Somatic Tao

Somatic Tao Simple, effective relief for stress and trauma SOMATIC TAO is the home of BEN, Babyhood Emotional Neglect and how to heal the fall out of BEN.

SOMATIC TAO is an integrated neuro-somatic emotionally aware therapeutic approach that helps treat mental and physical symptoms of stress, trauma and early life neglect.
____________

SOMATIC TAO understands that most modern day mental and physical "ills" are due to a lack of ability to tolerate and process emotional energies:

• rage and protest energy mobilised in answer to unmet needs;
• toxic shame created by unmet very early developmental needs;
• grief due to loss, rejection and abandonment;
• fear and terror due to unmet need for safety and security.
____________

Working with:

• Dr Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing (SE) to track felt sense of the body;
• Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory to identify the active part of the nervous system;
• knowledge of Traumatology;
• Parts of Self Theory; and
• the Taoist Philosophy understanding of how emotions affect health

SOMATIC TAO encourages suppressed emotions and trauma energy locked in your body to process, thereby increasing your mental and physical wellness.
____________

Combining the above with knowledge of Bowlby's Attachment Theory, SOMATIC TAO works with adults suffering the impact of:

• Babyhood Emotional Neglect, (BEN);
• Adverse Babyhood Experiences, (ABEs); and
• Adverse Childhood Experiences, (ACEs)

to recover emotional resilience and capacity to live an empowered and meaningful life for yourself and in relationship with others.
____________

With over 19 years experience of working with stress, emotional distress and trauma, plus familiarity of medical terms and drug mechanisms gained from previous careers in neuroscience and the pharmaceutical industry, I am able to share a unique and comprehensive approach to health to both clients and supervisees working in the mental health field. PLEASE NOTE: Somatic Tao does NOT use Messenger. Please contact using email at info@somatictao.co.uk
Many thanks.

RESPECT IS BUILT THROUGH CO-REGULATIONRespect isn’t simply taught. It develops through the nervous system. A child does ...
01/04/2026

RESPECT IS BUILT THROUGH CO-REGULATION

Respect isn’t simply taught. It develops through the nervous system. A child does not learn respect through instruction. They develop it through experience — through co-regulation.

In early life, the nervous system is not self-sufficient. It relies on another, more regulated system to:

📌 receive and validate emotion
📌 contain emotional activation
📌 restore balance

Over time, these repeated experiences build something critical: capacity.

👉 the ability to feel anger… without being overtaken by it
👉 the ability to stay present… without reacting impulsively

This is emoturity — emotional maturity at the level of the nervous system. And it is not built through words. It is built through relationship and experience. Through a sense of safety in the presence of emotion.

When a child is consistently met, held, and settled, their nervous system begins to organise around that experience. Their internal world becomes more stable and from there, respectful behaviour can emerge. Not as compliance. But as a developmental outcome of co-regulation.

The foundation of this capacity is laid through BEA — Babyhood Emotional Attunement. Without it, the capacity required for respect may never fully form.
And when that capacity is limited, what follows is not random — it is patterned.

MORE INFORMATION:

📌 DISRESPECT STARTS BEFORE LANGUAGE:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CdyTwwjom/

📌 DISRESPECT IS ANGER THE BODY CAN’T HOLD:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CW4JJzgQa/

📌 WITHOUT EMOTURITY RESPECT COLLAPSES:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/189VbTWUd4/

📌 BEN’s DISRESPECT, MISOGYNY & IMMORALITY:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CKBSTrNpE/

📌 BEN's VIOLENT RAGE IN ADOLESCENCE
https://www.facebook.com/somatictao/videos/525087156991101

📌 BEN’s RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DARK TRIAD:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AQqmsutyw/

📌 PLEASE DON’T TELL BEN TO “CALM DOWN”:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1KmLym1WGG/

📌 Introduction of BEN: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=894198262721482&set=a.457198723088107

📌 Emoturity - Nervous System Emotional Maturity:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16Hh4tXebz/

📌 Emoturity Affects Life & Health:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19LN8uu4Pt/

📌 Emotional Intelligence Is Not Emoturity:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15HmjdyGMc/

📌 EMOTION & THUS BEN DRIVES BEHAVIOUR
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19UGvs5vNM/










DISRESPECT IS ANGER THE BODY CAN’T HOLDDisrespect is often interpreted as attitude or intent. But in many cases, it refl...
31/03/2026

DISRESPECT IS ANGER THE BODY CAN’T HOLD

Disrespect is often interpreted as attitude or intent. But in many cases, it reflects something more fundamental: anger energy that the nervous system cannot tolerate internally. When that happens, the energy does not disappear - it is expressed.

