Bodywork for Stabilization, Resiliency and Transformation
Photo Courtesy of ABMP
Bodywork for Stabilization, Resiliency and Transformation is a blend of Somatic Experiencing®, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, Pre and Perinatal Therapy, Somatic Resiliency, Polarity Therapy and Polarity Life Counseling, Trauma Resolution and Myofascial Massage. It involves repairing and releasing patterns associated with overwhelming events in our lives. It is not regressive; it is present time and resource oriented. It focuses on identifying states in the body, the functional range of the nervous system, and ways to release held patterns in connection and safety. Education about nervous system state change is a big part of the therapy. It involves feeling states in the body. Sessions are completed with the client fully clothed with a combination of slow compression, massage, kidney/adrenal and brain stem holds, moving touch, presence and Biodynamic craniosacral therapy. The client is asked to notice shifting states in the body.
Over many years, I was mentored by John Chitty, RPP, BCST, co-director of the Colorado School of Energy Studies in the study of Polarity Life Counseling. After his death, I continued to study with Anna Chitty, RPP, BCST and their daughter Liz Chitty Sandoval and added Polarity Therapy to the list of bodywork skills.
The approach of Bodywork for Stability, Resilience and Transformation is to first help stabilize the nervous system's responses to stress and trauma, then discover with the client the strengths and challenges with the system. Clients are asked to have an intention, or what they would like for themselves. The approach weaves together a trauma-informed practices to help the client get with they want for themselves, based on the work of Peter Levine, Randolph Stone, John and Anna Chitty, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, and 5 different kinds of touch. Verbal inquiry is a part of the practice.
Stabilization: During stabilization, we build up a strong feeling of what is good or just okay in the present. I usually ask you to tell me about something in your life that helpful, nourishing, empowering or calming, or are there places in your life where you feel uplifted, safe, even curious. We slow the pace and notice what happens in your body when you tell me about them. We do this seated, and on the table, and when you are on the table, I use firm, slow, touch on the legs and orient you to your structure, where you feel most secure and connected to the Earth. I work on your feet. Then, I will work on your arms, joints, and hands, while I ask about important people, places or pets. We bring in the felt sense of how it is to be with them. If we are just doing stabilization, I will shift into working with your breathing and then Biodynamic craniosacral therapy. Many people come for just stabilization.
Resilience: When working on resilience, we shift to being with the difficulty in your life. People come to see me to feel better, often because of something overwhelming or traumatic in their lives. We seek to integrate these painful experiences so that your nervous system becomes more resilient. So, we start from the felt sense of something good from the stabilization phase, and then we shift to being with how you feel with the difficulty. We slow down, become curious. I combine touch, presence and skills of inquiry, engaging your curiousity, too. We gently create conditions for the overwhelming experience to settle down, stop looping, and then integrate. People feel better, less bothered by the trauma, and often (almost always) something new emerges as resilience, or felt sense of the capacity to cope. Sometimes (often), the essential self emerges and you may feel a sense of transformation.
Transformation: When there is a trauma or something overwhelming that pushes us beyond the capacity to cope, our bodies respond in several ways, most often in the direction of what polyvagal therapist and educator Deb Dana calls our "home away from home." These states are our natural responses to threat and stress: fight, flight and freeze. The therapies I am trained in are formulated to help recognize these states, name them, teach you about them, and create the conditions for healing with relational bodywork. We often inherit these states from our ancestors, parents, or particular culture of origin. In other words, we live unconsciously in the threat or stress response, and our bodies pay the price. When the therapies are applied and resilience emerges, quite often an essential part of us that was held in status, interrupted or obscured emerges into present time. These are very pleasurable states of compassion, strength, will, lightness, joy, delight, peace and power. The trained practitioner can feel the states and name them, encourage them, sit with them with you so that they can truly be felt. Then, like riding a bicycle, you are off down the road with your true nature and into your life in a way that supports your purpose.
I love this work. I do this with adults and families, especially families with babies. My work healing birth trauma and training practitioners is about supporting our essential nature right from the start.
Sessions are:
1 hour for regular talk and table work ($150)
1 hour 15 min, recommended ($175)
1 hour 30 min, as part of intensive healing work ($195)
Over many years, I was mentored by John Chitty, RPP, BCST, co-director of the Colorado School of Energy Studies in the study of Polarity Life Counseling. After his death, I continued to study with Anna Chitty, RPP, BCST and their daughter Liz Chitty Sandoval and added Polarity Therapy to the list of bodywork skills.
The approach of Bodywork for Stability, Resilience and Transformation is to first help stabilize the nervous system's responses to stress and trauma, then discover with the client the strengths and challenges with the system. Clients are asked to have an intention, or what they would like for themselves. The approach weaves together a trauma-informed practices to help the client get with they want for themselves, based on the work of Peter Levine, Randolph Stone, John and Anna Chitty, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, and 5 different kinds of touch. Verbal inquiry is a part of the practice.
Stabilization: During stabilization, we build up a strong feeling of what is good or just okay in the present. I usually ask you to tell me about something in your life that helpful, nourishing, empowering or calming, or are there places in your life where you feel uplifted, safe, even curious. We slow the pace and notice what happens in your body when you tell me about them. We do this seated, and on the table, and when you are on the table, I use firm, slow, touch on the legs and orient you to your structure, where you feel most secure and connected to the Earth. I work on your feet. Then, I will work on your arms, joints, and hands, while I ask about important people, places or pets. We bring in the felt sense of how it is to be with them. If we are just doing stabilization, I will shift into working with your breathing and then Biodynamic craniosacral therapy. Many people come for just stabilization.
Resilience: When working on resilience, we shift to being with the difficulty in your life. People come to see me to feel better, often because of something overwhelming or traumatic in their lives. We seek to integrate these painful experiences so that your nervous system becomes more resilient. So, we start from the felt sense of something good from the stabilization phase, and then we shift to being with how you feel with the difficulty. We slow down, become curious. I combine touch, presence and skills of inquiry, engaging your curiousity, too. We gently create conditions for the overwhelming experience to settle down, stop looping, and then integrate. People feel better, less bothered by the trauma, and often (almost always) something new emerges as resilience, or felt sense of the capacity to cope. Sometimes (often), the essential self emerges and you may feel a sense of transformation.
Transformation: When there is a trauma or something overwhelming that pushes us beyond the capacity to cope, our bodies respond in several ways, most often in the direction of what polyvagal therapist and educator Deb Dana calls our "home away from home." These states are our natural responses to threat and stress: fight, flight and freeze. The therapies I am trained in are formulated to help recognize these states, name them, teach you about them, and create the conditions for healing with relational bodywork. We often inherit these states from our ancestors, parents, or particular culture of origin. In other words, we live unconsciously in the threat or stress response, and our bodies pay the price. When the therapies are applied and resilience emerges, quite often an essential part of us that was held in status, interrupted or obscured emerges into present time. These are very pleasurable states of compassion, strength, will, lightness, joy, delight, peace and power. The trained practitioner can feel the states and name them, encourage them, sit with them with you so that they can truly be felt. Then, like riding a bicycle, you are off down the road with your true nature and into your life in a way that supports your purpose.
I love this work. I do this with adults and families, especially families with babies. My work healing birth trauma and training practitioners is about supporting our essential nature right from the start.
Sessions are:
1 hour for regular talk and table work ($150)
1 hour 15 min, recommended ($175)
1 hour 30 min, as part of intensive healing work ($195)
