A somatic memory is a memory stored in a special part of the brain. Not the remember-the-phone-number conscious part. The unconscious catch-the-football part of the brain. Jerry Rice trained in a specially designed way to compensate for a lack of speed (by NFL standards.) He was known for being the hardest working player in the sport. He developed the ability to change direction without signaling to the skilled eyes of professional defenders. He practiced running pass patterns while defended against by two and three defensive backs. He ran for a touchdown after each practice reception. Jerry Rice was disciplined, he installed somatic memories for performing brilliantly, and kept updating them to stay ahead of the competition.
Nature also records safety advice so we don't have to "remember" it. Two boys, 14 years of age race across a darkened parking lot after attending a night game with their families. Dashing through the dim light, they see the car across the lot. Suddenly, they come to an abrupt stop. One boy is on his back, dizzy, pained, and looking up at the stars. He raises his head to see the soles of his buddy's feet up in the air, having tripped across a two-foot-high cable. The buddy is stunned, squinting in the darkness to see what stopped them. "You OK?" they each ask. They get up, compare torn clothes, bruises and bloodiness. Then they inspect the cable that separated two otherwise connected car lots. They limp onward to the car, charley-horses worsening for each of them. 50 years later these men will not run across unfamiliar terrain. Their bodies will automatically slow down these enthusiastic competitors before they give it any thought. It's nature's safety device.
Then there are the stored physical memories of terror that overwhelm the body's natural defenses. These stowed away memories move the person into an automatic action or mode to save his life. Military combat training is intended to keep a warrior functioning effectively during inconceivable danger and unconscionable mayhem and death. For thousands of years, combat veterans have had issues about returning to civilian life after hostilities cease. Western medicine is only recently tackling this wounding of the warrior soul.
Perhaps a surprise issue, noticed by professionals dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among veterans, is the discovery that this malady can be found in adults who were abused in childhood. The resulting, lingering "safety device" behaviors might be seen by family members as bad life choices, inability to follow sound advice or weaknesses of character. But actually, the body remembers being overwhelmed by danger in the home, and created triggers to avoid danger that are very effective, but poorly defined. These hard-wired memories may contain no pictures, just frustrating cattle prods to steer the adult away from what the young child's body interpreted as danger.
In my own "case," I served in the military in a non-combat role, but my difficulties at birth and in my first two months of life set me up for susceptibility to further traumatization by harsh physical discipline. The creation of PTSD may have been in those first two months, with the discipline piling on for additional effect. And I'm being treated for it successfully, 60 years later. How was it affecting me all my life? Next.
