"Once you approach your body with curiosity rather than with fear, everything shifts!"
Bessel A. van der Kolk
SOMATIC THERAPIES
FOR COMPLEX TRAUMA, DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS AND CHRONIC ILLNESS
FOR WOMEN
There is a very strong connection between our body and mind. If one gets out of balance it affects the other. For example if you have an accident and your body gets injured this will affect your mind and mental health and if you experience stress and mental challenges this will over time affect your body.
We all will have experienced some physical and mental challenges throughout our lives.
Some are small, some are huge. How they affect us is different for each of us.
If you are here, reading this, you are probably looking for some kind of support for the challenges that still trouble you. The challenges that didn't resolve by themselves and have become out of hand for you. You might have tried a variety of different things already or you are at the beginning of your journey of recovery. Wherever you are on your journey, whatever your challenges, we can discover together what you need at this moment in time.
My approach is a bottom-up approach with a focus on working through the body with the mind. A lot of our emotions, experiences and traumas are stored in our body. They change our brain and nervous system, they are held in our muscles and soft tissue, they affect our organs. They affect our whole being on all levels. To address this complex system I am offering a tool box full of therapies that I've found to bring fundamental changes and deep healing for myself and my clients.
To heal from years of held trauma, dissociation or chronic illness will take time but it is possible.
"Where you look affects how you feel."
David Grant
BRAINSPOTTING
Brainspotting (BSP) is a relatively new type of brain-body therapy designed to identify and release trauma stored in the brain, promoting deep emotional healing and a renewed sense of empowerment, resilience and profound shifts towards well-being.
BSP can help you access and process trauma, attachment wounds, negative emotions, beliefs and habits around your mental as well as physical issues while in connection with a deeply attuned therapist. This dual attunement between therapist and client plays a huge role in BSP. When trauma happens there is often a lack of safe, nurturing and supportive connections and attunements with others. Being witnessed by an attuned therapist through the process of exploring an issue can bring deep healing in itself.
In a BSP session we will first explore an issue you want to work on and then locate a point in your visual field that helps to access locked trauma and emotions in the brain. We might then stay on that point and allow whatever comes up to be heard, expressed and processed. Sometimes an issue will be resolved within one session but when it comes to more complex trauma and dissociative disorder we might have to slow the processing down to avoid overwhelm and destabilisation. I often combine BSP with my other somatic therapies and holistic treatments which allows us to work in a unique way that is just right for you.
"Close your eyes, fall in love! Stay there!"
Rumi
TRAUMA INFORMED YOGA (TIY)
What is that?
When we've experienced trauma in our lives, and to be honest, most of us will have had some kind of trauma, it changes our mind and our body in many ways. I've often heard people say things like: 'It's such a long time ago, surely you must be over it' or 'Haven't you talked that all through by now? Just let it go!' Unfortunately that is not how trauma works. Trauma changes how our brain reacts to stress and perceived threats and depending on the kind of trauma, when it happened and how long it went on for this will affect not just our brain and nervous system but also the whole body and mind. We are again and again hijacked by responses of our body and mind as if we are still in a threatening situation. It can become very difficult to stay present in the here and now and the stresses of re-experiencing and re-living can lead to a multitude of physical and mental issues like anxiety, depression, sleep problems, eating disorders, controlling behaviours, addictions, chronic illnesses....
Often we believe talking about a trauma will help ease our physical and mental pain but this top down approach alone addresses only the mind and leaves the body behind.
In TIY we focus on the body in the here and now through yoga, bringing awareness to our nervous system and finding ways to self-regulate when we get triggered or dysregulated. When we think of yoga most of us think of a set of asanas, a flow of movement combined with breath work, followed by relaxation and meditation. The whole class follows the lead of the teacher. In TIY you, the student, leads. During trauma choice has been taken away from us, in TIY we learn to notice what our body and mind need, what we want, we invite choice back into our lifes.
TIY is not a replacement for talking therapies but is especially beneficial in conjunction with the work you might do with a psychotherapist or counselor.
SOMATICS & YOGA CLASS
TRAUMA INFORMED PRACTICES FOR DISSOCIATIVE SYSTEMS (OSDD/DID)
Yoga is more than just a physical exercise regime to get fit and lose weight.
It is a way of living in the moment, with love and respect for yourself, and the world around you.
It is a way of none harming, of honesty, gratitude and forgiving.
It is a way of understanding, accepting and honouring your body and soul.
