The Endocrine System of our Moving Bodies in a Disembodied World
Somatics beyond the Nervous System
In my most recent Somatic Movement Workshop, I offered a little window for people into their soma through the Endocrine System and its connection to the nervous system. This is a core part of my mission: to guide people into broadening their awareness and exploration beyond the nervous system to INCLUDE other body systems that constantly shape our lived experience on this Earth and our relationship to embodiment. This approach stems from my own deep explorations and my three year diploma in Integrative bodywork and somatic movement therapy, where we deeply explored each body system through embodied anatomy and movement repatterining.
Why the Endocrine System Matters in Somatics
When the dominant narrative in the somatic and trauma-healing space often focuses almost exclusively on the nervous system, particularly the autonomic nervous system (ANS). While the ANS is crucial, viewing our lived experience solely through this lens can oversimplify the complexity of our body and our being and risks putting the ANS on a pedestal. In doing so, we might miss potentially powerful entry points for healing that can be unique to our individual experience.
I believe that when we include all our body systems, we give ourselves more choices and new pathways for exploration. For some, the nervous system with its fast, electrical signals might not be their accessible starting point. Instead, we can turn to other body systems. The endocrine system, responsible for long-term physiological regulation, communicates through a slower, more pervasive, and intricate network of chemical messages carried in the bloodstream and tuning to it can be what the person is with when they come with chronic fatigue or depletion for example!
So, the question that I bring in for explorations is: “what is your starting point”? What body system feels like a Resource, a place of support, when you’re navigating overwhelming emotions or the defensive strategies related to trauma? Can your skeletal system be a landmark to help you track and be with the endocrine system?
The Body as a Portal
Our bodies don't live in isolation. We are in constant dialogue with our environment, and our internal world is trembling with the grief, rage, and terror of what's happening globally. For me, particularly as an Arab, I hold my community dearly in my heart, and I wish I had the words to ease their pain and my own. It feels unimaginable to be here while a genocide is happening elsewhere.
In addition to global turbulence, our modern world, built on capitalism, profits from our states of disembodiment and dissociation. When we ignore our internal cues—the signs of imbalance, turbulence, or dis-ease—we become vulnerable to quick fixes that distract us from our genuine needs. This is why Somatics is essential work. It’s a gift to learn to return to the body in a culture that prioritises the head and intellect. As Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry, says, "We are not resting to be productive. We are resting simply because it is our divine right to do so."
First and foremost, I want to acknowledging the immense grief, rage, and terror that a lot of us are holding right now witnessing the turbulence of our world and our humanity, no wonder our internal world is trembling. It feels unimaginable to be here living and on the other side a genocide is happening. For me, particularly as an Arab, I hold dearly my community in my heart and I wish I have the words to eases their pain and my pain. Alongside this, our modern world, fed by and built on a capitalism, benefits from our states of disembodiment and dissociation. When we ignore our internal cues, our signs of imbalance, turbulence, dis-ease, we become subjective to be sold quick fixes and hacks that distract us from truly tuning into our genuine needs. Somatics therefore become an essential work for us, to learn to return to the body in the midst of it all, in a culture that prioritises the head and the intellect is such a gift. “We are not resting to be productive. We are resting simply because it is our divine right to do so”.
At the workshop, we started by honouring how different lineages and indigenous practices have long cared for the body's imbalances without deep scientific knowledge of the endocrine system. From taking a siesta to squatting and balancing a basket on one’s head, these global south rituals and lifestyle choices alongside rituals that engage in regular movement and community support bring powerful elements for glandular balancing.
The Inner Landscape of the Glands
Somatic practices like Body-Mind Centering® (BMC), which investigates the body from within, work with our felt sense. This approach came to discover that every human cell has the potential for a neuroendocrine relationship from our earliest embryonic development. Our emotional experiences are directly reflected in our physical form, and when we work somatically with a body system, we are not reducing the body to that system but rather exploring a landscape where the psyche and soul speak and move us from the form from the formless, from the conscious to the unconscious. As Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen says, "The endocrine glands underlie intuition, the crystallisation of energy into archetypal experiences, and the perceiving and understanding of the universal aspect of self.”
