She’d been sexually abused since the age of five and was terrified of men. Not that you’d know it from the seductive way she dressed or her overtly flirtatious ways; but, Simone was shut down.
“I don’t say no anymore because, when I did say no, no one listened,” she explained.
Simone had been molested by an uncle since the age of five and then by her twenty-two year old cousin from the ages of twelve to sixteen. She’d moved out of her house at seventeen and had begun seeking sex as a substitute for love. By the time I met Simone, she had been attending SLAA (Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous) meetings for two years with no long-term stints of sobriety and a dwindling sense of hope.
In Frog Pose, by opening her pelvis and groin, Simone was able to acknowledge that she desperately wanted love and that, despite her promiscuous behavior, she was starving for intimacy. She’d never admitted (even to herself) how painful it was to have the uncle that she loved and viewed as a surrogate father fondle and touch her. She felt dirty. I held Simone as she wept. Five minutes of yoga allowed her to delve into her core wound in a way that years on a therapist’s couch never had. A single yogic posture opened her body physically while exposing her emotionally.
Of course, that’s not the end of the story. EFT helped Simone to release much of her stored pain. Continued work with me, SLAA, a qualified therapist, and a support group for victims of sexual abuse brought Simone a life beyond sex addiction, a life in which true intimacy and self-exploration became not only possible but inevitable.
emotionalyoga 