As a psychotherapist I incorporate Emotionally Focused Bodywork. This calls forth the moment-to-moment awareness in my clients of the on-going interplay of emotion and sensation. This increased kinesthetic awareness is the foundation for real embodiment. With embodiment comes conscious awareness of the relationship between non-verbal experience and its verbal expression. This dynamic approach integrates several psychotherapeutic modalities along with body psychotherapy and Structural Integration (see both articles). It draws upon the findings of attachment theory, neuroscience, and trauma research in a way that underscores the way our nonverbal experience connects us to the real core of the Self.

The more you inhabit your body, the less threatening and more natural it becomes to de-construct the self-protective, often intellectual defenses that helped us survive childhood. Being vulnerable and open have become buzzwords that only gain substance when our authentic voice emerges organically—a function of interpersonal safety, far more than technique.

The cornerstone of the Emotionally Focused Bodywork I have been developing over the last 30 years, is the collaborative relationship that arises uniquely with each client. The emerging mutuality brings us into the present, the only place where real healing can occur.

The first half of a two-hour session begins seated face-to-face and talking through whatever distress motivated the client to seek help. The second half involves table work including coaching clients on letting go of the physical and emotional holding patterns that have been their way of managing earlier trauma. Typically, clients report feeling energized and freed-up in ways that they hadn’t even been able to imagine.

This Emotionally Focused Bodywork, which is informed by my studying Rolfing (a.k.a. Structural Integration) with Ida Rolf, Ph.D. in the 70’s, is done while laying on a bodywork table, either clothed or in underwear. Touch is used to release the holding patterns reflected in the tightness of the musculature. But this is far from just a physical experience, because both of us will be paying attention to the emotional and sensory landscapes that are part of this release (see both articles). We all suffer from various forms of dissociation. Being held in our numbness humanizes what we have been avoiding and allows us to come out the other end intact.

The integration of the face-to-face work and the table work are seamlessly integrated throughout the session, mediated by the on-going conversation between therapist and client. In this powerful, gentle, and supportive awakening process, individuals gain the knowledge and self-trust to make fundamental changes in themselves and their interpersonal world. My personal involvement and emotional responsiveness provide the informed caring that creates the safety and the pathway for the client to discover and empower his or her own inner healer. The result is someone who moves in the world with greater physical and emotional balance and ease.

Here are some examples of using Alternative Therapy for Professionals: