Procrastination Is a Freeze Response: Everyday Somatics with Jennifer Tantia

Procrastination Is a Freeze Response: Everyday Somatics with Jennifer Tantia

Author: Serge Prengel July 29, 2026 Duration: 21:43

Task avoidance isn’t laziness—it’s an automatic freeze response. In this conversation, Jennifer Tantia explores everyday somatics beyond trauma, sharing how writer’s block is often a nervous system contraction. Discover how mindful somatic tracking, bottom-up regulation, and experiential self-awareness help melt freeze states through relational presence and curiosity rather than force.

Key Topics:
Task avoidance as an autonomic freeze response
Somatics beyond trauma in everyday life
Experiential self-awareness & bottom-up regulation
Mindful somatic tracking to move past writer's block

Resource: ProactiveMindfulness.com


Serge Prengel hosts Proactive Mindfulness, a space where the concept of personal growth is examined not as a distant goal but as something woven into the fabric of daily life. This podcast moves beyond passive theory, focusing instead on change as an active and mindful practice. Each episode features dialogues with experienced therapists, coaches, and mindfulness practitioners, turning abstract ideas into tangible, relatable conversations. You’ll hear real-world examples of how awareness can be applied to moments of stress, decision-making, and personal challenge, making the principles discussed immediately relevant. The discussions are thoughtful and often meandering, allowing for depth and nuance rather than quick fixes. It’s for anyone who finds that standard self-improvement advice feels disconnected from the messy reality of being human. Through these talks, the podcast builds a practical philosophy-one where mindfulness is a dynamic tool for navigating life’s complexities, not an escape from them. Tune in for a perspective that is both grounding and invigorating, reminding us that growth happens in the process of engaging with our present experience, exactly as it is.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Proactive Mindfulness
Podcast Episodes
What is Polyvagal-informed Mindfulness? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:07
How does the Polyvagal Theory affect our understanding of mindfulness? Blake O'Connor, Education Director of the Polyvagal Institute, interviews Serge Prengel.
Elizabeth English: Gentle mindfulness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:15
We talk about freeing meditation from pressures and welcoming every aspect of our inner experience.
Noga Arikha: The embodied mind [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:58
Antonio Damasio described Nora Arikha as a poet and a painter with the soul of a scientist.
Ken Benau: Shame, Pride, and Relational Trauma [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:07
This conversation with Ken Benau serves as an introduction to shame and pride-informed psychotherapy with adult survivors of relational trauma
Lawrence Berger: A quest for meaning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:04
We start this conversation from the perspective that human beings are self-interpreting animals, and go on to explore what gives us a sense of meaning.
Jacqui Lewis: Fierce Love [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:50
Jacqui Lewis & Serge Prengel talk about bringing a quality of fierce love to our life, as a person and as an agent of change.