Somatic Tao

18/11/2025

TAOIST ENERGETICS OF EARLY LIFE NEEDS

A representation of early life needs according to the Taoist Five Energies of Traditional Chinese Medicine, TCM.

Emotions drive all aspects of our behaviour whether that be explicit behaviour, (e.g., movement of our muscles and joints), or implicit behaviour, (e.g., breathing, heartbeat, release of neurotransmitters and hormones). Hence emotions drive and can change:

➡️ the wiring of our nervous system; and

➡️ the functioning of all aspects of our biology.

In this way, emotions can be understood to underpin all aspects of health – physical, psychological and emotional.

In our early life, our emotions can feel threatening inside our body. This is why co-regulation in early life is so critical. Lack of co-regulation puts us at risk of BEN, Babyhood Emotional Neglect and our brain wiring itself differently for emotions. BEN hinders our brain’s ability to develop optimal emotional maturity – “EMOTURITY”.

Poor emoturity makes us more prone to emotional overwhelm and dysregulation. Poor emoturity underpins:

😞 internalised behaviours e.g., anxiety, depression, self-judgement, self-harm, somatisation to generate physical symptoms; and

🗣️ externalised behaviours, e.g., hyperactivity, impulsivity, aggression, defiance, violence.

As the Taoists have understood for millennia, emoturity is the hidden force driving and deepening lifelong illness and unhappiness - a force set in motion in our earliest life by BEN.

Check Somatic Tao for more information on EMOTURITY and BEN.

MORE INFORMATION:

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

📌 HOW EMOTIONS MAINTAIN HEALTH:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DwqV6gY1d/

📌 HOW EMOTIONS MODERATE HEALTH:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DFBxMFK9k/

📌 TAOIST ENERGETICS OF NEEDS MET
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17WVZGTrdw/

📌 TAOIST ENERGETICS OF UNMET NEEDS
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17Nzco9Rdu/

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

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

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

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

17/11/2025

BEN IMPACTS TRANSITIONS, e.g., PERIMENOPAUSE

I recently had the opportunity to ask Dr Yvonne Farrell, Acupuncturist, Lecturer and Author, how early life trauma might affect the ability of our biology to navigate biological transitions. My question specifically related to the impact of early life trauma and BEN, Babyhood Emotional Neglect, on a woman’s ability to easily transition through the menopausal transition.

Transcript of the video clip below along with link to Yvonne’s 2-day face to face seminar in Melbourne, 22nd/23rd November.

In her reply, Yvonne referred to the following key concepts in Traditional Chinese Medicine, TCM:

📌 CYCLES OF JING - the cycles of Jing (essence) mark major physiological and developmental milestones throughout a person's life. These cycles follow a 7-year rhythm for women and an 8-year rhythm for men, as detailed in the classic text Huang Di Nei Jing (The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine).

For women:

• Age 7: Kidney energy (Qi) becomes more prominent, hair grows longer and thicker, and baby teeth are replaced by permanent teeth.
• Age 14: Menstruation begins ("Heavenly Water" flows), conception is possible, marking the onset of sexual maturity.
• Age 21: Kidney essence peaks, growth is complete, and wisdom teeth appear.
• Age 28: The body reaches its optimal condition, with strong bones, muscles, and abundant vitality and blood.
• Age 35: Jing and physical peak begin to decline. The face may start to wither, hair can begin to fall out, and skin loses some smoothness.
• Age 42: Facial complexion wanes and hair starts to turn white as the major energy channels (three yang channels) begin to decline further.
• Age 49: The "Heavenly Water" (menstruation) ends, leading to menopause. The physique becomes old and feeble, and conception is no longer possible.

📌 CREATING LATENCY - the use of levels of the body’s meridian system other than the 12 Main Meridians as a buffer or reservoir to hold and contain “unresolved pathogenic material” or stagnant, unspent emotions. The aim is to keep such pathogenic energy as far away from the organs as possible to preserve physical and emotional health. The preferred meridian systems used this way are the Luo Collateral and Divergent Meridian systems.

