Hi there,
This is Dr Adele Stewart,
GP and Mindfulness teacher at Wununu Medical Practice.
This is an introduction to somatic tracking for tinnitus.
Somatic tracking is learning how to be with and allow different feelings and sensations in the body through a lens of safety.
In the case of tinnitus,
The sensation is primarily an auditory one.
This is really important mind body work.
We're learning to reinterpret sensations through the brain,
The mind.
Three really important points before we get started with the meditation.
Firstly,
We have to have the intention that what's happening here is okay,
It's safe.
We're not under threat or in danger.
We need to be pretty convinced that the body tissues,
The eardrums and the inner ear and brain are not diseased or being damaged.
That the tinnitus is now an output from our brain and nervous system,
Even though it's heard in the ears.
And this is almost always true of persistent tinnitus.
If it's new or one sided or you've never had a doctor check it out,
It's probably good to get checked out to have your mind put at ease.
Because if we know it's safe,
Then we can just allow it to be.
Sometimes we can know intellectually that our ears and brain are not in any danger.
And the pain is not coming from the damaged parts of the ear.
But there can be still a sense of resistance of fighting it.
We need to work gently with that also.
So the goal in this is to let whatever is happening in your body and in your sense of hearing to happen freely,
To allow to open to just soften or relax around to be at peace with.
The second important point is we're giving permission to our body,
Our system to express itself fully,
Almost as though it's speaking to us.
And when we're able to do this,
The sensations in the body and the auditory sensations tend to shift and change and move.
The tinnitus might feel like it's coming from a different location or change character or intensity.
You might feel different emotions.
And the third really important thing is we don't go into this with the intention of trying to make the tinnitus go away.
Of course there's a part of us that wants that,
But if that's the intention we have going in,
We're not accepting it.
We need to try and accept it,
To freely let it be there and just do its thing.
Your body,
Heart and mind knows how to deal with this.
If you can just get the brain to be a little less on high alert,
Getting the thinking and worrying part of the brain to just back off a bit.
So bringing this mindfulness,
This allowing,
Accepting attitude towards the sounds you can hear,
Including the ones generated internally,
While not feeling under threat,
Hopefully feeling safe,
Perhaps even relaxed can be very powerful therapeutic work.
Once you get the hang of this,
Doing it on your own for a few minutes several times per day can be super helpful,
Rewiring the brain,
Causing neuroplasticity.
