Book Group Chapter 5: Somatic Tracking -- discussion of The Way Out by Alan Gordon

[Forest]

We were happy to see the group's numbers growing this week. A warm welcome to everyone who is starting the group now, including those who participate via recordings!

As with last week, we'd love to start a discussion thread below for this chapter. So if you had any questions for Michelle or me, or had any thoughts you'd like to share about the material covered, please post them below. (Click on "Register" and then "Facebook" to log on with Facebook.)

This week's topics and the video recording are below:

Michelle will discuss what somatic tracking is and what it does. She will examine the three main components of somatic tracking, which include mindfulness, sending messages of safety, and positive affect induction. She will also review the two guidelines of somatic tracking that are key in its success…turning down intensity and being outcome independent.​

Then there will be breakout groups where members can discuss their use of any of these methods in their lives, and their experience of them. After breakout groups, Forest will lead group members in a large group discussion where members will have a chance to share.​

After group sharing, Michelle will lead the group through a somatic tracking exercise.​

Then there will be one more breakout group, where group members can share their experience of the somatic tracking exercise. Then Forest will lead group members in a large group discussion where members will have a chance to share their evidence sheets.​

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Finally Michelle will recap the session and talk a little bit about what’s coming up next week, the process of Pain Reprocessing Therapy.​

As promised during the Zoom a downloadable MP3 of the guided somatic tracking session can be found here: https://prtrecovery.org/dl/MichellesSomaticTracking.mp3
Other somatic tracking sessions can be found here and here. There is no second recording this week as we were able to get to all questions during the main session, and we had already gone on for a long time.

More information about the other chapters and the book group can be found at www.prtrecovery.org/group.

 

[J Lo]

Thanks all. I really get so much out of these recordings.

When it comes to being objective/ curious observer while doing the somatic tracking, I thought of the questions I would ask my four year old child if she came to me in pain. Is the pain in one area or in many areas? Does it move around? " Where does it go? How does it feel? Is it tingly, burning, sharp? Is it just once in awhile or always there? etc.

I liked Lynda's "chill out mode" approach. I'm going to try that.

 

[Forest]

Hi everyone. Here is a video of our discussion of Chapter 5 on March 27, 2022. Check it out!

This is the second time we've run the discussion group. If there is a theme that really resonates with you, you can scroll up to see how it was discussed the first time. If not, keep your life simple... you are done for the week!

If you want to share a direct link to this video, you can use the social media share icon just above this post. Here is a direct link:
https://www.prtrecovery.org/threads/19/post-149
A "getting started" post for the group can be found here: http://prtrecovery.org/group