The Power of Words in our Body

Becoming a song writer influenced the way I worked with my client’s bodies. I began to use metaphor as a ‘language’ to help them express the sensations and emotions they were feeling in their body: ‘my arm feels like a weakened branch about to break’. These metaphors also gave me a head start on being able to treat their tensions as I had more information about how they were experiencing their symptoms of discomfort. I rarely fed them metaphors because I found that the ones they came up with were more powerful---remembered for a long time. Once they found the metaphor that would acknowledge their pain accurately, we would move on to transform it (no one wants to keep a shattered stick in their arm) by guiding them on metaphoric narratives that became like their own parables for living more comfortably:
“I will create a special tube going from the earth through my trunk and suck up some golden earth liquid into my arm where it will create a healing spiral. This spiral will gently whirl through all the cells in my arm and let them know they are wanted and can be strong again”
These metaphoric journeys have become a hallmark of the Magraw Method
Havening Techniques® which I am now offering as one of my services (online with clients from all over the world) also works with words and touch. The use of questions and sensory descriptions helps to shift internal landscapes and increase emotional calmness at the same time changing the wiring of trauma in the brain. Words are used for acknowledging the negative states and choosing the preferred states—often done in a chanting mode---transmuting stuck energy, thoughts and emotions. Combined with the Havening Touch®, words become effective sensory and transformational tools. We feel able to tell our ‘story’ and know that we are being heard because of the soothing touch.
Wisdom codes is a term used by Gregg Braden, who wrote a book of the same title, about words that have been around for centuries---prayers, sayings, parables---that communicate comfort in times of trouble. I, like many others have found historical ‘codes’ that calm my nervous system and then written my own in the form of songs. When we use our singing voice it strengthens the vagus nerve system which allows a calmer state. We are then able to put brakes on the run-away ‘fight or flight’ states and think our way out of bad situations.
I would encourage you to experiment with words in your body; spoken, chanted or sung. They have the power to help you.

Resources:

The Wisdom Codes: Ancient Words to Rewire our Brains and Heal our Hearts by Gregg Braden.

​Article on Havening® 

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