📌 EIGHT EXTRAORDINARY VESSELS/MERIDIANS, (EOMs) - this is the deepest of the meridian systems. These meridians form in-utero to support our body’s core and our genetic material. They relate to deep-seated constitutional issues, ancestral patterns, and hereditary weaknesses and are activated during times of major change, (e.g., the menopause). In post-natal life the EOMs support the 12 Main Meridians and organs that support our everyday, post-natal life.

📌 MIDDLE JIAO - is the section of the torso between the diaphragm and the navel that contains the digestive organs of the Spleen, Stomach, Liver and Gallbladder. Its primary function is to transform food and drink into Qi and Blood and to transport the same to the rest of the body. In TCM healthy, abundant Blood is seen as vital for mental clarity and emotional balance because Blood is said to “carry” our emotions and act as the material basis for the mind.

Video Credit: Sohial Farzam

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO CLIP:

So, you said that some women, um, will need medical intervention for this transition. Um, so examples you gave were chemotherapy, radiotherapy, um, autoimmune conditions.
00:14
Um, I'm interested in the effect of early life trauma, and I've, you know, obviously sort of heard you say that the earth, the middle j is really, really important. And if we have that early life trauma, then our earth's pretty trashed.
00:30
So, would it make sense that early life trauma would, um, probably make the transition difficult?
Yes. Yeah. So, here's how I would sort of explain that. Um, when we have trauma, um, we do our best to survive that trauma and learn from it, right?
00:53
Every time we have something awful happen to us, we have these experiences, we try to learn something from it, you know, we have the emotion associated with it, but then we say to ourselves, well, why did that happen? And can I avoid it? But when you are a child, especially a child in the first CYCLE OF JING, so the first seven years of life, your digestion already isn't fully developed yet, right?
01:18
I mean, the, the joke is, is this is why we don't feed two-year-olds or hamburgers because they can't digest them.
01:27
It takes a full cycle of jing and sometimes well into the second cycle of Jing for the digestion to become functional enough to produce resources. And so that means in the first cycle of Jing, when we have trauma, when we have traumatic experiences, it bypasses all the ways that people would normally CREATE LATENCY postnatally.
01:55
So, when your digestion is functioning, it mediates all the other symptoms, systems. And so if you have trauma as an adult, you can take the emotional experience and shove it into the LUO COLLATERALS until you're ready to deal with it, or you could shove it into the DIVERGENTS until you're ready to deal with it, right?
02:18
You can push it places, but when your digestion is weak like it is in childhood, you don't have the capacity to direct the trauma into latency. And so it imprints right into the EIGHT EXTRA ORDINARY VESSELS, and the eight extraordinary vessels govern the seven and eight year cycles. So, they govern all transition, including menopause.
02:44
So, if those vessels are blocked, or if you've created a ton of latency in other ways, and now the eight extras are burdened, yes, right, it's going to affect the transition, right?
02:59
It's going to change how that transition unfolds because there's going to be so much resistance from this early trauma, and there's gonna be so much resource being used to just stay alive in the face of the trauma that the resources you would use for that transition are not gonna be available. They're gonna be blocked.
03:22
So, this is one of the reasons why we might use the eight extras for somebody who has early childhood trauma affecting the transition. It's a great question. Anything else with that?
03:35
Um, well, I love, I love what you are saying. Um, it, it Aligns with, um, yeah, what I've found and definitely with my personal experience. Um, and, uh, yeah, um, my little baby, if you like, is babyhood emotional neglect, BEN.
03:55
And so what I'm really pulling together right now is that, yeah, if we're then not helped to, um, develop our emoturity, our emotional maturity, um, and process and digest our emotions, um, you know, that have basically arisen due to that early life trauma, we're, we're gonna be really, really compromised when we get to this part of a woman's life. So, yeah. Thank you. That's really, really great, Yvonne.
04:25
Yeah, I often joke, and I do this because I try to keep a little bit of light-heartedness in all of this for women who are going through this, because for some women it's really terrible, but I often joke that, um, if I had a nickel for every time a perimenopausal woman said to me, I used to be able to eat that I would be rich and retired now, right? Because really what they're saying is I can't digest anything anymore.
04:55
And so, when you have blockages in those eight extras, it really behoves you to work on the middle, to work on the, the, um, you know, the mediator for the whole system, that MIDDLE JIAO mediates everything.
05:13
And that means that we have to be aware of diet, that we have to be aware of lifestyle choices, we have to be aware of sleep, we have to be aware of exercise, and we have to accept the fact that our needs for those things change as time moves on.
05:33
And so, this is why I'm saying if you can get a woman in her thirties and prep her for this by teaching her how to have a healthier relationship to food, that can be huge. But then when you add the trauma to that, now you have to also do some deeper work.

