Push | The Second Neurocellular Pattern

Somatic Therapy Training

The Somatic Push & Neurocellular Patterns

Today I’m going to continue our mind-body mini series and address the second neurocellular pattern that Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen discusses in her mind-body work: Push. 

Push is a pattern that develops in infancy and then continues to be a skill used throughout life.

The “push” is when the baby first learns how to push away from the parent.

This can look like a baby literally pushing themselves away from their parent’s body, and it can replicate with their hands pushing away an object or pushing their weight off of a surface. 

This is the first stage of a child finding themselves and individuating from their parent. 

They learn that I am not my parent: I am my own person. 

Being stuck in a stunted phase of push might have come from overprotective or hovering parents, or it can come from parents who were the opposite– there was nothing sturdy and safe to push against. 

People who have undeveloped push in adulthood usually struggle with boundaries.

They may have very rigid boundaries, or they may have no boundaries at all.

They might not know where they start and end, and have a tendency to people-please, or develop codependent relationships. 

Another presentation might be a sense of being lost, and a lack of a strong identity and focus. 

The pathway to healing for someone struggling with reach is to first tend to yield, and make sure that it’s healthy and strong, and then somatically and behaviorally restore optimal push patterns. 

Next week, we’ll tackle the third neurocellular pattern, reach. 

To health and healing, 

Esther