WHAT TO EXPECT
I believe that each individual has a profound medicine and wisdom within themselves and it is my goal to help this intelligence and magic shine forth. In order to discover this inner intelligence, we will delve into the subconscious using various forms of self expression. Some session find us making sounds such as screeching or humming. Or we might end following movement like punching or kicking. It can be therapeutic to role play different voices and personas, or at times to see what sparks for us when we draw our experiences.
Every session is a journey we take together. I am a fellow traveler, here to witness and support you as you journey into your inner world. I follow your feedback. I offer questions and suggestions. And along the way, you will discover that you have all of the strength for your challenges, the medicine for your ailments, and a wealth of intelligence and magic for yourself and the world.
SOMATIC HEALING, RADICAL UNSHAMING AND EMBODIMENT
We are born whole. Over time, modern society teaches us to compartmentalize and marginalize aspects of ourselves. We learn to live primarily in our minds, and see the body, heart and spirit as separate entities controlled and corralled by our thoughts.
As children, we learn to make ourselves small & “normal” in order to fit in. We come to believe that certain aspects of ourselves are wrong, ugly, or weird. Traumatic events end up trapping pieces of our potential into our wounds. We become a “known” version of ourselves; often the best version of ourselves under the circumstances. But so many of us walk around feeling like something is missing, feeling less than.
This patterning leaves us struggling and suffering. Many of us live with chronic illness, anxiety/depression, neurodiversity, and body shame that we are constantly trying to fix or heal. So we diet, take medications, go to therapy, and try to do all the right things to be better, to feel better. These strategies may be helpful, but don’t seem to completely “fix” anything. And so many of us live with a constant, often unacknowledged, inner critic, walking around feeling wrong in the world. Breaking this cycle of shame and disempowerment is at the heart of Somatic Awakening and Radical Unshaming work.
Our bodies are speaking to us all the time. This is the intelligence, the voice of the Soma (the experience of the body). We’ve all felt it; palms sweating and heart racing when we’re nervous, butterflies in our stomach when we’re falling in love. In fact, these bodily sensations are the language of the subconscious. But we often ignore what our body, our subconscious, is trying to say. We don’t give it a place at the table, and we don’t get to know this whole side of ourselves fully. Instead we rely again and again on our thoughts versus our sensations, our feelings, our knowings.
Somatic work helps us to gain an experience of the body, to learn from our subconscious and to give it voice. We learn from these practices to break down the barrier between mind and body. And as we practice them, this connection strengthens, and we step more into the fullness of ourselves and our lived experience.
Radical Unshaming takes this even further. This work uses somatic interventions as a means to connect to aspects of the self that have been repressed, misunderstood or trapped within. By safely unearthing, befriending, and truly experiencing these previously unseen sides of ourselves, we are able to realize a fullness and truth of self, to once again feel our rightness in the world, and to access all of the intelligence, strength and beauty that is our birthright and our gift to the world. This is true embodiment, when our parts once again become whole.
WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM SOMATIC HEALING AND RADICAL UNSHAMING?
The simple answer is: EVERYONE!
Have you been in therapy for awhile now and feel like you keep plateauing and feel like there's something more, something missing?
Do you have chronic symptoms that don't seem to ever fully "heal"?
Are you on a journey of self discovery and personal growth?
Do you feel like you're supposed to be more balanced, resourced and regulated?
Do you have shame around things like body image, career, neurodivergence, etc.?
Do you feel like you just don't fit, can't seem to get things right, are failing or flailing at life?
Do you hold a scream that stays locked inside?
Do you wish you could just relax, let go, remember how to truly feel joy?
If any of these resonate, or if you feel called to explore what it means to walk around feeling right in the world, in tune with your whole being, celebrating who you are in all aspects of your life, embracing the fullness of you, then I would highly recommend starting your Unshaming journey today!
For more information or to book a free 30min discovery call, email Eli at openingtoself@gmail.com