stephen’s wife was protected from the anxiety Stephen was experiencing by the oxytocin coursing through her system.

Oxytocin is a powerful helper in the process of maintaining equanimity and can be thought of as the neurochemical foundation of resilience. Researchers have demonstrated that a single exposure to oxytocin can create a lifelong change in the brain. The exercises below offer ways to intentionally activate the release of this neurochemical balm.

Skill 1: Activating the Release of Oxytocin through Touch

In a documentary film about Mother Teresa, I saw a two-minute segment of one of her nuns in a hospital in Beirut holding an eight-month-old baby who had been injured by mortar fire. He was screaming and thrashing about, his eyes darting here and there in pain and terror.

The nun was massaging his chest, cooing and calling to him until his eyes locked on hers. She continued gazing at him, massaging his heart, soothing him with her voice. In less than one minute his body relaxed; he calmed down and steadied his gaze on hers. He was still injured, but he was calm.

The fast way to release oxytocin and mitigate stress, even extreme stress, is through safe touch and warmth in a soothing relationship.

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