S2:13. When it is YOU that is in Shock or Sensory Overwhelm: How I Led Myself Through Shaking, Fear, and Pain Reactions During a Medical Procedure, and You Can Too

In this episode I’ve taken the risk of sharing a very personal and recent experience with you. Why? Because it required leadership, resilience, and self-care, and I could only get through it because of the knowledge and skills I now have.

My recent medical challenge of a surgical repair to my eardrum was nothing compared to an intense experience of somatic shock that happened during a follow-up procedure.

My story explores the primal conditioning that compels our bodies to hide illness and how stress can manifest in physical reactions like shaking. But more importantly, I'll reveal the coping mechanisms I employed—grounding techniques, therapeutic dissociation, and self havening—that helped me manage sensory overwhelm and navigate the challenges of a stressful medical experience.

Leadership isn't just about guiding others; it's also about managing our own reactions and advocating for our wellbeing. I'll discuss how understanding somatic shock is crucial for leaders and highlight the resources, including Peter Levine's work, that shed light on this important topic.

Whether you're a leader looking to foster resilience in your team, or someone facing personal self-leadership or family-leadership stressors, I hope this episode will go a small way to demystifying some aspects of self-care and personal advocacy. Not to mention vividly bring to life some of the stuff I’ve been talking about these last few months! (Check out my earlier podcast S1.03 The Emerging Concept that Trauma is Transdiagnostic.)

And here’s a wonderful essay by the lovely Liam Farquhar if you want to learn more on somatic shock and shaking (for stress release), with some embedded YouTube links of animals in the wild demonstrating therapeutic shaking too. Essay "Trauma Needs a Rebrand - Trauma, Psychedelics, Limitations of Our Existing Models, and Exciting Alternatives" by Liam Farquhar.

I continue to try and de-stigmatise trauma, the nervous system, and share with you as much as I can that the skills of understanding trauma, the nervous system, and self care, are intricately linked. Enquire about coaching with me on my website here, to start a conversation about how I could help you. 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this episode of Refreshing Leadership!

Some approximate timestamps:

01:00 Intro and trigger warnings

07:57 Shaking can release blocked energy, says Levine.

11:26 Recent eardrum surgery and body's recovery.

15:42 Received calm care during medical treatment process.

19:05 Using dissociation to cope with overwhelming experiences.

21:18 Returning to the world after dissociation.

23:58 Growing awareness of neurodiversity and sensory processi

If you enjoyed this or found it useful please subscribe on the show website, https://refreshingleadership.buzzsprout.com/
You can listen on most platforms, or scroll through all the episodes on my website here.
I write a companion blog to each episode - they are all on my website here.

Do please share this link, and if you'd like, give it a rating or leave a review (wherever you listen) will help the podcast reach more people.

Thank you!

To continue the conversation go to:
Website: https://katebrassington.com/ (where you can easily message me)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-brassington/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/katebrassingto3
Email: kate@katebrassington.com