Not because someone is choosing to be difficult, but because the body lacks the capacity to contain the intensity within.

From an emotological perspective, emotion is energy in the body. Anger, in particular, is activating and mobilising - it is designed to move the organism into action. However, when this energy cannot be processed or settled internally, it requires an outlet. It is then expressed through behaviour, often in forms such as:

👉 sharp tone
👉 dismissal
👉 interruption
👉 attack

The autonomic nervous system expresses what it cannot regulate.

🎯 This shifts the frame. What is commonly labelled as a problem of manners may, in fact, be a limitation in capacity.

Emoturity refers to the nervous system’s ability to hold, process, and integrate emotion energy without needing to discharge it outward. Where this capacity is underdeveloped, behaviour functions as a release valve. Where it is present, behaviour becomes a matter of choice rather than compulsion.

This distinction matters. It moves the conversation away from judgement and towards understanding the underlying physiology shaping behaviour.

So, the question becomes not simply why someone appears disrespectful, but what determines whether the body can hold this energy – or must express it?

MORE INFORMATION:

📌 DISRESPECT STARTS BEFORE LANGUAGE
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CdyTwwjom/

📌 WITHOUT EMOTURITY RESPECT COLLAPSES:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/189VbTWUd4/

📌 BEN’s DISRESPECT, MISOGYNY & IMMORALITY
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CKBSTrNpE/

📌 BEN's VIOLENT RAGE IN ADOLESCENCE
https://www.facebook.com/somatictao/videos/525087156991101

📌 BEN’s RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DARK TRIAD:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AQqmsutyw/

📌 PLEASE DON’T TELL BEN TO “CALM DOWN”
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1KmLym1WGG/

📌 Introduction of BEN: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=894198262721482&set=a.457198723088107

📌 Emoturity - Nervous System Emotional Maturity:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16Hh4tXebz/

📌 Emoturity Affects Life & Health:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19LN8uu4Pt/

📌 Emotional Intelligence Is Not Emoturity:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15HmjdyGMc/

📌 EMOTION & THUS BEN DRIVES BEHAVIOUR
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19UGvs5vNM/











DISRESPECT STARTS BEFORE LANGUAGESome children don’t develop respect. Not because they won’t. But because they can’t.Bef...
30/03/2026

DISRESPECT STARTS BEFORE LANGUAGE

Some children don’t develop respect. Not because they won’t. But because they can’t.

Before behaviour… there is biology.

A baby enters the world with raw, intense emotion energies moving through the body - anger, fear, disgust. But they cannot process them alone. They need a more emotionally mature nervous system to receive, hold, and settle those internal states. When that doesn’t happen consistently, emotional development is constrained at the level of the nervous system, limiting the development of emotional maturity - or what I call emoturity: the capacity to hold and process emotion.

Without that attunement, emotion isn’t metabolised. It remains excessive, unresolved, and overwhelming - impeding the development of emoturity, leaving capacities for regulation and empathy under-developed. This is low emoturity - and it limits what can develop, including respect.

Because what cannot be held internally will eventually be expressed externally, behaviour tends to towards expressions such as:

👉 irritation
👉 reactivity
👉 disrespect

Not as a choice, but as a developmental outcome. A pattern formed in a nervous system that never developed the capacity to hold and process its internal states. This is BEN - Babyhood Emotional Neglect. And it often goes completely unseen.

But what actually happens inside the body when low emoturity shapes behaviour?

