Including the body in psychotherapy
When I trained to be a body psychotherapist in the late 1980’s and early 90’s, working with the body was very controversial. Nowadays it is well understood that trauma occurs when the body becomes dysregulated and is not able to find its way back to a more settled or peaceful recovery state. Body-oriented techniques are recognised as increasing the effectiveness of therapy.
Memories, adaptations to difficult environments, suppressed feelings, behavioural patterns, unmet needs and unarticulated desires are held in the body.
So are aliveness, resilience, determination, kindness and hope. This selection of drawings by the artist and illustrator Isobel Williams conveys the uniqueness of each person’s body and how it speaks of the person – their history, mood, and current state. They are not my clients, but they could be. People with a story to tell.
Illustrations on this page and the title page are by kind permission of Isobel Williams and can be found along with a rich archive of her drawings at isobelwilliams.blogspot.com
(Each person’s story is unique)
Shame and judgement often inhibit our relationship with our bodies and so developing a more compassionate and curious response to your body is often a starting place. It can take time to feel safe enough – to trust that I am listening carefully and without judgement. You may start by telling me about your life and what’s on your mind.
We can expand awareness by tracking body sensation in the moment and finding new connections to our here and now experience of being with another. It can take time to develop this capacity as we are generally taught to ignore the body rather than listen to its whisperings.
Our bodies are wild and complex,
sometimes hard to decipher
sometimes calling us
so clearly….
I consider that by attending to feelings, and making sense of them, we are already ‘working with the body’. For some this is enough, and not everyone is drawn to working more directly with body awareness. For others, some of the approaches listed below are liberating, releasing, fascinating, confirming, soothing, and satisfying. Information about the self, and self-with-another, can come to life in a way that is very immediate and meaningful.
Abundant examples of how this works in practice can be found in ‘Clinical Vignettes’ in my Writings archive
Ways of working with the body.
- Developing a felt-sense
- Identifying and cultivating what creates a sense of safety
- Focus on breathing
- Grounding and finding support from within
- Being curious about chronic symptoms and those that arise in the session (eg throat constriction, queasy stomach, tight
- chest, prickling sensations, fatigue, palpitations, areas of pain or numbness. The list is endless)
- Inviting imagery and metaphor
- Developing awareness of sensation and building a vocabulary
- Noticing how small movements and gestures can tell us more
- Standing, walking, lying down
- Exploring pulling, pushing, reaching, surrender, grasping, hitting, kicking
- Work with sound and voice
- Learning how to self soothe and find calm
- Exploring through playful movement and games
- Expanding the range of expression and palate of emotions
- Touch
- Trauma release drawing on work of Peter Levine, David Bertecelli, Babette Rothschild
- Work with props – blankets, cushions, balls, boomwhackers, fidget toys
Why it matters to come for psychotherapy in person
Online therapy can be very useful and offers advantages for those who cannot travel to the therapist, and many therapists offer this now.
I prefer to work in person as this enables a more complete experience of being together with another. When we are sitting, breathing and moving in the same space, it is easier to feel, understand and explore what your body is experiencing on a moment-to-moment basis.
"In and of itself, verbally understanding, explaining, or narrating something is not sufficient to bring about change." Daniel Stern (2004)