LINK TO FULL VIDEO:
https://vimeo.com/1133558088?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

SEMINAR DETAILS:

The Archetypal Nature of the Menopausal Journey
22nd/23rd November 2025
Face to Face
Venue: Amora Hotel Riverwalk Melbourne
649 Bridge Rd, Richmond VIC 3121, Australia

More details and to register:
https://sohialfarzam.com/menopause-an-archetypal-journey-2025

YVONNE’S BIO:

Dr. Farrell has been practicing and teaching Chinese Medicine and Channel Theory since 1996. Her focus is on empowerment of students and patients so that they will embody the spiritual aspects of Chinese Medicine and make them their own. She believes that self-cultivation, self-knowledge and critical thinking are essential in developing capacity as a practitioner of Chinese Medicine.

Yvonne is the author of two books: Psycho-Emotional Pain and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels and her latest, Acupuncture for Surviving Adversity published by Singing Dragon. She has also written several articles for Medicinal Roots Magazine. She teaches continuing education courses in the US and internationally.

Her work is highly recommended.

16/11/2025

SOOTHING SUNDAY – Sending Beautiful Gifts …

Sending
Beautiful
Colourful
Rich gifts
Back to
The earth.

15/11/2025

BEN’s LINK TO CHILDHOOD ASTHMA

Allergic airway inflammation is the most common form of asthma, affecting about 300 million people worldwide [1], and is especially prevalent in children. In the U.S., about 11% of adolescents aged 15 - 19 have asthma [2]. Yet what is often overlooked is how early emotional experiences shape the body’s inflammatory response.

Studies have shown a consistent link between lung inflammation and emotional distress [3, 4, 5], e.g.

👉 military veterans with PTSD have significantly higher rates of asthma [6]; and
👉 children with severe asthma often show more PTSD symptoms [7].

This suggests the lungs and emotional regulation are closely interconnected.

Recent research in mice provides insight into why [8]. Severe lung inflammation was found to disrupt the brain’s ability to “turn off” fear responses - similar to the prolonged fear memory seen in PTSD. The inflammatory molecule IL-17A, acting in the subfornical organ, sends signals to the infralimbic cortex, prolonging a sense of threat. This indicates that lung inflammation can influence higher brain processing involved in trauma and emotional regulation.

So how does Babyhood Emotional Neglect (BEN) fit in?

In early life, emotions are how we communicate needs and seek connection. When emotional signals are ignored, the infant experiences stress and grief. These emotional states are known to heighten inflammatory responses in the lungs, making the airways more reactive to environmental triggers [9]. This means BEN may increase vulnerability to childhood allergic asthma by amplifying stress-related lung inflammation.

Traditional Chinese Medicine has long held that grief affects the lungs. Current research is now revealing biological pathways that reflect this ancient understanding.

In short, BEN is not “just emotional.” It can shape how a child’s body responds to stress and to the environment. Recognizing and responding to emotional needs early in life supports healthier lungs, healthier stress regulation, and healthier development overall.