MORE INFORMATION:

📌 WITHOUT EMOTURITY RESPECT COLLAPSES:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/189VbTWUd4/

📌 BEN’s DISRESPECT, MISOGYNY & IMMORALITY
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CKBSTrNpE/

📌 BEN's VIOLENT RAGE IN ADOLESCENCE
https://www.facebook.com/somatictao/videos/525087156991101

📌 BEN’s RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DARK TRIAD:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AQqmsutyw/

📌 PLEASE DON’T TELL BEN TO “CALM DOWN”
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1KmLym1WGG/

📌 Introduction of BEN: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=894198262721482&set=a.457198723088107

📌 Emoturity - Nervous System Emotional Maturity:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16Hh4tXebz/

📌 Emoturity Affects Life & Health:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19LN8uu4Pt/

📌 Emotional Intelligence Is Not Emoturity:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15HmjdyGMc/

📌 EMOTION & THUS BEN DRIVES BEHAVIOUR
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19UGvs5vNM/

📌 BEN & Caregiver History of BEN:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GLpM8h9sn












29/03/2026

SOOTHING SUNDAY – There is a Flower...

“There is a Flower, the Lesser Celandine,
That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain;
And, the first moment that the sun may shine,
Bright as the sun himself, ‘tis out again!”

— The Lesser Celandine
by William Wordsworth.











WITHOUT EMOTURITY, RESPECT COLLAPSESRespect is not just a value.It is a capacity.A nervous system capacity.When the body...
28/03/2026

WITHOUT EMOTURITY, RESPECT COLLAPSES

Respect is not just a value.

It is a capacity.

A nervous system capacity.

When the body can process emotion energy effectively, behaviour remains regulated, relational, and respectful.

When it cannot, emotion energy does not disappear.

It must be managed.

This is where emoturity matters.

Emoturity is the maturity of the non-cognitive brain and body to work with emotion energy. High emoturity allows emotion to move, complete, and resolve. Low emoturity leaves emotion unprocessed.

Unprocessed emotion becomes allostatic load - an internal biological threat.

To manage this, the nervous system adapts:

👉 internalisation — constriction, suppression, dissociation
👉 externalisation — behaviour directed outward

What we often call “disrespect” is frequently this externalisation.

Not a lack of values.
But a lack of capacity.

Because respect is not simply taught.

It is embodied.

MORE INFORMATION:

📌 Introduction of BEN: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=894198262721482&set=a.457198723088107

📌 Emoturity - Nervous System Emotional Maturity:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16Hh4tXebz/

📌 Emoturity Affects Life & Health:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19LN8uu4Pt/

📌 Emotional Intelligence Is Not Emoturity:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15HmjdyGMc/

📌 EMOTION & THUS BEN DRIVES BEHAVIOUR
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19UGvs5vNM/

📌 BEN’s DISRESPECT, MISOGYNY & IMMORALITY
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CKBSTrNpE/

📌 BEN's VIOLENT RAGE IN ADOLESCENCE
https://www.facebook.com/somatictao/videos/525087156991101

📌 BEN’s RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DARK TRIAD:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AQqmsutyw/

📌 PLEASE DON’T TELL BEN TO “CALM DOWN”
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1KmLym1WGG/

📌 BEN & Caregiver History of BEN:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GLpM8h9sn











REGULATION DOESN’T ALWAYS BEGIN WITH WORDSSound as a healing practice is now being backed by science. We now know sound ...
27/03/2026

REGULATION DOESN’T ALWAYS BEGIN WITH WORDS

Sound as a healing practice is now being backed by science. We now know sound stimulates the vagus nerve - a key regulator of the body.

Research shows the vagus connects to parts of the ear:

👉 external auditory canal
👉 eardrum
👉 middle ear (stapedius muscle)

From here, it travels throughout the body to the internal organs. In simple terms: stimulating the ear with sound can influence the entire internal system.

But Taoists have used this for thousands of years through the Six Healing Sounds (Liuzijue 六字诀). Each sound creates a specific internal vibration — like an “internal massage” — helping move stagnant qi, reduce stress, and restore balance.

The Six Healing Sounds:

🟩 Shooo – anger ↓ (Liver/Gall Bladder – Wood)
🟥 Haaaw – joy ↑ (Heart/Small Intestine – Fire)
🟨 Whooo – worry ↓ (Spleen/Stomach – Earth)
⬜️ Tzzzz – grief ↓ (Lung/Large Intestine – Metal)
🟦 Ch-way – fear ↓ (Kidneys – Water)
☯️ Sheee – whole-system regulation (Triple Burner)

How to practise:

1️⃣ Inhale slowly through the nose
2️⃣ Exhale evenly through the mouth with sound
3️⃣ Repeat each sound 6 times
4️⃣ Practise daily (full sequence or individual sounds)

Sequence:

Shooo → Haaaw → Whooo → Tzzzz → Ch-way → Sheee

Why it matters

Liuzijue may support the release of stored trauma. Early experiences can become held in the viscera and autonomic nervous system.

