Somatic Archaeology
Welcome to Somatic Archaeology™, the web home of our transgenerational healing model and training programs.
Our mission is to remember the past in order to revision the future.
Timeline of Somatic Archaeology™
1995
- Kincentric Transgenerational Healing Modality Somatic Archaeology developed
1996
- Somatic Archaeology Trainings initiated:
- Somatic Archaeology Healing Circles at Naropa University, Boulder, CO
- Somatic Archaeology for Bodyworkers taught at schools nationally
- Somatic Archaeology 100 hour Master Class for Health Care Professionals
2008
- Book Published: My Body My Earth, The Practice of Somatic Archaeology
2011
- Generational Brainspotting™ Trainings initiated: Phase One and Phase Two
- Somatic Archaeology goes International!
2012
- Research Study: Ruby Gibson, doctoral candidate at Holos University, researches the cross-cultural efficacy of Somatic Archaeology.
- Tools for Transgenerational Change announced! See our Store for details.
Healing 200 years of History!
210 years = 7 generations x 30 years (one generation)
1802- 2012 = 210 years of historical healing impact
2012-2222 = 210 years of future healing impact
420 years = a total of 14 generations of influence
What is Somatic Archaeology?
Somatic Archaeology is a transgenerational healing model founded and developed by Ruby Gibson, ThM, LMT in 1996, for self-improvement and therapeutic application. Although the words Somatic and Archaeology are an odd combination, they weave together into a theory of healing that impacts our past, present, and future. Our bodies, like the Earth, are the keepers of memory. Just as the Earth contains the historical library of life in its ruins, graves, trees, rocks, and oceans, our bodies inherit the archives of our ancestors in their cells, nerves, muscles, blood, and bones. Adopting the attitudes, patterns, and dynamics of our families, communities, and environment, these elements shape and define us. We become what we’ve inherited, what others have said we are, what our teachers have taught us, and what Earth rhythms have modeled for us. Our Earth, our body, remembers all. In an archaeological excavation of our bodies, we find that the search itself is as valuable as the artifacts that emerge; that our desire to know more about ourselves is the true driving force. History may predispose the future, but examining history gives alternatives to the future. The remains in our bodies directly influence our personal health, thoughts, relationships, and actions—and unearthing these memories can eventually lead to our greatest well-being, and hence, to social change and global harmony. Where we have been can tell us much about where we are going. Ruby’s work is outlined in her book, My Body, My Earth, The Practice of Somatic Archaeology.
Our seven-generation reconciliation paradigm aligns with earth-centered principles and emerging neuroscience. Recent studies in Epigenetics are changing how we therapeutically identify, address and remedy transgenerational imprinting and transmission of trauma/disease. Commonly people continue to have a felt sense of threat or fear, real or imagined, biological or environmental, long after an actual threat has passed. The imprints of fear and suffering are long-lasting because we are meant to record them to inform us of danger at a later time for survival. But often these imprints become hard-wired in our bodies, perpetuating stress, and there comes a time when it is necessary to remember and release the imprints. The actions of developing Somatic Attunement and Earth Resources are necessary precursors to remembering, as they provide a choice, a voice and a sense of empowerment which fuels a new, perceived sense of safety. When we learn how to remember with Somatic Archaeology, we lighten the load of our ancestors, as well as the burdens passed onto the next seven generations.
Remembering Who We Are and Where We Belong
Generations of repetitive suffering from violence, persecution, ethnocide and war establish historical amnesia which manifests as chronic or delayed stress syndromes and survivalist behaviors. Generational amnesia propagates the inability to return to the roots or genesis of our sense of belonging. This loss of identity appeared to be a central organizing factor in many familial and cultural systems. Sequential traumatization, pathogenesis from the preceding seven generations, and mechanisms of defense that have both personal and spiritual dimensions resulted in an entire society recycling past suffering by living incongruous ways of life. From this point of view, the most malignant component of the transmission of intergenerational trauma is the raw, un-integrated somatic affect and emotional imprinting that has never been processed in the parents’ and great-great-grandparents’ generations and, consequently, becomes internalized in the children in another place and time.
The Theory of Somatic Archaeology™
I hypothesize that the degradation of oral traditions and spiritual values due to countless disruptions in generational continuity create a state of historical amnesia, which prohibits the resolution of trauma in both a neurobiological and cosmological framework. Compulsory ‘forgetting’ disconnects us from our spiritual and cultural lineage, evoking spiritual shame and cultural disorientation.
Therefore, I propose that generational ‘remembering’ through a technique I developed – termed Somatic Archaeology™ – can provide the initiative to reconnect neurologically and spiritually with suppressed memories. Acknowledgment, activation and reconciliation of the information contained in these memories bring forth both the emotional charge of traumatic historical experience, and simultaneously releases the persistent anxiety neurologically associated with forced repression.
Activation of memory is important to releasing the stress of amnesia. What we excavate, we must consciously remember, and what stays buried we consciously forget. This dualistic bind freezes our neurobiology into apathetic responses which prohibits the ability to fully solve the dilemma, hence manifesting the symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Remembering requires the expression of emotions and the down regulation of the amygdala. The temporary distress associated with remembering is necessary for neurological reorganization which leads, step by step, to emotional empowerment, psychological integration, kincentric attunement and spiritual reclamation of our unique cosmology.
Somatic Archaeology For Bodyworkers
What were your grandparent and great-grandparent’s experiences? How do their life events and traditional stories affect you? Can your lineage affect your present day physical and emotional health? Can you change what you inherit? And if so, how?
Join Somatic Archaeology™ developer and instructor, Ruby Gibson, ThM, LMT, to learn how transgenerational information is held, managed and accessed through your soma, the living library of your ancestry. Now is the time to discover the epigenetic and experiential skills of Somatic Archaeology™ —excavate body memory, assimilate stress, and minimize unhealthy patterns passed onto future generations.
Somatic Archaeology™ combines somatic attunement, breathwork, aromatherapy, neurophysiology, nature meditation, medicine wheel principles, and stress management models formulated from kincentric principles to create profound shifts in your hormonal, physical and emotional well being. Develop skills to help your clients heal inherited patterns!
- Explore Cause and Effect: The impact of historical trauma on society, family, culture & future generations
- Origins of suffering, stress syndromes, chronic pain, disease patterns, repetitive experiences and injury
- Understand the neurobiological mechanisms of storing/integrating/excavating somatic memory
- Apply the alchemy of the ancient medicine wheel as a diagnostic tool and healing model
- Mindfulness skills for trauma first aide, somatic tracking, emotional release, instinctual resourcing, empowered healing
- Discover how biogeneaological conflicts can lead to present day physiological problems
- Unearth joy, creativity, passion, dreams and authenticity for a full life
