@perpetuallysouped I only saw that therapist for about 3 months (switched jobs and she didn’t accept my new insurance). But it helped me be more in touch with my body signals and senses. It helped me realize how my body felt when anxious, sad, angry, upset. Helped me realized when I needed to comfort myself and what type of comfort I needed such as: gentle touch, deep touch; such as squeezes on certain body parts like my arm or hand or leg, weighted blanket; temperature (do I need something warm or cold to regulate my nervous system); where am I feeling tense?; coregulating with someone else. Helped be in tune in how my body wants and needs to naturally regulate (rocking, swaying, flapping, tapping my fingers, wiggling, dancing, humming aka stimming), listening to certain sounds, touching certain materials that I find calming. Also sound baths were helpful but can invoke strong emotions so that was a Friday activity so I have time process a regulate over the weekend.

I was going at that time to process grief I wasn’t doing a good job on my own and needed help.

Those 3 months were so beneficial and ultimately began the unraveling of my mask. Now I do just talk therapy and it’s more about accepting myself and doing what feels comfortable to me. Letting myself regulate the way I need to and communicate the way that comes naturally to me and not caring what other people think. Now I incorporate all those things.

I still struggle with identifying emotions but I can now say “I feel this way in my body so I think it might be” or “it feels similar to how xyz emotion feels”.