Understanding Somatic Awareness: How Anger Affects the Brain and Body
Somatic awareness—the practice of tuning into the body’s sensations and signals—is a powerful tool for understanding our emotions, especially those as intense as anger. Anger is a natural and necessary emotion, but...
Unpacking People-Pleasing: Understanding the Fawn Response as a Survival Strategy
Have you ever heard the term “people-pleasing”? According to Harriet B. Braiker, Ph.D., author of The Disease to Please, people pleasers are not just nice people who go overboard trying to make everyone happy. Their uncontrollable need for approval from others is a debilitating defense mechanism. In other words, it’s a survival strategy known as the fawn response—a subset of the freeze response.
Understanding Somatic Awareness and the Freeze Response in the Workplace
In the fast-paced modern workplace, our drive for efficiency, productivity, and results often overshadows crucial elements like psychological safety, trust-building, and co-regulation. Ignoring these foundational pillars can erode our achievements and hinder our success.