I work with a BMC approach to embodiment and healing through which we've come to understand that under the umbrella of the endocrine glands, other bodies that do not necessarily secrete hormones but have been recognised to have endocrine functions, and these are not recognised by the medical scientific field, but they have a vibration and a gathering of nerve and blood cells around them that reflects along our central channel and spine. From this perspective, our central channel and spine are not the same; it's like the body and what is reflected in the body. An emotional state, for example, is directly reflected in the body.
The endocrine system which has a major chemical governing functioning; is also an expansive, integrated network that touches almost every cell and has a profound impact on our movement, touch, breath, and consciousness. Taking a journey to tune into the subtleties of each gland can be a powerful practice. We can develop conscious awareness of their state of balance or imbalance, listening to the intelligence they hold and how they’ve been impacted by daily and chronic stresses.
Each gland holds a unique quality of mind and feeling that we can connect to through movement and sound. From the coccygeal body at the base of the tailbone to our adrenals, thyroid, and pineal glands, we can explore these connections while working with our spinal energy and skeletal system. For instance, the gonads govern the pelvic region and the sacroiliac, hip, and knee joints, and can be activated by movements in and away from the naval centre.
BMC brings us a new, meaningful knowledge of how the glands have a particular impact on our joints. For those with chronic joint pain, working with the endocrine system can offer a profound and resourceful way to resolve chronic pain in the joints. The crystallisation aspect of the joints is seen as an emergent quality of the fascia, a concept known as Tensegrity, deriving from the work of Maurice Vogel. In the workshop, I guided people to explore how they might initiate movement from a particular endocrine body or gland to see how we might also impact other parts of the body. For example, the gonads govern the navel region, as well as the femur, knee, and sacroiliac joints, and are stimulated by the activation of the entire body around the navel centre—movement in and away from the core of the body.
The Adrenals as Gateway to Trauma Healing
Gabor Mate explored this in his book When the Body Says No. He talks about the three glandular axis Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis which is our central stress pathway that connects the nervous system and the endocrine system. Research in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study revealed a strong, direct link between childhood trauma and a higher risk of chronic physical and mental health issues in adulthood. This research showed that the impact of early adversity is cumulative, affecting the neuroendocrine system's ability to regulate. While our bodies are built to handle acute stress, chronic stress can inhibit the effectiveness of this stress response. Neuroendocrine studies have shown altered cortisol levels in individuals with PTSD, demonstrating the endocrine system’s deep involvement in trauma’s aftermath. The article also notes a suggested correlation between early childhood adversity and pituitary dysfunction, highlighting a possible link, for example, between paternal deprivation and higher prolactin levels.
A powerful practice that I bring to my client is Adrenal/kidney bodywork. You can practice connecting with your adrenals, which sit under the floating ribs around your kidneys. You can wrap a blanket around them and get a sense of whether they feel activated, depleted, or balanced. When you slow dow, what is the energy quality you feel? Is it buzzing with overactive energy? A wave of exhaustion? Or a sense of quiet, reserved energy?
If you are curious to begin this journey of embodiment, I am creating gathering place for anyone seeking to reclaim and deepen their connection to their body's wisdom and investigate the quality of their glands and endocrine bodies. We'll embark on a journey through the 10 glands and endocrine bodies, connecting to their minds and the energetic, emotional, and feeling state they are holding through movement, self touch and sound. Sign up here to receive further details on this course and begin the journey of embodiment!
While our nervous system is a recording system, capturing our experiences both consciously and unconsciously, our endocrine system works closely with our nervous system. By attuning to the waves of our hormones and the subtle cues of our body, we can begin to shift these recordings. This practice of embodiment isn’t about fixing ourselves but about being with what arises. We are reminded of our body's intelligence and ability to heal when we give ourselves the time and space to rest, to let go of old patterns in a constant state of becoming where we can begin to sense into new alignment and a deeper sense of integrity within ourselves and with the world around us.