These sounds may help to:

1. Soften and release internal “freeze” patterns
2. Stimulate the vagus nerve → reduce sympathetic overdrive → rebalance the autonomic nervous system

Liuzijue is not just sound. It is a way of working directly with emotion energy in the body. What cannot be thought through can sometimes be moved through vibration.
And sometimes, regulation doesn’t begin with the mind… but with the body being gently heard from the inside.

MORE INFORMATION

📌 HOW TAOISM IDENTIFIES OUR EMOTIONS
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FmXgVBePY/

📌 HOW EMOTIONS MAINTAIN HEALTH:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/197UgirEPP/

📌 HOW EMOTIONS MODERATE HEALTH:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CDsN3PviX/

📌 THE TAOIST MAP OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1B8ZHqFtHP/

📌 TAOIST ENERGETICS – OBSTACLES CONTAIN THE MEDICINE
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18NJxyf9fe/

📌 TAOIST ENERGETICS OF NEEDS MET
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FiYxvSek4/

📌 TAOIST ENERGETICS OF UNMET NEEDS
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17ixsR9pjD/










WHEN ATTACHMENT CANNOT UPDATEProlonged Grief Disorder (PGD) is characterised by persistent longing for the deceased, or ...
26/03/2026

WHEN ATTACHMENT CANNOT UPDATE

Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) is characterised by persistent longing for the deceased, or preoccupation with the loss, causing pervasive emotional pain. The sufferer appears “stuck” beyond typical grief.

Unlike anxiety - which involves avoidance - PGD is defined by approach: a drive to reconnect with what is lost.

PGD is estimated to affect around 1 in 20 bereaved individuals (~5%). Its inclusion in the DSM-5-TR in 2022 was controversial. Critics argued it pathologized a fundamentally human process and imposed arbitrary timelines on grief.

However, emerging neurobiological evidence suggests PGD may be a distinct condition [1].

Neuroimaging studies show that, compared to typical grief, PGD involves heightened activity across multiple reward and emotional circuits:

👉 increased activation of the nucleus accumbens linked to yearning
👉 attentional bias toward reminders of the deceased
👉 heightened activity in the amygdala, putamen [2], hypothalamus, anterior cingulate cortex, insula [3, 4], hippocampus and frontal regions [5]
👉 reduced responsiveness to positive stimuli

This suggests disrupted emotional regulation and reduced capacity to experience positive emotion.

Experientially, PGD reflects a persistent attachment to the deceased - a system unable to update to reality - alongside inflexible emotional regulation strategies.

Interestingly, PGD severity has also been linked to elevated oxytocin levels and is functionally related to separation anxiety [6].

All of this points toward PGD being distinct from other grief-related conditions.

This distinction is reflected in treatment. PGD responds more effectively to grief-specific psychotherapy than to antidepressants - suggesting that relational disruption is best met with relational repair.

From an emotological perspective, this makes sense. When emotion energy remains unresolved in the body, cognition alone cannot metabolise it. Somatic, emotion-focused approaches may offer a necessary pathway forward.

MORE INFORMATION

📌 BEREAVEMENT ANNIVERSARY REACTIONS
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16i79X4wT3/

📌 BEN & MATERNAL/CAREGIVER LOSS
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15NFjSyZhp/

📌 BEN’s LINK TO CHILDHOOD ASTHMA
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AAxB4Y5z2/

📌 HOW TAOISM IDENTIFIES OUR EMOTIONS:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FmXgVBePY/

📌 GRIEF & THE CORPOREAL SOUL (PO) IN TCM
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18rTVDWL98/

📌 HOW EMOTIONS MAINTAIN HEALTH:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/197UgirEPP/

📌 HOW EMOTIONS MODERATE HEALTH:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CDsN3PviX/

