A Love Poem 'To My Community'

#hackingourbiochemistry

#contactimprov

#somaticexperienceslab

“Most people have no idea how good their bodies are designed to feel”

Ecstasy is defined as :

1.    an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement.

"there was a look of ecstasy on his face"

Similar:

rapture

bliss

elation

euphoria

cloud nine

seventh heaven

transports

rhapsodies

joy

joyousness

jubilation

exultation

heaven

paradise

delight

the top of the world

Opposite: misery

An emotional or religious frenzy or trance-like state, originally one involving an experience of mystic self-transcendence.

Ecstasy is the uniquely heightened state of experiencing One-ness, being In-flow  & On-form, union with (an)others.

Ecstasy is the thing that draws me back to my Community...to engage deeply in emotional and physical intimacy...and despite the sensuality, deep care, trust and almost-too-much open vulnerability...my community, which is a decentralised combination of humans across the Non-Violent Communication, Contact Improvisation, Medical & Entrepreneurial communities is so high on autonomy one might expect anarchy, and yet iI have found myself in a most organically-harmonious and mutually-respectful synergy....mostly without speaking!

Biochemically, ecstasy is the combined surging of Oxytocin and Serotonin.

Oxytocin, responsible for the primitive and the powerful … intimacy…attachment….sensuality and sexuality…peaking, of course, during the Transition Phase of Birth and the sensorial-height of orgasmic ecstasy. What is common across these experiences is the spiritual opening...like opening into another world....ecstasy can indeed be galaxy-travelling.

Serotonin, the neurotransmitter which causes us to feel light, uplifted, buoyant and happy….and, hence, SSRI’s, anti-depressant medications which inhibit the reuptake of Serotonin, leaving a longer serotinergic effect at the synapse between neurons.

Both neurotransmitters are easily stimulated -

Endogenous oxytocin is literally, at your finger tips

Endogenous serotonin is secreted whenever you give yourself permission to feel good

-              HOWEVER the secretion of OT and 5-HT (5-Hydroxytryptophan, or Serotonin) are highly specific and sensitively dependent on a few critical conditions.

Both require that base level needs are met.   Felt sense of trust, safety and sense of belonging.

If we did not experience a base level of felt trust, safety and belonging, aka secure attachment as infants or children, it will be difficult to experience enough Corrective experiences to tip the default mode from one of mistrust to one of trust.

A corrective experience is any sensory experience where we feel loved, wanted, seen and truly accepted to reach a threshold of psycho-physiological sufficiency that the default mode, your Modus Operandum, the way you move through the world, is tipped on it’s head, permanently.

In my personal experience, felt safety enables immense transformation.

However, not always in the way of our choose it.

My experiment in Oxytocic experiences highlights important messages:

1.        Once you've rasied your OT bar, there is no going back

Having sat and danced in circles of safety intensively for the last year, my bar is now so high, it is almost impossible to match it.

My work environment, which I had believed to be a safe, conscientious place for study and practice, has left me questioning ‘Why is everyone else invited to the staff meeting, when I am left awkwardly sneaking my lunch from the fridge to my office?’

In the circles in which I dance and sit, meals are shared and inclusion is an active living breathing value, which benefits us all.   

My experience of the contrast goes like this…. Confusion….Accommodation (enabling the systemic lack of safety)…Ostracision…Pushed toward Tribe.

We must actively seek communities of true acceptance if we are to make any dent in institutional coercion and sanctify the social fabric that is only delicately woven.

2.        Oxytocin and Serotonin heighten our sense of and need for Loyalty. Think of the archtypal oxytocic image...a mother breasfteeding her infant. Her oxytocin is what bonds her irrevocably from her baby, and will also drive her to kill any threats.

When I feel a sense of belonging, OT will enhance my loyalty to the group.

When I feel a sense of not-belonging, OT will heighten my threat-system, including defensiveness and, if need be, aggression.

As one smart woman last night said “You don’t need to raise your voice, just get boundaries”…Kudos Sista!

Hence….Trauma-Informed Policy & Practice #enuffsaid

As a smart friend tells me last night “Yes, anger is destructive, but sometimes things need to be destroyed”

All I can say is that whatever was in that incredible Cacao last night, was even more potent than semen, more moist than my womb, more rich in socio-cultural and psycho-spiritual sustenance than I could possibly need.

To those of you who meet me, see me, hold me and encourage me…I thank you.

This post is an attachment to my Episode 4 'Gratitude & Other Oxytocic Experiences' on Spotify

I'm Alexis Dennehy, Integrative Practitioner specialising in Somatic Practice. I'm post-grad educated in trauma and women's health and you can book in with me using the Appointment button at the top of this page.