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Home • Body-centred Therapies A guide to therapy Contact About Richard Links Useful reading Accessibility 
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Creative Body-centred Therapies
Imagine laughing without a voice, grief without tears, nervous butterflies without a stomach... Right here, right now, we are alive in our bodies, experiencing the world in all its joys and pain. Yet we frequently take our body for granted until it fails; sometimes it can be a stranger to us, or maybe an opponent that we fight against. We may be baffled by its needs or the things it does. It can often seem that our bodies have a mind of their own. Somatic (body) therapists believe that all life experiences are embodied: that your body holds your emotional history just as much as your mind does. The stresses of your life can get locked deep into your muscles, and your behaviour can be determined by that locked-in tension - as though your body were programmed to behave in a certain way, whether or not you want it. This is often referred to as "body-armouring." Deep bodywork seeks to unlock patterns of armouring and help people discover a new way of being at one with their body. Integrative bodywork is highly creative therapy. The focus is on deep massage to release body-armouring, but also involves a rich mix of ingredients, such as counselling, acupressure and subtle-energy work, breathwork, gestalt therapy, psychodrama and play therapy - whatever you need to explore and resolve issues and grow into the person you could be. It is a powerful tool for enabling you to increase your sense of well-being, your capacity to feel, your ability to express, your self-awareness and consciousness. Postural Integration focuses on the body and excludes the psychotherapy elements of integrative bodywork. Deep myofascial massage is used to release body-armouring, supported with breathwork and the use of subtle energy. It is a truly holistic therapy, as its fundamental concern is to bring your mind and body increasingly into harmony. It is a way of helping you become aware of yourself in your body and to empower you to change. To change your feelings, thoughts and your body itself. Pulsing is a form of rhythmic, rocking treatment, partly derived from Hawaiian Kahuna bodywork, that facilitates the release of stress, and has a deeply relaxing yet energising effect. It can focus on simply relaxing the body and be a deeply restful and relaxing experience, or may aim to engage with the body in a playful way, assisting in deepening your connection to your sense of fun and aliveness. Alternatively, it may take a deeper form as emotional therapy, helping unlock one's body armouring and releasing deeply embodied emotions. With its wave-like movements, Pulsing works with the body's natural rhythms and movement, promotes mobility, and facilitates the release of stress on the physical, psychological or emotional level. The connection between emotions and the body are increasingly being borne out by research in neuroscience. For example, read this BBC report on emotional hurt and physical pain.
Quotes from clients:
"The physicality of Postural Integration meant difficult feelings were approached through the body rather than the mind. You were very skilled at finding the way to help me access those feelings and I experienced your response to the intense emotions that came up as sincere, present and authentically non-judgmental. As there was no awkwardness when I expressed things that were really difficult and there was none of the strange atmospheres I have felt in the past when attempting cope with these feelings, I learned it REALLY was safe to talk about anything that came up in the sessions and there REALLY was no judgment. I felt I did not need to protect you from my bad feelings because you could handle them and they did not shock you. I felt I could tell you anything. This acceptance was very healing. " "I am absolutely amazed at the high quality of the therapy. Deep bodywork is fantastic! I loved the two-hour sessions, it felt so time-abundant! How wonderful to feel like there is enough time! The physical massage work, once I was feeling relaxed, was such a healing experience. I really like the mix of the physical bodywork and more gestalt style therapy. It really allowed healing of aspects of me that I didn’t even realize that were hurting!" | |