📌 TAOIST ENERGETICS OF NEEDS MET
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FiYxvSek4/

📌 TAOIST ENERGETICS OF UNMET NEEDS / BEN
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17ixsR9pjD/

📌 Emoturity - Nervous System Emotional Maturity:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16Hh4tXebz/

📌 Emoturity Affects Life & Health:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19LN8uu4Pt/

RESEARCH:

[1] Bryant R, Breukelaar I, Korgaonkar M. A neurobiological perspective on prolonged grief disorder. Trends in Neurosciences, 2026; 49, 173-184 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2026.01.001

[2] Han, S.; Qin, J.; Ma, Y. Neurocognitive processes of linguistic cues related to death. Neuropsychologia 2010, 48, 3436–3442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.07.026

[3] Gündel, H., O’Connor, M. F., Littrell, L., Fort, C., & Lane, R. D. (2003). Functional neuroanatomy of grief: an FMRI study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(11), 1946-1953. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1946

[4] Bryant, R. A., Andrew, E., & Korgaonkar, M. S. (2021). Distinct neural mechanisms of emotional processing in prolonged grief disorder. Psychological Medicine, 51(4), 587-595. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719003507

[5] M. Fernandez-Alcantara, et al. Increased amygdala activations during the emotional experience of death-related pictures in complicated grief: an fMRI study
J. Clin. Med., 9 (2020), p. 851 https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9030851

[4] E. Bui, et al. Circulating levels of oxytocin may be elevated in complicated grief: a pilot study Eur. J. Psychotraumatol., 10 (2019), Article 1646603. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1646603

[6] Maccallum, F.; Bryant, R.A. Imagining the future in complicated grief. Depress. Anxiety 2011, 28, 658–665. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.20866













THE MISSING MIRROR IN BABYHOODThe discovery of mirror neurons in the 1990s transformed our understanding of how the brai...
24/03/2026

THE MISSING MIRROR IN BABYHOOD

The discovery of mirror neurons in the 1990s transformed our understanding of how the brain links perception, emotion, and behaviour [1].

Mirror neurons bridge what we see and what we feel. They fire both when we act and when we observe another acting, creating an embodied sense of “what it feels like” to be them [2].

Through this, they enable emotional contagion - the process by which we unconsciously and consciously “catch” the emotions, expressions, and behaviours of others [3]. This underpins:

🥰 emotional regulation - aligning internal states with the social environment
🤗 empathy - the capacity to share another’s inner world [4]

This system begins in infancy. Even very young babies show mirror-like responses to faces and gestures, shaped through repeated social interaction [5]. And this is the key point. While biologically primed, mirror systems mature through emotionally attuned interaction. When caregivers mirror an infant’s internal state - through face, tone, and presence - the brain begins mapping emotion to experience.

This is not surface imitation. Observing emotion activates not only mirror regions, but deeper structures such as the anterior insula and cingulate cortex - areas of first-person emotional experience [6]. The infant, in effect, feels themselves being felt.

This extends beyond emotion. Face-to-face attunement can synchronise physiology, including heart rate, between caregiver and infant [7].

So, one thing becomes clear: mirror system development is not just biological - it is relational.

🎯 the mirror neuron system requires BEA - Babyhood Emotional Attunement.

Through attuned mirroring, the brain is wired for recognition, regulation, and empathy. Without it, this wiring is incomplete.

Hence BEN - Babyhood Emotional Neglect leaves its mark. Not just in behaviour,
but in how a human being feels, connects, and understands others. An underdeveloped mirror neuron system may increase vulnerability to traits such as narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism.

MORE INFORMATION:

📌 Introduction of BEN: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=894198262721482&set=a.457198723088107

📌 THE THREAT IN BEN
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FA9rX3zfG/

📌 BEN CHANGES WIRING OF THE BRAIN:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A2TFYgTt6/

📌 DSM LABELS of BEN:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17NRmtgiyo/

📌 BEN’s RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DARK TRIAD:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AQqmsutyw/

📌 BEN’s RISK OF ADHD
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EAaz3vLjR/

📌 INTRODUCING BEA – BABYHOOD EMOTIONAL ATTUNEMENT:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DHEbELSCW/

📌 CO-REGULATION – IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT SOOTHING
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GdDxodxJh/

