Episode 10: Self Discovery is Worth the Wait

Chris welcomes Ranpreet Anthony, a transmasculine Two-Spirit and neurodivergent Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP) with over twenty years of experience in the mental health field. Together, Chris and Ranpreet explore SE, Ranpreet’s own journey to self-discovery, and how his late-in-life diagnosis came at the perfect time. This conversation is a beautiful reminder that while growing into yourself takes time, stepping confidently into who you’re meant to be is worth the wait. Links:Autism Learning Lab Website: https://www.autismlearninglab.com/Email: [email protected] about Ranpreet Anthony: https://www.autismlearninglab.com/about-ranpreetSomatic Experiencing: https://www.somaticexperiencing.com/somatic-experiencingQuotes:[4:51 - 5:08] Ranpreet: Somatic Experiencing is Peter Levine’s life’s work and it’s based on the idea that trauma isn’t in the event but it’s what becomes stuck in the nervous system as a result of not having the chance to go through a completion. [7:21 - 7:58] Ranpreet: So, we’re kind of like, piecing it apart and then getting curious about what happens when they begin to feel the first signs of dysregulation. So, what tightens? Is it the jaw, is it the legs, where do you, where do you brace? And then that’s generally when I would recommend, that’s when you might be able to do a Somatic Experiencing technique to see if you can come back into your window a little bit, right? And then that way it’s not getting so big and it’s, ideally, reducing shutdown states. [9:15 - 9:55] Ranpreet: I think it wasn’t until I started transitioning and I started to feel more comfortable in my body, in who I was, that the stimming behaviors came to the surface a little bit more. But I had a turbulent childhood and so, if somebody had asked me years before, are you Autistic? I would have said, oh, no, I think it’s just probably nervous system dysregulation from complex trauma. And so it, it had to get to a place where I could differentiate between nervous system dysregulation from trauma and just Autistic stimming behaviors.