Pendulation

This little video is a lovely example of pendulation. Watch how Cat goes slowly towards Bird. He turns and looks away, and goes in again. Then they both can handle it…

Organic Pendulation

Pendulation describes movement back and forth. In Somatic Experiencing, it is the practice of moving from pleasant to unpleasant, or neutral/ease to challenge.

When you move back and forth from what’s safe to what may feel a bit more challenging, your nervous system is able to integrate small doses at a time and expand its capacity to feel both. It’s akin to taking small bites of your food, chewing it, and taking a breath before going in for more. You shouldn’t take the whole meal at one time!

Brené Brown in her video about the Power of Vulnerability spoke about how we cannot feel pleasant feelings without the unpleasant; we can’t feel happiness or joy without feeling sadness or discomfort. This is the same idea – that our nervous systems are made to feel both and the more we feel one side of our experience the more we have capacity to feel the other.

Organic pendulation is a healthy nervous system’s way of feeling states of rest and pleasure, moving towards challenge, and moving back and forth between the two. In healing it might mean that once you feel pleasure, you may move towards the next challenging thing, or the other way around feeling challenge, then rest. In your work or life, you may attain a steadiness and stability, and have a natural desire to grow and learn more. On a large scale, you might find that after long periods of growth or stress, you might naturally desire rest. Whether or not you give yourself rest is another story. As a reminder, we are talking about a healthy nervous system and being in tune with your own body’s messages.

Society’s Dis-Ease

Balancing effort or challenge vs. effortlessness and rest can be challenging when society tells us to keep going, go harder and faster, and do more.

Society’s dis-ease is to constantly push and do more. I have found myself become a healing junkie because of it! I believe that this push to do more and go faster is at times a flight response – a fearful mode of running and anxiety to run away from our fears (not being enough, not seen as good by others, fear of being unlovable, etc.). Many of us are in protective and survival mode if this is the case. We may accomplish many things in this mode (and trust me – I have), but we may not be enjoying it fully, living in our truth, and feeling at ease in ourselves.

We integrate the most when we have a balance of rest and challenge. It helps the food we take in one bite at a time digest easily, letting us take in the nutrients and eliminate the waste. Your life experiences, movement towards your desires, and healing work is no different!

Practicing Pendulation to Support Yourself

Here’s how you can consciously help your nervous system, take good care of yourself, and move towards the best version of yourself or your vision for yourself more steadily and easily:

Pendulate with Sensation

• Notice three sensations, emotions, or movements that feel pleasant or neutral inside your body.
• Allow yourself to sense into one of them and marinate in the feeling for a few breaths to a minute.
• Shift gears and notice three sensations, emotions, or movements that feel unpleasant or challenging inside the body.
• Notice one of them and allow yourself to feel it without changing it for a few breaths or up to a minute (you can choose to go longer over time/practice).
• Come back to the pleasant sensation that you initially felt, taking a break and tuning back into it.
• Switch back and forth from the unpleasant to pleasant at your pace. I suggest going back to pleasant sensation before you feel overwhelmed. It may take some time to notice your own threshold. It is helpful to stay in the zone that is tolerable especially if you constantly push too far.
• Notice the difference, if any, when you go back to the unpleasant as well as the pleasant.
• Often, people find that the unpleasant sensation or emotion has shifted or eased in intensity. If it doesn’t for you, continue practicing or get support. It will come with practice and support.

Other Ways to Pendulate

• Imagine a pleasant experience or pleasant person to be around. Pendulate back and forth with an upsetting or challenging experience (start easy at first).
• Notice an object around the room that is pleasant. Pendulate with an upsetting or challenging emotion inside. Go back and forth inside to outside.
• Witness an emotion or sensation that is challenging in your body. Picture what it looks like, and what shape or object would it look like. Pendulate back and forth from this unpleasant feeling and image to a picture of the opposite image of that object.
• Check out the Building Empowerment for New Beginnings Podcast for a meditation on Building Resource for new beginnings and challenges, and pendulate with the meditation on feeling into your fears in the same podcast episode!

Integration

When pendulation begins to bring a feeling into its dissolution, neutrality, or pleasure, it becomes integrated and your capacity to feel everything expands. Like a droplet of water returning to the ocean, the sensation or experience is one with you. It is digested and you can then easily take the wisdom from it. And now, I invite you to take a rest and some down time from all this scientific nervous system talk and practice…!

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