Titration and Pendulation

Somatic Experiencing® often works with difficult experiences through two related principles: titration and pendulation.

Titration means approaching an experience in small, manageable portions rather than asking ourselves to take in everything at once. In a somatic meditation, this might mean noticing only a small aspect of a sensation, emotion, memory, or bodily response, and then gently returning attention to something that feels neutral, steady, or supportive. The aim is not to avoid what is difficult, but to make room for encountering it without becoming overwhelmed.

Pendulation describes the natural movement between experiences of activation and experiences of greater ease, settling, or support. Rather than remaining focused exclusively on what feels difficult, we may move our attention between a place of tension and a place of relative comfort, between contraction and spaciousness, or between what feels heavy and what feels steady. This movement can help us discover that a difficult experience does not have to occupy the whole field of awareness.

In Mirari's Somatic Meditations on the Passion of Christ, there is no particular bodily response you are required to produce. You are invited to notice what is present with curiosity and compassion, while allowing yourself to move closer to or farther from an experience according to what feels manageable or desirable. The goal is not to force release, relaxation, or resolution, but to cultivate a greater capacity to remain present to yourself with freedom and choice.