Season 3 Episode 2
‘We are shaped by memories even if we don’t remember them cognitively. Our bodies and nervous systems do remember and trauma impairs the coherence of imprinted narratives. You’ve often heard us say neurons that fire together, wire together. People who touch, talk and connect wire together and survive together. Our brains are social organs formed by the relationships and connections around us.”
-Jennifer Wallace, Trauma Rewired Co-host and NeuroSomatic Intelligence Embodiment Guide for Women with Psychedelic Preparation and Integration
Welcome to Season 3, all! We are so excited for you to listen to this episode that lays the foundation for the season with a discussion about the neurobiology of relationships and attachment. We’re going on a journey that explains how your nervous system has been formed by relationships from the womb through this moment.
This conversation is influenced by Luis Cozolino’s book, Neuroscience of Human Relationships. He coined the concept of social synapse and when you hear how it connects to NeuroSomatic Intelligence you’ll be awestruck.
As always, we’re sharing our personal stories and experiences to give you real life examples that, hopefully, you can relate to. You’ll hear Elisabeth share how she and her partner recently navigated a trigger with co-regulation and eye contact. And Jennifer vulnerably shares how trauma has affected her attachment schemas and the work she’s done to move into secure attachment.
We have both experienced disease rooted from adverse childhood experiences and have high ACE scores like many of you. We hope that our stories along with the wisdom found in the science we discuss in this episode are encouraging to you. Please know that the change and healing that we share about is absolutely possible for you, too.
Episode Highlights:
- Our brains are social organs that are constantly adapting to the nervous systems around us
- Cozolino’s concept of social synapse and why it matters
- How complex trauma and early childhood abuse impacts our attachment schemas
- Definition of co-regulation from an NSI perspective
- The possibility of re-shaping our relational patterns by working with the different parts of the nervous system
- The critical role the visual systems plays in connection, especially gaze stabilization
- Social neuroplasticity is real!
- The role our vagus nerve plays in connection and social cues
- Why emotional expression is vital
- Detailed explanation of the different attachment schemas: secure, anxious, avoidant and disorganized
- How positive social relations have the greatest impact on your health through the lens of psychoneurobiology
- The hope of retraining your nervous system to have healthier relationships with NSI
Listen to more episodes of Trauma Rewired HERE
