Understanding Somatic Awareness and the Freeze Response in the Workplace
In the fast-paced modern workplace, our drive for efficiency, productivity, and results often overshadows crucial elements like psychological safety, trust-building, and co-regulation. Ignoring these foundational pillars can erode our achievements and hinder our success.
Somatic awareness enhances our clarity and focus, helping us avoid destructive paths. This practice, particularly the 3N Model—Notice, Name, Navigate—significantly impacts how we handle stress arising from the body's wiring for survival.
The Survival Instinct Trio
The Survival Instinct Trio—Fight, Flight, and Freeze—are well-documented but often misunderstood reactions to real or perceived threats. For this article, I will focus on the Freeze response.
The Freeze Response: A Natural Reaction to Real or Perceived Threats
The freeze response is one of the body's automatic reactions. It occurs when the body becomes immobilized, often leading to feelings of being stuck, overwhelmed, or unable to act. In the workplace, this can manifest as difficulty making decisions, people pleasing, or a general sense of paralysis under pressure.
Recognizing the Freeze Response
Being somatically aware means you can identify when you're entering a freeze state. Here are some signs to watch for:
Physical sensations: Numbness, tightness, or a sense of heaviness in your body.
Emotional cues: Feelings of anxiety, overwhelm, or helplessness.
Behavioral changes: Indecisiveness, walking on eggshells, or withdrawal from social interactions
Navigating the Freeze Response with Somatic Awareness
Understanding that the freeze response is a natural, biological reaction can help you navigate it more effectively. Use the 3N Model—Notice, Name, Navigate—to guide you through this process.
Notice: Pay attention to your body's signals. When you start feeling stuck, pause and scan your body for tension or numbness.
Name: Acknowledge your experience. Labeling what you're feeling—be it stress, fear, or overwhelm—can reduce its intensity and provide a sense of safety.
Navigate: Use somatic techniques to move through the freeze state and stay connected to your rational thinking. This might include deep breathing, various forms of movement, or grounding exercises to reconnect with your body and shift out of immobilization
Practical Tips for Leaders
For leaders, practicing the 3N Model—Notice, Name, Navigate—can build a psychologically safer and more connected workplace culture, reinforcing achievement and driving high-quality results. Here are some practical tips to help you get started:
Get Curious and Start Practicing: Regularly perform body scans throughout the day to develop a habit of listening to your body and recognizing its cues.
Mind Co-Regulation: Safety begets safety. Fear begets fear. When fear tips the scale, it can undermine a team’s chemistry, leading to lost trust and costly derailment. By recognizing your body’s responses, you can better identify and address similar reactions in others, consciously co-regulating to foster a safer and more effective team culture.
Monitor Team Culture: Pay attention to both the obvious and subtle signs of an active threat response within yourself and your team.Proactively protect the team culture by infusing the team culture with as much safety as you can.
By practicing and modeling the 3N Model—Notice, Name, Navigate—you can lead your team to thrive with greater calm and collaboration, achieving high-quality results and reinforcing a positive team environment.
