The Brain within your Skin

In this video Claudia Aguirre a neuroscientist and skin expert explains the fascinating new research surrounding the brain/skin connection.

The skin forms at the same time as the brainiand is often involved in the processing of complex emotions. There is plasticity within the experience and expression of the skin that changes over the course of our life.

Haptic Body explores bridging the connections through the skin through utilizing "haptic feedback" tools which can support the vacuum often created from attachment trauma. It helps to integrate the very intimate, and personal relationship that is possible through our own skin.

The skin is intelligent, and it can get smarter the more we honor it's unique sensorial life. If you are unable to experience touch from loved ones you can give it to yourself as a way to expand your ability to feel and relate to the world.

Meditation: "Exploring the Power of Slow Self-Touch"

This practice will help you to feel the power of slow touch to activate a deeper connection to your skin, and also help strengthen you ability to upgrade to use touch as a way to help process emotional stress in the body.

You will need:

- Coconut Oil

Instructions:

- Begin, lying on your back and choose an area in the front of the body to explore. Choose between your belly, diaphragmatic center, or chest.

- Next, tune into the area that you are about to explore and notice any sensation that may be coming up. Is the area hot, cold, or stiff? Can you access your breath in this area? If the area had a color what color would it be?

- Now take a bit of the oil and begin slowly feeding it into the skin. Imagine the skin breathing and soaking up this oil, and that as it did your brain soaked it up as well.

- As you connect touch to the exercise imagine that you are seeing the layers within the skin. Can you feel the colors? Do they shift? Can you feel your breath deepen against your touch, or does it hold back?

You can learn a lot about yourself through doing this practice, and also create a simple self-care ritual that allows parts of the body to expand into touch. Receiving touch is not as easy as it might seem, but if you start with yourself you are more likely to succeed in upgrading your capacity to receive pleasure in relationship.