Pendulation and Processing Trauma

When we have experienced any sort of trauma or upsetting situation, we are yearning for a way to process these emotions and let them go. This is often what brings us to therapy: the quest to navigate the mountainous terrain of our internal world. It is possible to get stuck in the difficult feelings without the tools, or as I like to call them, resources, that provide stability and relief. Pendulation is the practice of moving between pleasant and unpleasant feelings to shift smoothly in the numerous transitions we will encounter throughout our lives.

Tolerating the Good and the Bad

Now, let’s consider this from the lens of trauma. Everyone has been through some kind of trauma, whether it’s what we called a “little t” or “big T” trauma. A “little t” trauma can be small upsets in our childhood like a parent talking down to us in a passive aggressive way over and over again. An example of a “big T” trauma is a big car accident or being in a situation of extreme physical or emotional abuse. Both “little t” and “big T” traumas are extremely disruptive to our nervous system. We can get stuck in a state of hypervigilance, always being on the lookout for the next trauma, which causes our nervous to stay in a state of “fight,flight or freeze.” It is not sustainable to stay in this alert state because it puts strain on our entire body, never giving us the chance to relax and recharge. For someone who’s experienced a lot of trauma, it can become “comfortable” or feel normal to live in chaos so it can be very difficult to “tolerate the good.“ The practice of pendulation allows our nervous system to experience and tolerate both the good and bad.

Pendulation and Performance Anxiety

As a therapist who specializes in performance anxiety, this can be an amazing tool to feel the feeling of nervousness before a performance, but then to shift back to that feeling of goodness that we have cultivated over time. One of the most powerful things we can do before a performance is visualize a time that we were doing well, whether it’s in performance or a time in our life that we felt seen, heard and loved. The next step is to bring this feeling into the body, and to have a felt sense of being seen and heard and loved. This might manifest as a lightness in your heart, or a fluttery feeling in your core, or relaxed shoulders. 

How to Practice Pendulation

The practice of pendulation is something that you can do on your own, but can be helpful to do with a somatic therapist first. Visit my trauma therapy page to find out more about working with pendulation and other resources to move through trauma stuck in your system. A simple way to bring this into your body is to feel a place in your body that feels neutral or good. Focus on the space in your body and see if you can identify specific sensation such as “tingly or light.” Now find a place in your body that doesn’t feel so good. Do the same thing, describing the exact sensations, such as “tight” or “constricted.” Experience this feeling for a couple breaths, and then move back to the place that is comfortable or neutral. Stay focused on each part of your body for two breaths so that you can fully experience the comfortable and the uncomfortable. This is building resilience and familiarity in moving back and forth between the two, thus building our ability to let go of trauma and live in an integrated body, mind and energetic field.