Shifting States with Movement

Written by: Justine Allen

🕗 Short & sweet

When Self-Doubt Feels Immobilizing

Have you ever experienced self-doubt to the point of feeling frozen, stuck or stagnant? The “just do it” mentality doesn’t always cut it here, well-intentioned as the slogan may be.

Not long ago, I found myself in a moment of immobilizing self-doubt (we therapists feel the things, too). Moments later, I stumbled across a newsletter amongst my flood of emails, from the beautiful writer Hannah Eko, titled “self-doubt & the artist”—the timing was wild! It felt as though her words spoke directly to the deep, pit-like sensation that had formed in my chest, and in feeling seen, it began to soften.

Returning to the Body

After sending Hannah a note of gratitude, I tuned into my body and decided to move with and through the sensations in an effort to further shift my embodied experience. So, I put on my headphones, pressed shuffle, and no joke… “Believe in Yourself” by Lena Horne began to play. Seriously! I had to laugh out loud with love to the universe for the synchronicities.

I let Lena play, because of course, it’s Lena. Then I rewound to a song that felt more attuned to the weight I had sensed earlier, to fully feel and process that emotion, rather than bypass it.

So I started with a song that evoked a sort of weighted tenderness within me. Its quality met the immobilizing self-doubt where it lived in my body, and helped me begin to metabolize the emotion.

Processing Through Movement

I noticed a heaviness in my movement—a kind of resistance, like moving through water. And yet, my body still felt strong. There was a clear sense of “working through” something, both physically and emotionally.

I remember the feeling of strength in my legs, offering grounded support as I moved through the emotion. I began to take up more physical space in the room, engaging different levels of movement with my body—reaching high, medium, and low. The shift was palpable. Rather than suppressing my emotion, giving it space invited movement, meaning, and a release was experienced. 

Shifting into Spaciousness

How apt then, that a song about freedom soon followed. By this point, I had experienced a noticeable shift through movement. There was lightness in my body where there had once been weight—in both the quality of my movement and my overall felt sense. But strength was still present.

And a time was had! There was jumping around, smiling, and a deep sense of freedom through movement. I’m recognizing now, in real time, how powerful this last part was—the jumping around and such. This playful movement indicates that a nervous system shift allowed me to access playfulness, which, alongside mobilization, also requires that we feel a sense of safety and connection.

Lena then brought things full circle (naturally) as this somatic movement session came to a close.

A Glimpse into the Practice

Curious what it looked like? Check out a short clip of this somatic practice here.

Warm wishes ✨