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

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

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

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

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

RESEARCH:

[1] Vos T., et al. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 328 diseases and injuries for 195 countries, 1990-2016: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet 390, 1211–1259 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32154-2

[2] Asher, I. & Pearce, N. Global burden of asthma among children. Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. 18, 1269–1278 (2014). https://doi.org/10.5588/ijtld.14.0170

[3] Jain, A. & Lolak, S. Psychiatric aspects of chronic lung disease. Curr. Psychiatry Rep. 11, 219–225 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-009-0034-9

[4] Schou, T. M., Joca, S., Wegener, G. & Bay-Richter, C. Psychiatric and neuropsychiatric sequelae of COVID-19 - A systematic review. Brain. Behav. Immun. 97, 328–348 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2021.07.018

[5] Allgire, E., McAlees, J. W., Lewkowich, I. P. & Sah, R. Asthma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Emerging links, potential models and mechanisms. Brain. Behav. Immun. 97, 275–285 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2021.06.001

[6] Brian I. O'Toole B. I. and Catts S.V., Trauma, PTSD, and physical health: An epidemiological study of Australian Vietnam veterans, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Volume 64, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 33-40, ISSN 0022-3999, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.07.006

[7] Vanderbilt D, Young R, MacDonald HZ, Grant-Knight W, Saxe G, Zuckerman B. Asthma severity and PTSD symptoms among inner city children: a pilot study. J Trauma Dissociation. 2008;9(2):191-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299730802046136

[8] Allgire, E., et al. A novel interoceptive subfornical organ to infralimbic cortex circuit relays airway inflammation effects on fear extinction. bioRxiv 2025.07.16. 664367. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.16.664367

[9] Chen E, Miller GE. Stress and inflammation in exacerbations of asthma. Brain Behav Immun. 2007 Nov;21(8):993-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2007.03.009

13/11/2025

THE JOURNEY OF GRIEF

"There's no "stages" journey for emotions in grief
- it's like a three year old scribbling on the walls."

Kate Truitt
Clinical Psychologist, Co-developer of the "Havening Techniques"

MORE INFORMATION

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

📌 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/

11/11/2025

BEREAVEMENT ANNIVERSARY REACTIONS

A post for Remembrance Day/Armistice Day/Veterans Day

Mourning is not a single event; it is a lifelong process that begins in infancy and is continuously reworked as we encounter new losses [1]. Each loss asks the psyche to:

🧩 reorganize the self around absence; and

🌱 reinvest emotional energy into inner resources, relationships, creativity, and personal growth [2].

When grief remains incomplete or traumatic, certain dates or life transitions - bereavement anniversaries can reawaken it. Bereavement anniversaries fall into two types, [3]:

🪦 EXTERNAL: culturally or socially marked dates such as birthdays, death anniversaries, holidays, or remembrance rituals.

💔 INTERNAL: personal milestones that echo the loss, such as reaching the age a parent was when they died, or entering a similar life stage or relational role.

When acknowledged, anniversaries can create meaningful opportunities for grief work - visiting a grave, lighting a candle, sharing memories, or participating in commemorative events. Such symbolic acts support emotional integration and the ongoing work of mourning.

However, when grief remains unresolved, unspent emotion energy may resurface as reactions around the anniversary [4]. A new psychoanalytic review of published case report evidence on bereavement anniversary reactions [3], suggests that these reactions can indicate where the mourning process has become stalled:

🫥 Early-stage denial is associated with lack of awareness, projection, splitting, or somatisation [5, 6, 7, 8]; and

😡 Later-stage anger, guilt, or blame is associated with withdrawal, depressive affect, or affective symptoms [9, 10].

To conclude, bereavement anniversary reactions indicate that the nervous system is still attempting to process the loss and is defending against its perceived emotional impact. They are not “relapses,” but information. They show where grief is held in the body and mind, awaiting recognition: an invitation to reflect; to perform rituals [see comments]; to seek support or somatic therapy; and to protect one’s psychological and physical health.

