The essence of trauma is disconnection.
How did we get separated and how do we reconnect? Gabor Maté

Trauma

When an experience has been too fast, too unexpected and too overwhelming for you, it can get stuck in your body. You get stuck in a fight, flight or freeze response. This can manifest as chronic stress, alertness, being easily irritated, etc. Trauma can also occur if there was a lack of support and safety in our childhood. This can deeply affect how you experience life today.

Trauma treatment with body-oriented therapy will help you process these experiences in a gentle way, freeing you from identification with past experiences and allowing you to increasingly connect with your own core.

Somatic Experiencing

Somatic Experiencing works with overwhelming life experiences. We focus on the body, the felt sense and the stress patterns underlying the intense emotions. The aim is to support the nervous system in self-regulation, by safely and gradually discharging the survival energy that has taken hold in your body. This will help you move from fragmentation to integration, thereby restoring your sense of well-being.

NARM

If there was insufficient support and safety in your childhood, this can have a lot of impact on how you are in life now. In your early childhood, you developed certain behavioural patterns. These strategies, which were necessary to survive at the time, are often used unconsciously as an adult. What was helpful then can actually get in your way now when connecting with yourself and others. By gaining clarity about this, space opens up for a freer way of relating to yourself and others.

What to expect in a session

A session is a combination of conversation, mindful self-inquiry, and bodywork with touch. We begin with a conversation in which you can share what you would like to get out of the session. Your intention forms the guiding thread of our work together. From there we explore the theme that is present for you at this moment, both in words and in what can be noticed in your body.

During the session I work with trauma-informed touch, such as gentle pressure and attentive, listening touch. Many tension and stress responses arise in the more autonomous parts of the nervous system, where reactions such as startle, freezing, or withdrawal can occur, often before there are words for them. By slowing down and staying with these bodily signals with attention, space can emerge to notice and explore subtle impulses and tensions in the body. We work together by slowing down and attuning to what wants to reveal itself from within. In this way, step by step, more regulation, orientation, and a sense of safety can develop within yourself and in contact with others.

When the focus of the session is more physical in nature, the work can also become more body-oriented. In that case I may use shiatsu and craniosacral techniques to help the body create space where tension has become held.

We end the session with a brief reflection, so that you can consciously integrate the experience and carry it into your daily life.

When to book a session

• When you want to get more in touch with yourself: This is a valuable approach if you want to become more aware of your own body and feelings, and learn to listen better to what your body is telling you.
• When you have physical complaints without a clear cause: Sometimes physical complaints such as pain, tension or fatigue can arise from unprocessed experiences and unconscious patterns.
• You feel stuck: If you are struggling to move forward in your personal development, working with your body can open the door to new insights and growth.
• You are experiencing stress, anxiety or trauma: We focus on reducing stress, anxiety and trauma stored in the body and increasing your sense of wellbeing.
• If you often experience feelings of dissociation: Such as not feeling fully present, it can help you to become more aware of your own body and feelings.

I work with people who are able to take responsibility for their own progress. When problems require more specialised care than can be provided within a solo practice, support through a GP or mental health services is more appropriate.

How many sessions are needed?

Some clients experience relief from their symptoms after only a few sessions, especially if the problems are less profound. Then, scheduling 5 to 10 sessions may be sufficient. For clients working on deeper patterns, such as trauma, chronic stress or long-standing emotional themes, it can be helpful to work together over a longer period of time.

Read more
website: Somatic Experiencing
website: NARM