It is beautiful, flowing from strength to softness, it is joyful.
This Somatics & Yoga class is a unique blend of yoga, mindfulness and other trauma informed somatic therapies.
It's a class specifically for anybody living with dissociative identities.
I offer a safe enough space for yous to connect with your body and come onto your mat from the safety of your own home to get back in touch with yourselves and your body. It can often be very difficult to attend a regular yoga or exercise class when there are many who share one body. Some of yous might not want to connect with the body, others might be desperate to do something to ease some tension or even pain through movements. Some just want some fun. Others just want to be and be able to turn up with all insiders without having to mask.
Here, all parts of yous are welcome...
Yous are invited to learn together about your nervous system, body and mind, increase awareness through movement, yoga and other practices like Sotai Ho, RMTi, Bodynamic and more.
This class is about choice and empowerment. Yous only do what feels good and safe to do for all of yous.
This is your practice!
And there is no right or wrong way!
It's a space to befriend your body and rewire your nervous system.
There will be lots of variations for each practice, time to connect with others and to share.
This is not a therapy or support group.
This is for systems who already have an understanding of their system's set up and complexities, inner communication, system responsibility and accountability, self-care, support and who have some experience of yoga or movement based practices to ensure your safety when connecting with your body.
Yous deserve to be happy with yourself, to love who yous are!
Please reach out to book your initial chat.
I can't wait to meet yous...
Tuesdays, online, 5-6.15pm UK, 9-10.15am PST, 12-1.15pm EST
New term starting in September 2026
I also offer longer workshops where I combine Somatic therapies with art. In these 2 hour workshops we are exploring a specific topic in more detail for the first hour and 15min and then we'll move on to creative expressions through art for the remaining 45min.
For more information on my Embodied Expressions workshops please get in touch.
For those of you who are at the beginning of finding out about their dissociative system, or who are struggling to connect with your body I also offer 1-2-1 somatic therapy sessions in person and online for your whole system.
Check out my new Instagram for Systems
"We need to get the body into states in which it can regulate and feel more comfortable with itself."
Stephen Porges
RMTi
RHYTHMIC MOVEMENT TRAINING INTERNATIONAL
PRIMITIVE REFLEX INTEGRATION
Rhythmic Movement Training is a movement based program that supports the integration of primitive reflexes. We are all born with them and as babies they have helped with and enabled us to reach our major milestones. Starting during labour when we emerge through the birth canal, followed with rooting and sucking when feeding, rolling over, coming to sitting, crawling and eventually being upright and walking as well as bonding and talking. They are the building blocks for a joyful and fulfilled life...
There is a multitude of different reflexes that are with us for a certain time and once we've learned what they were meant to teach us they integrate, they go to sleep in our brain stem, also known as reptilian brain.
But what if one or more of these reflexes don't integrate fully or if they are woken up again through trauma, illness or extreme stress?
Unintegrated reflexes are like hurdles. They affect how we learn, how we develop physically and how we feel. They affect our sensory processing and how we experience the world around us.
This is where RMTi comes in. Rhythmic Movement Training helps to integrate these primitive reflexes by first identifying which reflexes are unintegrated followed by a gentle movement program that helps to build stronger connections in the brain and our neural pathways. This leads to better co-ordination, concentration, sensory processing and emotional stability so that everyday tasks become easier and more enjoyable.
It has changed my life and it can change yours...
So, who is this for? Anybody and everybody. Age does not matter when it comes to reflex integration. There is no too early or too late thanks to the incredible plasticity of our brains. In my practice I focus on adults only but can make recommendations for RMTi consultants who work with babies and children.
SOTAI HO - OPTIMAL HEALTH THROUGH PERFECT ALIGNMENT
Sotai Ho is a very safe and gentle Japanese movement therapy that not only helps to ease painful joints & muscles but also re-aligns the whole body recreating optimal health.
Sotai Ho exercises correct imbalances in the structural body. If you look at the body as if it's a house we need a good foundation (feet) in order to keep our head upright without tension and pain. A balanced structural body will lead to better general health.
I usually start from the feet upwards with gentle movements to adjust and align your joints in combination with other practices that deepen our connection with our bodies and improve our nervous system bringing ease of movement as well as a calmer and clearer mind. Sotai Ho can be done with me as a thearpist in our sessions but it is a wonderful and powerful therapy to be done at home for your own self-care. Deep changes can happen when the movements are done on a regular basis, integrated into your everyday life.
