Mapping the Autonomic Nervous System for Psychedelic Therapy
Although western medicine traditionally treats mostly symptoms, our symptoms are no accident. Whether they be mental (distorted thoughts), emotional (anxiety and depression) or physical (somatic illness, PTSD), they exist for a reason. This video with Saj Razvi, presenter at our October One-Day Summit MindBody Medicine, explores how many of our symptoms develop as we accumulate biological threat responses over time, creating patterns of illness in our minds and bodies. And though these patterns become painful and even debilitating, they actually function intelligently, alerting us to problems and inviting us to heal.
It takes a great deal of energy to respond to threat. When we re-experience threats against which we were powerless in the past, we still perceive these threats as active, until we find a way to either avoid them, solve them, or find enough power to defeat them.
As Saj explains, we have these answers within and, with the right kind of understanding and support, can heal the underlying causes of our symptoms. In this video Saj explans how the autonomic nervous system works and how we store and also release threat, fear and trauma by making supported contact with it. He also provides a useful explanation of how the body & autonomic nervous system generate many mental health symptoms, and how this embodied pathway can be used during a psychedelic therapy session to amplify innate healing responses.
This video is from a PSI training for mental health professionals, but is also quite helpful for clients to understand prior to going into psychedelic treatment. Watching this single video will help you understand much of the PSIP model and what it looks like in session, and explain the role of the ANS in mental health and psychedelic therapy. It will forever change how you understand both.
We also recommend watching this video in advance of attending Saj’s session in our October One-Day Summit - MindBody Medicine.
