Yield | The First Neurocellular Pattern

Somatic Therapy Training | Neurocellular Pattern of Yield

Today I’m going to discuss the first behavioral pattern that Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen presents in her mind-body centering work: yield. 

Yield is the very first pattern that develops in the human brain, and it happens in utero. 

 Yield is a simple state of safety and being, when a fetus is enveloped and held by its mother. 

It’s a sense of calm alertness, where you feel safe to just be in the moment. 

Later, the pattern of yield can present as a child resting on a parent’s shoulder. Their body is relaxed as they allow themselves to be held.

It’s the safety of knowing you can let go. 

Clients who present with a stunted yield may have been born to mothers who experienced some form of stress during pregnancy. There was a lack of feeling safe and secure. 

It’s also possible for the dysfunction to happen later in infancy or childhood, as the pattern becomes more complex and nuanced. 
 

As adults, a struggle with yield might present as constantly being in flight or fight mode.

It’s a client who is always turned on, searching for more, needing to be occupied. They might overwork themselves, or constantly reach for their phone, because their bodies never learned how to be still, and to be with themselves in the moment. 

Not being able to “settle down” and fully exhale

No One To Lean On

Sometimes, a struggle with yield can present as the client being the person people always lean on, and they struggle to find someone they can lean on to support themselves.

A Somatic Physical “Collapse”

Another presentation of yield might present as being shut down, or collapsed. It’s almost like an overdose of yield where they become stuck in inaction. 

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When working with a client, yield is always the first step to address, even when they also present dysfunction in some of the other patterns.

Yield is the basis of healing.

You can’t heal another pattern without first addressing the ability to be.  In clinical work, we use somatic informed skilled to help the body experience a Yield experience. 
 

To health and healing,

Esther 

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P.S. In my next blog, we’ll talk about the second neurocellular pattern– push– and how stunted push clinically presents in adulthood.