If it’s not already apparent to you I tend to use the terms somatic psychotherapy, body oriented psychotherapy and mind-body healing interchangeably.  In the hands of a skilled practitioner, they should be one and the same thing – a process which helps the client to achieve deep and lasting improvement in whatever challenge they presented with.

Body oriented psychotherapy offers a range of profoundly effective techniques and tools to assist with the work of healing.  Obviously these can be used to augment the existing range of therapeutic techniques employed in more traditional forms of talk therapy.  They include:

• Working with the breath (breath can profoundly shift the amount of vitality in the bodymind and be used to guide the client into deep states of awareness and relaxation)
• Working with the “felt sense” of the body (once you learn to listen to the language of the body, profoundly useful information and insights become available)
• Using the body to transform energy and emotion (whereby the practitioner guides the clients awareness or use of the body to assist in more natural access to and expression of feeling)
• Using touch (which is optional, but if you feel comfortable with it, the use of therapeutic touch can be immensely comforting and supportive, and help to move therapy forward faster)