Somatics and the Nervous System With Danika Doucet
How do somatics and the nervous system work? There are many modern therapies and other alternative practices that people are practicing these days and one of these is called Somatics. But what is it? Somatic or somatics is any practice/s that uses the mind-body connection. It helps you search your internal self and listen to the signals that your body sends. These signals resonate from areas of pain, imbalance, and discomfort.
Through somatic practice, you are given access to the ways your body holds on to these experiences. Many experts believe that this knowledge paired with the understanding of the nervous system can lead to wellness and healing.
Our Guest
In today’s episode, we would like to introduce you to Danika Doucet. Danika is a Yoga Teacher, Somatic Coach, and Teacher Trainer. She’s passionate about leadership and has overcome self-made limitations of imposter syndrome with high levels of self-responsibility. And over the years, Danika has developed strategies to connect and relate to her client’s energy. She also created a system to communicate effectively in her spaces so that clients feel heard.
Her focus is now on supporting leaders to navigate their client’s nervous systems intuitively and develop more confidence in their communication skills and individuality as a leader. Also, her upcoming Somatic Training: Breath & Elementals covers all of this.
QUESTIONS FOR GUESTS
The questions below are some we’d like to tackle. We go off-topic all the time so we don’t expect to hit them all. If you have any ideas, please let us know.
Looking forward to our conversation!
- Danika, can you give a little background about yourself and how you became the person you are today?
- One of your focuses is on Somatic training which then focuses on the nervous system.
- What is somatics? And how does the nervous system play a role beyond the knowledge of the Peripheral nervous system being responsible for rest and digestion?
- Is the Sympathetic nervous system responsible for fight and flight?
- Somatics describes any practice that uses the mind-body connection. It helps you survey your internal self and listen to signals your body sends about areas of pain, discomfort, or imbalance.
- How can you use breathing to control your nervous system or vice versa?
- Are there different types of breathwork? And what is the purpose of each?
- What are containers?
- Somatic psychotherapists often use the informal metaphor of a “container” in describing a person’s state of overwhelm or resilience.
- How does past trauma fit in our container?
- What do you mean by elementals?
- Being a coach what have you found to be a common struggle?
- What are some solutions to those problems? And where is a good place to start for people struggling with those issues?
- What has being a coach taught you about leadership?
- How important is communication?
ENDING QUESTIONS
Before we end the show, we have one last question we like to ask all our guests. If you had one last chance to share a piece of advice with the world, what would you share?
You can connect with Danika through her Instagram at @danikamdoucet or join her training Somatics Training | Breath + Elementals on Nov. 19 -20, 2022. This training will help facilitators develop more confidence in their leadership position. They will also learn how to become better at navigating their client’s energy and nervous systems. After that, the training will teach them to navigate their own energy, and communicate more effectively. Lastly, this training is also about learning to safely integrate breathwork into their modality.
Learn about somatics by watching the full video here 👇
TIME STAMPS:
00:00 Intro
01:48 About the guest
04:46 What is Somatic?
06:18 What causes mind and body disconnection?
09:50 How does breathing help connect the mind and body
12:33 The possible solution
14:26 How and when to identify your personal responsibility
16:52 What does a container mean
19:39 Simple breathing technique
23:21 Common struggles clients have
25:19 Somatic: Breath and the elements
29:00 How to improve confidence
34:14 What has coaching taught you about leadership
38:13 Wrapping up the episode
