ABOUT BODY-ORIENTED COUNSELLING
Why Include the Body?
A better question might be 'why would you not include your body in a process of deep self exploration and change?' Modern science continues to confirm just how interconnected our mind and body are to our overall sense of wellbeing - and a problem in one is often connected to a problem in the other. The body is also the place where we store a lot of our past experiences and memories.
We live in an increasingly disembodied culture, glued to our screens for hours a day and often far removed from what's going on inside us at the deeper levels. Science has confirmed that our body is the centre of our emotional intelligence and intuition, and the more we learn to inhabit it and listen to the messages it sends us, the more we are able to live in harmony with our deepest feelings, wishes and needs.
The more disconnected we are from our body, the more likely that mind and body will be in conflict with each other. It's this state of inner conflict with ourselves that often underlies the various problems and symptoms we experience and label as 'stress' 'burnout' 'anxiety' and 'depression' or in psychosomatic problems like panic attacks, migraines, digestive issues, low energy, sleep problems or chronic muscle tensions.
Like all good counselling, my body-oriented approach is relational, which means that it's based on the establishment of a trusting human relationship, rather than relying on a set of techniques.
A session will often involve sitting in chairs and talking, just like any other form of therapy.
Alongside traditional talking therapy, I also offer other creative possibilities for exploring what's going on inside of you.
These include:
mindfulness
A fundamental part of the work. Mindfulness helps you to develop your capacity to see and feel more clearly what's going on inside and outside of you in the here-and-now. The more you can develop your capacity for mindfulness, the more choice you will have in how you respond to stressful situations.
Free-Movement
Also known as 'vegetotherapy.' A form of free movement that helps you body to learn to express itself more freely, releasing old memories and emotions you might have stored in your body.
art
Use art materials to develop your connection with your creativity, and explore thoughts, feelings and experiences that are difficult to put into words.
biodynamic massage
Using carefully attuned therapeutic touch to support your nervous system to calm down and let go of tensions and stress that are being held in the body.
emotional expression
Alongside naming and getting to know your emotions, I offer a supportive space for you to learn how to feel and express them in a safe and therapeutic way.
bREATHWORK
Working with your breath offers one of the few ways of directly working with your nervous system. This can be very helpful in helping you to calm yourself and let go of tension
gestalt dialogues
Using cushions and objects to have therapeutic dialogues with parts of yourself, and important people in your life. This can offer a powerful opportunity for learning more about different parts of yourself, and for expressing long-held thoughts and feelings out loud.
dream work
Explore the messages hidden in your dreams using dream analysis, art, physical movement and psychodrama.
Working at your own pace
Sessions are different for everyone, and each session is specially tailored to meet you where you are in the moment.
The intention is always to support you in your self-discovery, and what feels right for both of us will always be discussed and respected. There is never any pressure to use methods that don't feel comfortable for you.
Life Scripts and Core Beliefs
We develop our attitude towards life and the world when we are very young, and this shapes our choices, behaviours and relationships as an adult. Some people call this our 'life script'.
A lot of the key foundations for our life script are laid before we've even learned to talk, and they are held and expressed in our body through habits, postures, muscle tensions, breathing patterns, gestures, movements and expressions. These ways of inhabiting our body enabled us to survive when we were young, but the cost of this is often a limitation on our ability to feel and meet our own aliveness now as an adult. We begin to feel stuck, lost, low or worried - and this is often when we seek support.
Body-Oriented Counselling helps us to become conscious of how our background life script is influencing and limiting us right now - both in our mind and in our body. This can be a very empowering process. By becoming more conscious of our habitual ways of being in the world, we discover that we have the power to change them, we have more choices and we are no longer a victim of our past.
As a Body-Oriented Therapist, I believe that deep and lasting personal change cannot come through intellectual effort alone. All emotional experiences are physical, bodily experiences, and our emotions, if we will let them, can be the guides to showing us what we really want and need in this life.
In this context, I see your problems as messages from your innermost self, and similar to a foreign language that needs translating, we need to decipher their meaning.
Repetitive worries, feelings of stress, low moods, difficulty sleeping and chronic muscle tensions are all seen as communications from your inner world to you – and often the message is “Something isn’t right here and needs your attention!” My job as a Body-Oriented Therapist is not to ‘fix’ or ‘change’ you, but to offer a safe and supportive space in which you can slow down and meet what is going on inside of you. By doing this you can begin letting go of your old, unhelpful 'script' and start reflecting on what is most important to you in this life.
In Body-Oriented Counselling, true health is seen as much more than just the absence of problems, and our focus goes far beyond becoming 'less unhappy'. Exploring your pains and sorrows is an important part of this work - but ultimately the focus in Body-Oriented Counselling is to support you to feel more fully in contact with your own aliveness. This involves developing an increased capacity for joy and pleasure, unlocking your potential for more creativity, spontaneity and the discovery of meaningful work - and the ability to enter into a mature, loving relationship with another human being.
I also believe that this type of personal growth and development is inseparable from finding a bigger sense of meaning and purpose in life, a sense of belonging to the wider world. We must each find our place in relation to the universe, and to do this mind and body need to be working in harmony with each other.