ABSTRACT
Our bodies are the literal forces that take us places. They are also a place unto themselves, a community of systems that support us everywhere we go, holding our histories and our hopes. They are always on, at least to some degree, mediating our experiences of safety or threat, connection or isolation, functionality and/or demobilization (Van der Kolk, 2014). When we walk into a room, shake a hand, give a hug, sit down in a chair, hear another person’s story, or tell one of our own, our body is there, mediating our relationship to relationships themselves. Likewise, our bonds with others, or lack thereof, also shape our experience of our bodies, affecting our breath, feelings, and entire nervous system (Porges, 2011).
