Learning to listen to our bodily sensations can lead us to a wellspring of self-trust, health, connection and joy thereby alleviating unnecessary suffering and helping us tune-in to what is natural and life affirming. In this way – integrating sensing, feeling and action – we can more fully align our actions with our deepest values.

One way in which somatic practice is profoundly life-enhancing is when applied to the current epidemic of stress and burnout which shows itself in a wide range of conditions such as high blood pressure, tension, anxiety and panic attacks.

By bringing awareness to our direct felt sense (somatic) we can facilitate a conversation that tells our body it is safe enough. In turn, our body will communicate information that can lead to a harmonious connection with ourselves and with the world around us.

Somatic Health offers a complement to the more cognitive-based addiction therapies with their emphasis on reprogramming thinking. That approach has its merits, but ignoring or sidelining the body can fall short of uncovering the healing that the body is trying to move towards.

It’s all about connection – not just removing the drugs, but recovering a spontaneous, natural and wider connection with self and environment.

I am a member of the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA) which represents the wider field of which Somatic Health is a part. Somatic movement and awareness is all about enhancing human function and body-mind integration, facilitating increased vitality and performance, and expanding creative expression. It’s also concerned with how to integrate learning with personal transformation. 

In my work, informed by these approaches, I guide individuals and groups into an inner experience of their bodies, deepening clients’ understanding of themselves in motion.