The art of going slow — and why it’s actually the fastest way to heal
By Abi Beri | Somatic Therapist, Dublin, Naas & Newbridge
[Reading time: 10 minutes]
“Heal your trauma in one weekend.”
“Release your blocks in 60 minutes.”
“Transform your life in 30 days.”
We live in a culture that worships speed. Fast results. Quick fixes. Instant transformation. And when you’re in pain — when you’ve been carrying something for years, for decades — the promise of rapid relief is deeply seductive.
I get it. When you’re suffering, you want it to stop. Now. Not in six months. Not after years of therapy. Now.
But here’s what I’ve learned, both as a somatic therapist working with clients across Ireland and as someone who’s done my own deep healing work:
The nervous system doesn’t do fast.
It can’t. It’s not designed to. And when we try to force it — when we try to process too much too quickly — we don’t heal. We retraumatize.
The Problem With “Going Deep”
There’s a belief in some healing circles that the way to process trauma is to dive in. Go deep. Feel it fully. Get it all out. Have the big cathartic release.
And sometimes that works. For some people, at some stages, intense emotional release is exactly what’s needed.
But for many people — especially those dealing with developmental trauma, complex PTSD, or chronic nervous system dysregulation — flooding the system with too much activation too fast doesn’t heal. It overwhelms.
I’ve worked with clients in my Dublin, Naas and Newbridge practices who’ve spent years in therapy that kept retraumatizing them. They’d go to sessions, dive deep into painful material, come out shattered, and spend days or weeks recovering — only to do it all again.
Two steps forward, three steps back.
The therapy wasn’t wrong. But their nervous system needed a different approach. It needed slow.
What Is Titration?
Titration is a term from chemistry. In a laboratory, titration means adding a reagent drop by drop — very slowly, very carefully — to produce a controlled reaction.
Why drop by drop? Because if you pour it all in at once, you get an explosion.
In somatic therapy — specifically in Somatic Experiencing, developed by Dr. Peter Levine — titration means the same thing: approaching traumatic material in small, manageable doses.
Not diving into the deep end. Not “going there” all at once. But touching the edge… and then coming back.
A little at a time.
Here’s why this matters:
Trauma isn’t just a memory. It’s stuck energy. It’s an incomplete survival response that never got to finish. Your body was ready to fight or flee, and it couldn’t. That energy got trapped.
When we approach that stuck energy, it activates. The nervous system starts to mobilize all over again. Heart rate increases. Muscles tense. Breath changes. Emotions surge.
If we stay with that activation too long — if we dive too deep too fast — the system floods. And instead of releasing the trauma, we reinforce it. We teach the nervous system, once again, that this material is too much to handle.
Titration is different.
We approach the activation gently. Touch into a sensation, a memory, an emotion — just enough to feel it starting to activate. And then we resource. Come back to safety. Let the nervous system settle.
Then touch it again. A little deeper this time. And come back again.
Each time, the nervous system learns something new: “I can feel this and survive. I can touch this and come back. This material won’t destroy me.”
That’s not just healing. That’s building capacity.
What Is Pendulation?
If titration is about dose — how much we take in — pendulation is about rhythm.
Think of a pendulum. It swings one way, then swings back. One way, then back. That’s the natural movement of a healthy nervous system.
We get activated — something stresses us, challenges us, threatens us — and then we settle. Return to baseline. Activation, then rest. Sympathetic, then parasympathetic. Contraction, then expansion.
This is how we’re designed to function.
But trauma disrupts this rhythm.
When the nervous system is overwhelmed, it can get stuck. Stuck in activation — chronic anxiety, hypervigilance, always on edge. Or stuck in shutdown — depression, numbness, collapse. Or bouncing wildly between the two without ever finding the middle.
The pendulum stops swinging naturally. It’s either frozen in place or swinging so wildly it can’t find centre.
Pendulation in somatic therapy is the practice of consciously guiding this rhythm. Moving between the difficult material and a resource. Between activation and safety. Between the trauma and the present moment.
Back and forth. Like a pendulum.
Every time we pendulate — every time we touch activation and successfully return to resource — we’re teaching the nervous system something vital: it can move. It’s not stuck. Activation doesn’t last forever. There’s always a way back.
Why Slow Is Actually Fast
Here’s the paradox that most people don’t expect:
Going slow is actually the fastest way to heal.
When you try to go fast — push through, dive deep, force the process — what usually happens? You get overwhelmed. The nervous system floods. You dissociate, shut down, or spin out. And then you spend days or weeks recovering from the session that was supposed to heal you.
But when you go slow — when you titrate, when you pendulate, when you respect the nervous system’s pace — each small step actually sticks. The nervous system integrates what it’s processed. You don’t need weeks to recover because you didn’t flood.
In my somatic therapy practice in Ireland, I’ve seen clients make more progress in a few months of slow, titrated work than in years of therapy that kept overwhelming them.
Not because the previous therapy was wrong. But because their nervous system needed permission to go at its own pace.
The Fist That Opens On Its Own
I often use this image with clients:
Imagine trying to open a clenched fist by prying the fingers apart. The harder you pull, the tighter it grips. You’re fighting the tension, and the tension fights back.
But if you just hold the hand gently — wait, let it know it’s safe — something different happens. The fingers begin to open on their own. Not because you forced them. But because the hand finally felt safe enough to let go.
That’s titration. That’s pendulation. That’s the art of going slow.
We’re not forcing the nervous system to release. We’re creating conditions where it feels safe enough to let go on its own.
What This Looks Like in Practice
In a somatic therapy session — whether in my Dublin clinic, my Naas treatment room, or working online with clients across Ireland and internationally — titrated work might look like:
• Noticing a tightness in the chest when a memory surfaces… staying with it for just 30 seconds… then shifting attention to the feet on the floor
• Feeling the beginning of tears… letting a few come… then looking around the room and naming what you see
• Sensing anger rising… acknowledging it… then taking a breath and feeling the support of the chair
Touch and come back. Touch and come back.
It might seem too gentle. Too slow. Too subtle. But this is how the nervous system actually changes. Not through force. Through patience.
Signs You Might Need a Slower Approach
How do you know if your healing work has been going too fast? Here are some signs:
• You feel worse after therapy sessions, not better
• You need days to recover after processing work
• You frequently dissociate, zone out, or feel “not in your body” during or after sessions
• You keep revisiting the same material without it shifting
• You feel re-traumatised rather than relieved
• Your anxiety or symptoms have increased since starting therapy
None of this means therapy isn’t working or that you’re doing it wrong. It might just mean your nervous system needs a different pace.
As a somatic therapist in Dublin, Naas and Newbridge, I specialise in working with people whose systems need gentleness. Who’ve been through intense approaches and need something different. Who are ready to heal, but at a pace their nervous system can actually integrate.
Practicing Slow in Your Own Life
You don’t have to be in therapy to practice titration and pendulation. Here are some ways to bring this into daily life:
Learn your window. Notice the signs that you’re approaching overwhelm — racing heart, shallow breath, spinning thoughts, the urge to escape. These are signals from your nervous system. You can notice them and step back before flooding.
Build your resources. Resources are anything that helps you settle — feeling your feet on the floor, looking around the room, thinking of a safe person or place, touching something with a comforting texture. These aren’t distractions. They’re anchors.
Practice the pause. When emotion rises, pause before reacting. Not to suppress — just to slow down. One breath. That’s pendulation happening naturally.
Let small be enough. A single tear can be a complete processing. A small tremor in the hands can be a profound release. We’ve been trained to think healing needs to be dramatic. It doesn’t.
The Guided Practice
I’ve created a full guided meditation exploring titration and pendulation — what they are, why they matter, and how to practice them in your own body.
It’s called “The Art of Going Slow” and includes a somatic journey into touching and returning.
Working Together
If you’ve been through healing work that felt like too much — or if you’re wanting to start trauma therapy but nervous about being overwhelmed — somatic therapy with a titrated approach might be what you need.
I work with clients in person in Dublin, Naas and Newbridge, and online throughout Ireland and worldwide. We go at your pace. We respect your nervous system’s wisdom. And we trust that healing happens not through force, but through showing up — gently, slowly, again and again.
Your healing will take as long as it takes. And that’s okay.
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