“The tensions that accompany the impulse to control subside, and the energies of our mental/emotional life are more directed and devoted to listening rather than speaking... We may be able to more easily attend to our people's communications that often remain below conscious awareness: subtle changes in breath, coloring, eye tension, prosody of voice, small movements towards or away, changes in the quality of eye contact. Receptivity means that we don't grasp what we notice for assessment. Instead, we are simply present to those implicit communications in the spirit of holding a tender space in which they can reveal themselves to whatever extent our 'patient's' system feels safe to be vulnerable in the moment.” AwarenessListeningSafe SpaceEmbodied SafetyPolyvagal TherapyNonjudgementRelaxed Listening Book:The Heart of Trauma: Healing the Embodied Brain in the Context of Relationships Source: The Heart of Trauma: Healing the Embodied Brain in the Context of Relationships