This section addresses the following questions:

• I have lots of tension in my upper shoulders and neck. So much so that I’ve given up on massages, because it’s been years since they were relaxing. Do you think these exercises might help?
• A tough exercise for me. Very challenging to try and focus on these body parts, when the internals are in a constant state of trembling. Especially when I am trying to sleep, and doing the regulation; the trembling sensation heightens, which evokes fear, and the cycle goes round and round, and then hyperarousal sets in, and I can feel the heart beating irregularly. I find it tough to increase the container when my body is in this state! Looking for any feedback/support on how to deal with this heightened awareness.
• How will this grow my capacity to manage stress?

The Diaphragm Lessons are all about increasing our internal space and capacity, and this can be tricky, because these areas are often the places where we have stored and managed our stress.

If there is chronic tightness in these areas that massage does nothing for, then you can be sure this area is staying tense for a reason; it’s holding that stress and the accompanying emotions. If this is the case, then these exercises will be very important and helpful, but they may have to be done a little at a time depending on how much we are holding. Remember, it’s totally fine to just do a little bit, and then stop and rest and notice what is happening.

We also want to be clear in our intention. This is not about ‘getting stuff moving,’ it’s simply about creating more space, so the option for stuff to move is there. It may happen that, as we increase our sense of space, the old held energy will start to move on it’s own, and again, this is when we want to stop and be with that, and find out if there is any way we can help that energy be expressed.

If there is no tension, but just a lot of activation; trembling, shaking, a sense of overwhelm or strong emotion, then we want to go extra slow, and be very clear with our body we are simply nurturing this space, and giving it some breathing room. Again, it will be important to just do little bits and then stop, notice, rest and come back later.

When we can increase the space in these somatic containers and allow the old, held survival energy to move out, we will automatically develop greater capacity for future stressors. One, because we are more familiar with these areas and how we tend to hold stuff there, so we can keep an eye out for that happening, and two, because there will simply be more room in our body for future stressors to enter, and then move on out. Old trauma, when it’s still stuck, tends to act as a magnet for new stressors — like the body says, “hey, I already got all this stuff packed up here, and this thing that’s happening now is really similar, so let’s just add it to the mix.” Letting that old energy out of its box, and becoming more familiar with our somatic containers, helps stop this from happening.