Our wellbeing depends on us being able to tune in to our feelings, both physical and emotional. These feelings serve as our internal navigation system, informing how we respond to whatever is happening in and around us. However, modern living often encourages us to override this system. Despite feeling tired and stressed we push ourselves to keep going. We may spend hours immobile, sitting at our desks or staring at our phones. We ignore various aches and pains that arise and adopt unconscious, defensive habits to navigate around these tensions with minimum discomfort. 

Experiencing trauma can further disrupt this system, causing emotional as well as physical tensions to build up in various parts of the body. Faced with continuous discomfort, we may learn to completely tune out: to become desensitized to our feelings altogether. We may be unaware that our nervous system is stuck in the fight/flight or freeze state, severely limiting access to our cognitive abilities.

In his seminal book "The Body Keeps the Score", psychiatrist, trauma researcher and author Bessel van der Kolk writes: “In order to change, people need to become aware of their sensations and the way that their bodies interact with the world around them. Physical self-awareness is the first step in releasing the tyranny of the past.”

This is where moving meditation practices such as yoga or qi gong can be a help. By building our physical self-awareness they enable us to get back in touch with ourselves, so we can learn to more effectively regulate our nervous system and re-establish a sense of safety. This then opens up the possibility of using cognitive approaches, including potentially working with a therapist, to process the narrative and emotions of the trauma. True healing requires integration of both mind and body approaches to fully process and move beyond trauma.

In addition to my psychotherapy work I offer two body-focused practices as below: