Somatic Vocabulary

Somatic Vocabulary

Somatic vocabulary is the clinical term for the words someone uses to describe physical sensations. 

People spend countless hours trying to improve the communication within their platonic, professional, and romantic relationships. But, how often do we ask, 

“How can I improve my ability to communicate with my body?” 

Somatic Relationships

The relationships we have with others mirror the relationships we have within. In many respects, your unconscious mind relies on the conscious mind to evaluate and determine threat levels. 

Coregulation is just one example. When you self-regulate, you enter a calm, safe state that encourages the same in others. This mirrors how our CNS uses your mind-body awareness to decide how to react to somatosensory information it receives.

If you are calm and self-regulated, you encourage your CNS to feel calm and safe, just as the people around you can be comforted by your stable, positive presence.

If you want to inspire peace and stability in others, you must be pursuing it. You are the example. Coregulation and healthy relationships are greatly impaired by “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Be the good example for those around you by first having a healthy mind-body connection. This means you have to start from within, beginning with how you communicate with yourself.

If you are incapable of listening to your needs, being honest and earnest, and setting personal boundaries, how can you ever expect to have that with someone else, giving or receiving it?

The Mind Body Relationship

Sensation Is An Output

Sensation is an output, not an input. For example, pain is created by, and exists only within, our central nervous system.

While some may mistake nociceptive signals as pain, nociception is actually a noxious signal warning our brain of potential or actual injury. It doesn’t hurt until after our brain has collected the raw afferent data, evaluated our environment, and assessed the history of this kind of signal. If it identifies danger, it creates pain; if it concludes it is safe, it doesn’t.

The Raw Data Isn’t Felt

A book that hasn’t been read is just a pile of paper with ink printed on the pages. While the information on those pages may tell a story, it is just data without emotion. For the book to inspire an emotion in someone, it first must be read. 

Our somatosensory system works the same way. The information being collected by our sensory neurons is just data until the brain receives and interprets it.  Once it does, it is then that we experience peace, pleasure, and pain.

The CNS Learns By Example

Skimming a book quickly or reading it while distracted can lead to missed details, confusion, and a complete misunderstanding of the story. We might laugh at parts that weren’t meant to be funny, fear for a character when they aren’t in any danger, or miss a comforting message.

Engaging our mind-body awareness teaches our central nervous system to learn by example. As we attentively read the book, taking our time to focus, note context, and reread confusing parts, we inspire it to do the same. It will identify the importance of building familiarity, understanding nuance, and responding with accurate emotions instead of amplified false alarms.

In the body, this means that clearer interoceptive and exteroceptive signals reach the insular cortex. As a result, it helps the brain avoid false positives that cause unnecessary pain.

Developing your mind-body awareness improves the reliability of interoceptive and exteroceptive signals. This helps calibrate the brain’s perceived threat levels and reduces the amplified outputs that maintain central sensitization.

The Importance Of Words

Reading a vague description in a book like ‘a scary dark figure’ can easily make a harmless shadow feel terrifying. The same is true for how we describe the physical sensations of our bodies.

The words we use to define each sensation can influence how we experience it. Using catastrophizing words can amplify our discomfort, while more descriptive, less emotionally charged ones can reduce it.

When we improve our somatic vocabulary, it enhances our mind-body awareness by providing us with more words to precisely articulate each sensation. 

Rather than describing a sensation as “burning agony”, it could be defined as “a sharp, focused heat that feels  like a weight pulling down on my shoulders.” 

Examine the difference and internalize how both examples felt to process.

When we apply accurate, nuanced descriptions to what we are feeling, it reframes the experience and removes the emotional charge.

Additionally, when you have the somatic vocabulary to explain how you feel, it enables your wellness provider to tailor your treatment to your unique needs.