Body work
Body psychotherapy is traditionally based on the belief that body and mind are interconnected, meaning that emotional and mental issues are invariably experienced in both the mind and the body. When these difficulties aren’t held consciously they can appear symptomatically, as physical illness.
Many of these issues can be seen as having their links with early childhood traumas. These areas can sometimes be difficult to access through talking therapies alone.
I offer a non-contact approach to working with the body. Having worked with clients over a number of years, I have found that the inclusion of the body allows a far more reliable and accurate reference in working with these places of emotional and physical disturbance.
“Most trauma therapies address the mind through talk and the molecules of the mind with drugs. Both of these approaches can be of use. However, trauma is not, will not, and can never be fully healed until we also address the essential role played by the body. We must understand how the body is affected by trauma and its central position in healing its aftermath. Without this foundation, our attempts at mastering trauma will be limited and one-sided.” Peter Levine. (1997) Waking The Tiger.
Practically, my starting point may be to ask what your experience of your body is right now? If you are able to locate a particular feeling or emotion in your body? Or, is there an image which emerges for you as you feel into your body?
These explorations can act as entry points and become a means of highlighting underlying emotional and physical disturbance, as well as begin bringing the mind and the body into relationship and greater understanding. Once this relationship and dialogue can be fostered the mind/body invariably holds its own wisdom in healing itself.
These places of healing can then become catalysts in accessing greater presence and equanimity in ourselves and our environment.
For more information:
https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/body-psychotherapy