Titration and Resourcing.
What the hell are these things that are often spoken about in the world of healing and trauma-informed therapies?
I thought that this was some useful information that I could share with all of my listeners here on Rebel Soul Health radio because these tools are helpful in life, not just in breathwork! AND I wanted to offer some insight about ways that you can navigate a breathwork journey especially if it's something that you're new at and interested in (maybe you're feeling nervous about what might come up for you in this kind of thing).
Titration is a term from chemistry and you hear it a lot in the world of trauma-informed therapy. The term titration just simply means "taking things slow"; taking small sips, or "dipping your toe" into healing. It's about dipping your toe into the big heavy feelings that perhaps need to be felt. Titration is something that we get to fully experience when we're doing something like breath work (as long as you're being held in a space and by a facilitator that allows for it).
A big part of what I've been studying over the last year with my mentor Samantha Skelly of Pause Breathwork is this idea of titration which allows for slow, manageable, and carefully measured healing. So we're dipping our toe into it as opposed to jumping in headfirst. So teaching and honoring this titration tells our nervous system, "you have all the time you need here. I know that this is big, so we're going to chip away at this as slowly as you need in order to make it feel safe, okay?". This is super critical in breathwork. We must allow our body to find this natural movement, this pendulum swing between our parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system.
Emotional resourcing is a tool that we can use in breathwork and we can use in life to be better prepared so that when we do come into an environment where we might be tasked with facing some of our parts that don't feel comfortable, we can choose how deep we go.
Emotional resourcing is a tool that we use to help us step into a desired energetic state, so that we are better armed to move into something that is perhaps not going to feel as good.
When we resource, when we bring ourselves into an energetic state of safety, it allows us to move towards those harder things from a more confident place and we can then start to to feel into the discomfort and know that we have permission to go back into that calm resourced state. We can use emotional resourcing to call in feelings like safety, trust, love, excitement, or whatever state is desired.
Important things to remember when it comes to resourcing (as per Pause Breathwork):
1. Our body has the ability to feel 2 emotions simultaneously. We often forget that, right? It's counterintuitive to the way that we typically think. We're conditioned to live in a black and white world where we are either happy or sad. Especially when we're resourcing, we get to lean into those feel-good places and we can bring that with us into the hard sticky bits too.
Emotional resourcing is really simple:
Call upon a time in your life where you felt safe, joyful, connected, whatever feeling you want to move into with for the following experience.
Notice and feel the sensations that arise as you go back to that place. It's not just about thinking and visualizing, but also about really allowing the sensations come up in your body as you recall that safe time and place. Let those sensations really rise up, allow them to build and stabilize in the system.
And then when you feel really fired up with those sensations, then start to move towards the unknown; move towards the discomfort.
In breathwork, once you feel resourced and you have the sensation stabilized in your body, then we start leaning into that part of the practice that might bring us to uncomfortable places. So as we're breathing maybe we start to feel some sadness coming up or some anger coming up, and we we lean into that and become really aware of that in our body.
Then we ask ourself if we can accept it and then we get to to have self consent. Do I want to feel into that? Yes or no. And if you do, then great! Breathe into it, allow what needs to come up. And if you don't, that's fine too and you just stay in your resource, or even take a break from the breath pattern.
In healing, it is SO important to trust the timeline of the body. The body knows when we're ready to start peeling back the layers, not the mind. Titration and Resourcing are two ways we can support or soma (body) so that it can do the work that our mind simply can not.
Want to learn how breathwork truly can be the hidden secret to YOUR healing? Join my upcoming 3 month virtual Breathe Alchemy Circle and start your journey today!
Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for educational purposes only. Please consult with a qualified professional before implementing any breathwork or nervous system regulation techniques. Breathe responsibly and rock on!
Listen to this blog as a podcast HERE.