A Conversation with Jill Penaloza
How can "willpower" fall short when the body’s survival response takes over? In anticipation of our April 21st virtual training, Tools for Mastering Self-Regulation: Cultivating a Life of Harmony and Balance, we sat down with faculty member Jill Penaloza to discuss the physiological realities of being triggered, the limits of cognitive control, and how clinicians can use "bottom-up" processing to move clients toward a state of true dynamic aliveness. Here is what she had to share:
The Ferentz Institute: Many of us were taught that self-regulation is a matter of 'willpower' or 'mind over matter.' From a clinical perspective, why is it so difficult—and sometimes impossible—to just 'think' ourselves into a calmer state when we are triggered?
Jill Penaloza: This is a great question because it helps illustrates why, when doing self-regulation work, we start with educating clients so they don't blame themselves for not being able to 'think themselves' out of activation. When triggered, our amygdala activates to defend against the threat by releasing a cascade of stress chemicals—adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol—that prepare us for fight or flight. In this heightened chemically-driven state we are less able to access the prefrontal cortex and our ability to reason, self-regulate, and decide drops significantly. Even at times when we wish to remain calm, we can find ourselves acting out reactive patterns of hyper-vigilance, anxiety, anger, shut down, and freeze. This happens because the fight-or-flight response is rapid and automatic—it bypasses the rational mind. In these moments, the body is in full alert mode, and survival takes precedence over willpower or conscious thought.
In my clinical experience, self-regulation is one of the cornerstones of self-mastery because it requires us to develop a profound understanding of ourselves—top to bottom and inside out! While "willpower" and "mind over matter" can be useful tools, they are only one part of a much bigger picture. True nervous system mastery necessitates that we develop a deep, embodied understanding of our physical, emotional, and energetic response patterns and learn how to consciously listen to and work lovingly with these.
"When we are dynamically alive, we are stable and grounded, we experience a sense of flow and relaxation in action."
TFI: Your work focuses heavily on 'felt sensations.' For someone who feels disconnected from their physical self, what does it actually mean to 'access the wisdom of the body and how does that lead to better emotional control?
JP: Many of us have been raised and educated in systems that prioritize thinking over body awareness, promoting a split between the head and the body, valuing cognition above body-based knowledge, and encouraging disconnection from the body. As a result, most of us have not been taught how to access and effectively process the information stored within our bodies, leaving our bodies, and our cells, to hold excessive amounts of stressful “information.” In cases where an individual has experienced extreme stress or trauma, this “holding” can create an additional burden, as moving into the body can feel dangerous and even life-threatening.
When I refer to “accessing the wisdom of the body,” I’m inviting the listener to imagine developing a new kind of relationship with their body. In this relationship, the body is respected, listened to, and valued as a guide. The process of listening is slow and steady, honoring the body’s natural pace rather than one dictated by cognition. Body-based work, relaxation practices, rhythmic meditative movement, artmaking, journaling, CBT, parts work, and a combination of individual and group therapy that promotes sharing are particularly helpful in this healing process.
Over time, and with practice, this facilitates a state of embodied consciousness which allows us to access a natural physiological relaxation response. This not only counteracts the fight or flight response but also helps reduce blood pressure, lower pulse rate, diminish oxygen consumption, increase alpha brain waves (associated with relaxation), and, in many cases, provide an improved sense of mental and spiritual well-being.
TFI: In your upcoming work, you discuss 'bottom-up' processing. How does engaging with creative materials—like markers, clay, or movement—bypass our internal critics and help us process emotions in a way that traditional talk therapy might not?
JP: When I talk about bottom-up processing, I’m typically referring to accessing our present-moment experience - what is actually happening right now - while focusing on sensations and the senses. This type of experience is independent of memory and automatic, with no story attached and minimal habituated pattern associated with it. In session, as a client engages their body through artmaking and/or meditative movement, we listen to how their body feels as they create and move from moment to moment. This helps the client connect with the here and now and allows them to notice and track the shift between present-moment experience and habituated patterns and states of consciousness.
Our internal critics reside within our habituated patterns, so when a critic arises during this work, it simply indicates that the client has moved out of the present moment and into habituated functioning. Over time, and with non-judgmental awareness, this shift can be used to activate curiosity. The client can even begin to benefit from the critic, who now serves as a kind of signal to return to what is happening in the present moment.
Over time, from a state of present-moment awareness, self-regulation improves, the wisdom of the body can be more consistently accessed, and the felt sensations that have sustained habituated patterns can be integrated. I strongly believe this type of work can be done in all therapeutic settings, as long as the treatment provider is engaged in their own embodiment work and has training in using tools that support the integration of mind, heart, and body awareness.
TFI: Self-regulation is often framed as just 'calming down,' but you also talk about 'Dynamic Aliveness.' How does mastering our nervous system actually lead to more joy and vitality, rather than just the absence of stress?
JP: At its best, embodied self-regulation invites into an experience of dynamic aliveness, into choiceful presence, rather than simply calming down. Dynamic aliveness is the ability to consciously maintain - and/or bring ourselves back into - a state of full, embodied, open-hearted, authentic, and courageous presence in moments of real or perceived threat, danger, and activation. In this state, our hearts are more open and joy and vitality arise naturally along with all other experience.
Dynamic aliveness is much more than simply being calm, and it is available to everyone. When body-based self-regulation work is practiced with dedication, the wisdom of the body begins to take the lead—synchronizing our autonomic nervous system with our senses, heart, blood flow, and cellular functioning, and bringing us into a state of wholeness. With intention and practice, we learn to access this state of wholeness more consistently and, over time, become less likely to react from old, habituated patterns that no longer reflect who we are.
When we are dynamically alive, we are stable and grounded, we experience a sense of flow and relaxation in action, we perceive the world around us with clarity, and we naturally act from a place of wisdom consciousness, compassion and loving presence.
Tools for Mastering Self-Regulation: Cultivating a Life of Harmony and Balance
Tuesday, April 21
Virtually on Zoom
Earn 6 CEUs
Jill Penaloza, LCPAT, ATR-BC, CGP, is an art psychotherapist and executive advisor with over 20 years of experience in post-traumatic wellness and psycho-spiritual development. As the co-founder of 2XL Concepts, she integrates heart-based leadership and embodied mindfulness to help individuals and organizations access their innate capacity for healing.