Meet Paula Scatoloni, a somatic experiencing expert with 30 years of experience who delves into the healing power of sound. Learn how to move from fight-and-flight to safety-and-connection, practice guided meditations, and explore trauma, regulation, healthy boundaries, and real connections. Discover the role of healers in the 21st century, the impact of sound on our nervous systems, and the importance of a signature sign-off phrase in this insightful podcast.
Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) uses sound to shift the nervous system from threat to safety states, fostering social engagement and trauma processing.
Guided meditation practice involves radiating QI from the navel, promoting expansion, interconnectedness, and relaxation.
Deep dives
Utilizing the Safe and Sound Protocol for Trauma Processing and Co-Regulation
The podcast episode delves into the applications of the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) in trauma processing. The SSP, based on Polyvagal Theory, uses sound to shift the nervous system from threat to safety states. By leveraging filtered music, the SSP aims to induce a sense of safety and invite the nervous system out of defense modes, fostering social engagement. Therapists utilizing SSP note increased regulation, improved digestion, and symptom alleviation, creating a safer space for trauma processing and enhancing co-regulation.
The Practice of Radiating QI to Expand and Connect with Surroundings
The discussion explores a guided meditation practice involving radiating QI from a central point below the navel to expand energy. Through this exercise, listeners are encouraged to visualize and feel their energy extending beyond their bodies, reaching the room's edges. The narrative of connecting with external space and receiving a sense of delight from the surroundings is highlighted. This practice aims to promote a sense of expansion, interconnectedness, and relaxation.
Cultivating Boundaries and Capacity for Regulation in Trauma Processing
The episode delves into the significance of healthy boundaries and regulation in trauma processing. It emphasizes the importance of co-regulation and support in therapeutic settings to aid the nervous system in adapting to different neural pathways. By developing witness capacity and enhancing self-regulation through practices like SSP, individuals can process trauma memories, cultivate witness capacity, and explore unmet relational needs, ultimately fostering personal growth and relational balance.
Possibilities for Self-Exploration and Continued Practice
The podcast episode discusses avenues for continued exploration and practice post-episode. Listeners are encouraged to consider sound-based modalities, such as psychoacoustics and body-mind centering, for healing and introspection. Additionally, accessing SSP through trained providers or group settings is highlighted as a way to engage in trauma work, co-regulation, and self-discovery collaboratively. The episode promotes accessible practices and group dynamics to navigate symptoms and promote optimal nervous system functionality.
Welcome Paula Scatoloni, a wise somatic experiencing practitioner (she’s been doing this for 30 years!). Paula uses Stephen Porges’ “Safe and Sound Protocol” as a tool to soothe and heal our frazzled nervous systems.
We start by exploring how sound can be healing—in particular, how to train our systems to move out of fight-and-flight and into safety-and-connection. The more our body finds this safety, the better able we are to access and process our trauma and attachment challenges.
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At least, that’s the theory. What’s the practice? We practice through our ears – twice! Paula’s first guided meditation is about yielding to the support of the earth; her second is “naval radiation breathing,” a practice developed by movement super-genius Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. (We’d love to get Bonnie on the pod!)
And so it goes, a wide-ranging exploration into the nature of trauma and regulation and co-regulation and healthy boundaries and real connection and so much more.
The Afterparty
And now: Tune Ye into the Afterparty of champions! This week, we talk about the evolving role of healers in the 21st century, what sound does to our fried nervous systems, and finally, the extreme importance of a solid signature sign-off phrase.
The Afterparty video will eventually move behind ye olde paywall, but for now, it’s free :)