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/

📌 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] Klein, M. (1957). Envy and gratitude. Hogarth Press. Found in Envy and Gratitude and Other Works 1946-1962, Melanie Klein, Random House, 1997, revised ed, ISBN 0099752018, 9780099752011

[2] Freud, S. (1917). Mourning and melancholia. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, 14(1914–1916), 237–258.https://www.jungiananalysts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Freud-S.-1917-Mourning-and-Melancholia-The-Standard-Edition-London-Hogarth-Press-1.pdf [2025 11 10]

[3] Gibbons, R., Leaune, E., Lau-Tai, P., & Pitman, A. (2025). Understanding the psychodynamics of bereavement anniversary reactions: a systematic review of the clinical case literature. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/02668734.2025.2549881

[4] Gibbons, R. (2024). The mourning process and its importance in mental illness: A psychoanalytic understanding of psychiatric diagnosis and classification. BJPsych Advances, 30(2), 80–88. https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2023.8

[5] Carmassi, C., Gesi, C., Massimetti, G., Shear, M. K., & Dell’osso, L. (2013). Clinical case discussion: Complicated grief and manic comorbidity in the aftermath of the loss of a son. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 67(4), 245–246. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.pra.0000435042.13921.73

[6] Dopson, L. (1979). Unresolved grief presenting as chronic lymphedema of the hand. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 23(1), 89–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(79)90077-1

[7] Yapa, S., & Clarke, D. (1989). Schizophreniform psychosis associated with delayed grief in a man with moderate mental handicap. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154(2), 262–264.

[8] Cavenar, J. O., Nash, J. C., & Maltbie, A. A. (1978). Anniversary reactions presenting as physical complaints. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 135(10), 1227–1228. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/147269/

[9] Gabriel, R. (1992). Anniversary reactions: Trauma revisited. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 5(1), 115–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00756507

[10] Hammett, E. B., Cavenar, J. O., Jr., Maltbie, A. A., & Sullivan, J. L. (1979). A typical grief: Anniversary reactions. Military Medicine, 144(5), 320–321. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/144.5.320

10/11/2025

HOW TAOISM IDENTIFIES OUR EMOTIONS

Taoism, the philosophy behind Traditional Chinese Medicine, (TCM), provides an excellent way to help us get to know our emotions. By correlating the energies of our emotions with aspects and characteristics of nature, it becomes possible to identify the emotion driving behaviour in our body and mind. And, since disease is also related to the behaviour of our neurophysiology, Taoist correlations of emotions also provide insight into the emotions underpinning dis-ease and thus disease.

MORE INFORMATION:

📌 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
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17ixsR9pjD/

📌 EMOTOLOGY:
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1034305068710800&set=a.457198723088107

📌EMOTIONAL MATURITY & RESILIENCY:
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1C5bktgiC5/

📌 EMOTURITY AFFECTS HEALTH & LIFE:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/152MdeR72ew/

📌 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IS NOT EMOTURITY:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15HmjdyGMc/

📌 EMOTIONAL NEGLECT, BEN:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=894198262721482&set=pb.100063939490031.-2207520000

09/11/2025

08/11/2025

WINTER: THE TAO OF STORAGE: 藏之道

The Chinese phrase 藏之道 (cáng zhī dào) can be translated as "the way of hiding" or "the principle/art of concealment". The character 藏 (cáng) means to hide, to conceal, to store, or to hoard; 之 (zhī) is a possessive and modifying particle (similar to "of" or "'s"), while 道 (dào) means "way" or "path".

The three months of winter are called closing and storing.
Water freezes, earth cracks.
Do not disturb the yang at all. Early to bed, late to rise.
(One) must await the daylight.
Make that which is of the heart/mind as though hidden, as though concealed,
as though (one) has a secret intention, already obtained.
Leave the cold, seek warmth.
Do not leak the skin (sweat). Urgently hold onto the chi.
This is the winter compliance of chi and the cultivation of the Dao of storage.
To oppose these principles injures the kidneys.
(Consequently) spring will bring paralysis and fainting
(and) there will be little to offer one’s sprouting [1].

