Blog #1 in the Therapeutic Development Series.
There’s a change happening in my practice. It started when I noticed that I wanted to learn how to therapeutically touch clients. My being started telling me that some people need touch to heal; that some people need talk and touch. At the same time, I was getting body work that catalyzed my ability to heal.
It was about 6 months into receiving my first Core Synchronism session that I decided I wanted to learn Core as a practitioner.
I took the level 1 Core training and am slowly incorporating it into my work. What I’m noticing is that my previously psychotherapy-centric view point is shifting. I’m stepping into the world of bodywork. Not only am I stepping into the bodywork world; I’m also viewing it through my psychotherapy lens. That perspective creates a bridge between the psychotherapy and bodywork worlds; and it is delightful to be a part of.
Seeing bodywork through the psychotherapy lens has positives and negatives. It allows me to be deeply available to clients who have something stuck in their nervous system or who have strong emotions arise during a session. Likewise, I am sometimes cautious when touching people because in school for psychotherapy, you are highly cautioned not to touch people. Therapists are taught that touching can lead to mixed signals or re-traumatization. While those are possible consequences, some people lack loving touch and can really benefit from it, if done well.
This change is really opening up whole new worlds for me. Worlds that include truly a body, mind, spirit orientation. Not long after I began counseling, I noticed that some people come to sessions, talk, go home, come again and talk about the same things over and over. Or they want to figure things out with their mind, but have a hard time translating the change into their life. One of the worlds that is opening up to me is what happens when people stop talking. Sometimes when we stop talking we are forced into being. Being a human, being angry, being sad, being joyous, being hurt…and on and on. When we only engage our minds in figuring out what is wrong; we leave out essential parts of ourselves.
When we involve our whole being in the healing process, it often leads to much more sustainable healing as well. That’s something I’ve learned from personal experience, not something I was taught. I may have intellectually learned that after school while learning about trauma and how it effects the body, but it really took leaning into my own healing work to learn that my body and spirit don’t need to be left behind.
This is blog #1 to introduce you to the change that’s happening in my practice. I’m going to call it my Therapeutic Development Series; and my plan is to take you through this process with me. I’ll be alternating posting blogs and videos weekly, so you can hear just what I’m up to. My plan is to share my personal thoughts on topics like body work and therapy, how they cross over and the trickiness of practicing both. I want to offer tools for personal and professional use that I’ve learned along the way. Most of all, I want to invite you to join me on this journey of embodied soul that I’ve decided to go on. Let’s share in learning, laughing and living our messy and beautiful human lives!
To us; with so much love,
Erin