I often use the term "bautie", and recently realized I've never actually talked about what it means to me!
Bautie is a play on words to represent how trauma and stress can impact our brains and bodies.
Although the mechanics and physiology of our bodies will certainly be different, if you're here, one thing we likely have in common is that they've been impacted by trauma, stress, and possibly neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and ADHD.
Here are a few images from the somatic release presentation I did back in January to show some neurological factors that can impact our stress experience.
As you can see from some of these differences, this is why much of the "normal" stuff doesn't work for us when it comes to somatic release and processing through (emotional) dysregulation.
By the way, I'm doing a similar presentation again, but as a workshop - details here!
In some ways, I think of this as a 'divergent' version of the "typical" brain and body; my brain and bautie will always function differently, so it's about acknowledging and working with that instead of against it.
Three specific examples of how this plays out for me:
I will never be able to do a pull-up regardless of how strong I am because my hypermobile body is simply not built to get there - and that's okay.
I will never be able to force myself to eat things "for my own good" if they're not good because of my sensory issues with food, OCD, and ARFID will quite literally not allow it - and that's okay because fed is best.
It will always require more energy resources to complete "regular" daily tasks because of my executive functioning issues.
I will always need to consciously work on getting out of my brain to get back into my bautie, which is my key to somatic release... it just literally cannot happen when I'm frozen or told to "sit quietly with my thoughts" - and that's okay.
So when I use the term bautie, I'm referring to those of us who need more than "typical" solutions/advice usually offer us. We're complex and complicated and... that's okay.
We need understanding and release that is safe and rooted in acknowledgement and acceptance rather than goals of being... well... typical.
At the end of the day, the only thing I want is for us to be safe, comfortable, and content in our bauties.
That's the goal.
Sending love,
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