CONNECTION/PROTECTION: INTIMACY AND VIOLENCE

How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to be whole — CG Jung.

This is a continuation of my second article, CONNECTION. But because I discuss some disturbing material here, I have separated these two articles out. Trigger alert, please be aware and take care of yourself.

In fact, taking care of yourself is what this article is all about.

In her successful TED talk Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are, watched over 40 million times, Amy Cuddy asks the question:

We know our minds change our bodies. Do our bodies change our minds?

She talks about how animals in the natural world will make themselves bigger when they feel intimidated, by raising their hackles, arching their backs and making sounds. If we replicate this behaviour, we send a message from the body to the mind, instructing it to lift the level of testosterone and lower the level of the stress hormone, cortisol. Simply by standing with your arms raised up above your head and you…