Numbness is usually a cover word for something we haven't yet felt safe enough to feel. Underneath it, there's almost always a feeling waiting for permission.
A lot of clients tell us they feel numb. Numbness means the brain is screening out most of the information coming from the body. This is known as physiological dissociation and indicates a narrow window of tolerance.
This chart shows a common pattern in somatic work:
On the left, fear of feeling keeps the body at a distance, so only a thin sliver of sensation gets through to the brain. Most of the body stays in the dark, until something breaks through uninvited. Because the signal arrives from unfamiliar territory, the brain flags it as dangerous and codes it as painful. The brain then increases it's avoidant, dissociative and numbing activities to try distance itself from the pain, which dampens all feelings, even good ones. Limiting beliefs further crystalize that feelings are intolerable.
The right shows the same nervous system after somatic work. The brain no longer avoids the body, and the sliver of feeling has become the whole bar. Yes, there's more awareness of pain and discomfort, but it's offset by more awareness of pleasure, love, connection, awe, and gratitude. The pleasant feelings make the hard ones bearable.
Feelings also connect us to the people around us which can rescue us from our private island of suffering.
In closing, if you describe yourself as numb, then there must be a feeling that you are not willing to experience or accept.
Thankfully, the feeling of numbness itself is a gateway to the deeper feeling that underlies this pattern.
Practice: Face rub (4 mins)
Sit with any feelings of numbness and see if you can make more contact with these areas.
Can you accept the numbness itself as a valid feeling?
What do you really mean by the word numb? Heavy? Blank? Neutral? Tired?
What starts to emerge as you hold your awareness in these areas.