📌 IMPROVING LONG-TERM HEALTH OUTCOMES
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GBmxvvYup/

📌 Emoturity - Nervous System Emotional Maturity:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16Hh4tXebz/

📌 Emoturity Affects Life & Health:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19LN8uu4Pt/

📌 EMOTURITY IS BUILT ON NEUROPLASTICITY
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CFA4pMemf/

RESEARCH:

[1] Lacoboni M, Dapretto M (2006) The mirror neuron system and the
consequences of its dysfunction. Nat Rev Neurosci. 7(12):942-51. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2024

[2] Rizzolatti G, Craighero L (2004) The mirror-neuron system. Annu Rev
Neurosci. 27:169-92. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230

[3] Lacoboni M (2009) Imitation, empathy, and mirror neurons. Annu Rev
Psychol. 60:653-70. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163604

[4] Gallese V, Goldman A (1998) Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of
mind-reading. Trends in cognitive sciences. 2(12):493-501. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1364-6613(98)01262-5

[5] Rameson LT, Lieberman MD (2009) Empathy: A social cognitive neuroscience
approach. Soc Pers Psychol Compass. 3(1):94-110. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00154.x

[6] Simpson EA, Ferrari PF. Mirror neurons are central for a second-person neuroscience: insights from developmental studies. Behav Brain Sci. 2013 Aug;36(4):438. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X12002051

[7] Feldman R, Magori-Cohen R, Galili G, Singer M, Louzoun Y. Mother and infant coordinate heart rhythms through episodes of interaction synchrony. Infant Behavior and Development. 2011;34:569–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2011.06.008















NADINE BURKE HARRIS – WE DON’T HAVE TO WAIT"The data shows that ACE scores are linked to chronic later life diseases. We...
23/03/2026

NADINE BURKE HARRIS – WE DON’T HAVE TO WAIT

"The data shows that ACE scores are linked to chronic later life diseases. We don’t need to wait for the disease to manifest before intervening."

NADINE BURKE HARRIS
Paediatrician, Surgeon General California (2019–2022)

The original ACE study (1995–97) was unequivocal: childhood adversity is strongly associated with chronic disease, reduced lifespan, and early death.

Yet despite its significance, the findings struggled to translate into meaningful policy.

Over two decades later, Nadine Burke Harris brought this science into public health awareness through her book, “The Deepest Well” - demonstrating how deeply early adversity becomes biologically embedded.

These effects are not transient. Without appropriate support, they can persist across the lifespan. But most crucially, the relationship is dose-dependent: the higher a person’s ACE score, the greater their risk of multiple chronic conditions.

And yet, systems still largely wait for symptoms to appear. But by then, the biology has already been shaped. The opportunity is earlier. Because risk can be:

➡️ Identified simply.
➡️ Measured.
➡️ Tracked.

During her tenure as Surgeon General of California, Burke Harris championed universal ACE screening in paediatric care - paired with trauma-informed, multidisciplinary support. This reframes healthcare:

From reaction → to prevention
From symptoms → to source
From late intervention → to early protection

And beneath this science sits a deeper layer: early adversity is not only external. It is internalised - within the developing nervous system and body. What is often missed is the absence of emotion-specific attunement in early life; what Somatic Tao defines as BEN - Babyhood Emotional Neglect.

BEN is not overt trauma. But the lack of consistent, attuned co-regulation.
Because emotion energy that is not met does not disappear. It is held within the biology.

Awareness of ACE risk is not about labelling. It is about insight. Direction. And the possibility of changing a trajectory - for individuals, families, and future generations.

MORE INFORMATION:

📌 EMOTURITY IS BUILT ON NEUROPLASTICITY
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CFA4pMemf/

📌 THE THREAT IN BEN
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BHBRhLTpY/

📌 BEN CHANGES WIRING OF THE BRAIN
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A2TFYgTt6/

📌 BEN’S EFFECT ON BIOLOGY, BEHAVIOUR & HEALTH
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14VfivnG9Yz/

📌 SHAME IS WIDELY MISUNDERSTOOD
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AzKaUpf4A/

📌 BEN's NEUROINFLAMMATION:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Foy23rEjq/

📌 BEN's RISK OF ADHD
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EAaz3vLjR/

📌 BEN's RISK OF AUTISM
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C1dU9veUm/

📌 BEN's PROPENSITY FOR SYNDROMES
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19fbXzymQs/

📌 BEN’s RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DARK TRIAD:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AQqmsutyw/

📌 CO-REGULATION – IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT SOOTHING:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GdDxodxJh/











22/03/2026

SOOTHING SUNDAY – Tree Awakenings...

