4 Steps to Freedom: Using Sensation-Based Coaching to Heal Core Wounds

Jonah was in a life crisis. He couldn’t sleep, was becoming avoidant at work, had acid reflux, was recently diagnosed with extremely high blood pressure, his chronic back pain was flaring up, and he couldn’t seem to get anything right at home with his wife. After a battery of medical tests, it was deduced that uncontrolled stress was at the center of all Jonah’s symptoms. While he was somewhat relieved that there were no serious underlying medical issues, Jonah was equally perplexed not only by the fact that stress could have such a widespread effect on his life, but also that he was stressed at all. Sure, he had a job, family, home responsibilities, and bills to pay, but didn’t everyone? Why was his “ordinary” life stressful enough to impact him so severely?

Jonah embarked on a program of stress reduction involving practices like daily meditation, which helped reduce all of his symptoms … as long as he kept up the practices. For periods of time, Jonah’s body and life felt better, but as soon as life's demands increased, his practice fell off and his stress-related symptoms returned. It became apparent that he wasn’t getting to the true root of this problem, and yet he had no idea where to turn for help. By divine intervention, Jonah found his way to working with a sensation-based coach at the Somatic Coaching Academy, who helped him uncover not only what was driving his body’s chronic stress response but also what created the lens through which he viewed the world.

Research suggests that up to 90% of adults have experienced at least one traumatically stressful event in their lifetime, and like Jonah, most people have little awareness of the long-term impact that early traumatic experiences have on their lives. People whose present-day symptoms aren’t severe enough to qualify as PTSD can often be left confused and frustrated by the invisible internal forces that keep peace and prosperity just out of reach. At the Somatic Coaching Academy, we call these life-limiting forces “core wounds.”

While core wounds are typically incurred during early life, they continue to manifest throughout adulthood, coloring how we see the world. Common core wounds include thoughts like I am not safe in this world, I don’t deserve anything good, and I am not lovable. Core wounds are not just thoughts, however, and live in our bodies, masterfully disguising themselves underneath common health, relationship, and financial issues. Even when we think we have identified one, often there is another at play pulling the strings on the way we perceive reality. To help Jonah reveal and heal what was at the center of his distress, we took him through our four-step Core Wound Discovery process.

Become Aware: First, we helped Jonah become mindfully aware of what he was presently experiencing in his sensory system so that he could clearly identify the somatic components of his core wound pattern.

Decode: Second, we asked Jonah a specific set of questions zeroing in on his current sensory experience and what he was making it mean.

Modify: Next, we lead Jonah through a Cross Mapping® process of transforming the raw data of his core wound pattern into an inherent sensory experience aligned with his primary self.

Reframe: Finally, we helped Jonah rebuild a new, empowered pattern of full self-expression that he could take confidently out into the world.

Following his core wound discovery session, Jonah made several breakthroughs in expressing what he felt to be his true way of being at both home and work. He no longer felt the invisible drag of his core wounding, his physical symptoms disappeared, and his relationships became more open and relaxed.

To learn more about the Somatic Coaching Academy methods and programs, please visit somaticcoachingacademy.com.