🏋️♀️Weight lifting can be so helpful for individuals experiencing dissociation as part of their mental health condition. Dissociation has many forms. Overall, it is that spacey, out of it, not feeling connected to self/others/environment. It can also show up in other ways. The fact is that for many mental health conditions & trauma…dissociation happens. It’s a survival response that kind of goes haywire with trauma and then may end up being someone’s typical state. Oh, and it’s okay to be dissociated. Because: survival. Hello, you are still alive!
🌿My trauma modalities are neuroscience-based and can be validated through Heart Rate Variability, as well as, through decades of evidence-based research. The movement as medicine approach that comes up a lot for dissociation is weight lifting.
🌿Now getting a hold of some weights during a pandemic is super hard. And it may not be financially accessible, I get it. Below are some ways to make weight lifting more accessible during a pandemic, if you experience dissociation. Also, please discuss this with your licensed mental health practitioner. Mental health is very nuanced and I don’t want to try and simplify the complexity of your lived experience down to a basic educational blog post.
➡️No weights? Grab a bag of rice, cans of food, or a jug of water.
➡️You can also load up a backpack with books or whatever is heavy you have laying around.
➡️Have a cool cat, small dog, or a child that likes to have fun? Hold them and squat.
➡️Bodyweight movements also work. I have used the app @sworkit for years and love it. They have over 30 million folx that use their app.
In Health,
The Integrative Counselor
Shannon R. Myers, MS CRC CMHIMP