The trees
…
Are awakening
…
Showing promise
…
Of what’s to come.











SHAME IS WIDELY MISUNDERSTOODIt’s often treated as a flaw, a belief, or a failure of character.But shame is not a flaw.A...
21/03/2026

SHAME IS WIDELY MISUNDERSTOOD

It’s often treated as a flaw, a belief, or a failure of character.

But shame is not a flaw.

And it is not an emotion.

It is a state of the nervous system.

A protective response.

When emotion energy becomes too intense, too overwhelming, or too unsupported, the body must adapt.

Shame is one of the ways it does that.

It shuts things down.
It disconnects.
It reduces intensity.

Not because something is wrong with you.

But because something was too much to process alone.

And this is where it matters most:

Shame does not begin with thought.
It does not require language.
It develops before conscious awareness.

Which means…

It can be wired early.

In babyhood.

Through Babyhood Emotional Neglect (BEN) —
when emotion energy is not met, mirrored, or metabolised through attuned response.

Over time, the nervous system learns:

➡️ Intensity is unsafe
➡️ Expression is too much
➡️ Disconnection protects

And that pattern becomes what we later call shame.

The bottom line?

Shame is not who you are.

It is what your nervous system learned
to protect you from internal overwhelm.

And what was learned…
can change.
👉 Save this if you’re learning to understand shame through the nervous system.
👉 Share this with someone who thinks shame is ‘just an emotion.

This post is a carousel version of an original Facebook post on 28th January 2026:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AzKaUpf4A/

MORE INFORMATION:

📌 INTRODUCTION OF BEN, BABYHOOD EMOTIONAL NEGLECT: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=894198262721482&set=a.457198723088107

📌 THE THREAT IN BEN:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BHBRhLTpY/

📌 BEN CHANGES WIRING OF THE BRAIN:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A2TFYgTt6/

📌 EMOTION WIRES THE NERVOUS SYSTEM:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BbHRZub7o/

📌 EMOTURITY IS BUILT ON NEUROPLASTICITY:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CFA4pMemf/

📌 BEN’S EFFECT ON BIOLOGY, BEHAVIOUR & HEALTH:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14VfivnG9Yz/

📌 CO-REGULATION – IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT SOOTHING:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GdDxodxJh/













20/03/2026

CO-REGULATION – IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT SOOTHING

No one learns to regulate alone.

Yet we keep expecting them to.

We talk about “self-regulation” as if it develops in isolation.
It doesn’t.

The nervous system is shaped through relationship.

Through tone of voice.
Through facial expression.
Through presence.
Through being felt.

Before a baby can calm themselves…
they must first be calmed by another.

This is not a luxury.
This is not a parenting style.
It is neurobiology.

When this is consistent, the nervous system wires for safety, connection, and resilience.

When it is absent or inconsistent…
the body adapts to manage unresolved emotion energy alone.

And we call that independence.

This is why some adults feel overwhelmed…
or shut down…
or alone with their emotions.

Not because they are weak.
But because they adapted.

Co-regulation is not just comforting.
It is formative.

Because regulation is not learned cognitively…
it is felt into the body.

The question is not:
“Why can’t they regulate?”

It is:
Who was there to regulate with them?

🎵 Music: Cylinder Five — Chris Zabriskie (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0)

Somatic Tao 👉 regular insights on emotions and health.











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Somatic Tao is an integrated, holistic approach to treat all manner of physical and emotional symptoms ranging from: panic and anxiety; to rage and depression due to abuse; to pain from physical injury or surgery. It is a neural-somatically aware therapeutic approach that tracks and teaches how to attune to the nervous system speaking in the body. Working with:


  • the body awareness of Somatic Experiencing (SE) to track the nervous system;

  • the biological and emotional aspects of trauma; and

  • the Taoist philosophy of Chinese Medicine,