According to the Chinese agricultural calendar the first day of the qi of autumn in the northern hemisphere is actually November 8th.

Image credit: College of Integrated Chinese Medicine

REFERENCE:

[1] Neijing Chapter 2

06/11/2025

EMOTION & THUS BEN DRIVES BEHAVIOUR

Many infants and children today are overly boisterous, unruly and disruptive. It is commonplace for management of such behaviour, whether that be by parents and teachers, or by the medical professional, to be focused on what the infant is doing. This is missing something very important: the amount of physical activity in any child is driven by emotion. Emotion is what moves us towards what sustains and benefits life, as well as what moves us away from threat and danger. Overly boisterous, unruly and disruptive behaviour is often driven by emotion. What is missing in today's society is an understanding of emotion in the body - emotology. A missing that is having a profound impact on the mental and physical wellbeing of too many infants and society at large.

Today's parenting techniques, ("gentle parenting"; the "calm down" approach etc), promote poor emoturity of the brain (emotional immaturity), from the very beginning of life. Current parenting techniques are hindering the ability of babies' and toddlers' brains to develop capacity to work with and cope with emotion energy and develop emotional resilience. Poor emoturity can only lead to inability to regulate emotions in the body. And, intolerability of emotion in the body and mind then leads to emotion projection and acting out - shouting, screaming, hitting etc. A need to be "doing, doing, doing", e.g. "ADHD". Emotion drives behaviour. Thus, too many babies are growing into emotionally overwhelmed toddlers; who grow into emotionally dysregulated children and adolescents; who become antisocial and disruptive, even violent adults.

Mental unwellness isn't founded in the mind. Mental unwellness is founded in nervous system adaptations for poor emoturity. Mental unwellness is emotion unwellness.

The first threat in a baby's life is the threat of their own emotion inside their own body - their protest of unmet need; the high energy of their sympathetic nervous system; their fright flight fight biology, (whether they are old enough to flight or fight or not). Inability of the parent to attune to and meet such emotion generates lack of sense of safety for the infant at a time when their brain is underdeveloped. The baby's brain then becomes adapted for threat rather than safety. Their brain and body becomes wired to be overly alert and full of energy all the time. This in turn drives two behavioural presentations:

1) fright, flight, fight due to high sympathetic nervous system drive; or
2) shutdown and freeze due to high dorsal vagal activity - the high sympathetic drive is still there but immobilised.

Both presentations above indicate poor emoturity. And, because poor emoturity results in further inability to regulate emotion, poor emoturity sustains poor emoturity. The nervous system reinforces its adaptations and mental unwellness prevails. This is indicated by a recent study that has shown anxiety later in life to be related to lack of sense of safety in the first years of life. https://news.yale.edu/2025/03/05/some-childhood-adversity-can-promote-resilience-anxiety-disorders

Furthermore, studies on ABEs, (Adverse Babyhood Experiences) and ACEs, (Adverse Childhood Experiences), prove the connection between early life adversity and chronic illness - mental and physical - later in life. And, the most unappreciated and damaging aspect of all ABEs, (and ultimately ACEs), is Babyhood Emotional Neglect, BEN, for the reasons explained above. Initial studies on early life bonding disruption and consequential lack of emotion co-regulation by a caregiver are also indicating this, (check out Veronique Mead; https://chronicillnesstraumastudies.com/abe-survey

Co-regulation promotes emotion regulation for the baby's nervous system when the baby's nervous system is too immature to emotionally regulate itself. We are failing future generations through ignorance of emotology - the process of emotion in the body in early life. Society is suffering from generation upon generation of BEN. BEN is driving mental illness. The current mental health crisis is actually a crisis of emotion wellness.