Talking and words can only really take us so far in therapy. Our mind is only one part of us and can be limiting in therapy. Have you ever felt that you are tired of talking about your issues over and over and this isn’t working any longer? Somatic therapy such as breath-work aims to help you access bodily held sensations, memories, trauma and other wisdom that can give you further insight into your suffering. For example, the anger and rage I held for so long only revealed itself more fully to me when I breathed into where it was held tightly in my body. It sat in my throat and in around my heart. When my therapist guided me to be curious about that sensation in my body and how it related to the anger I was taken to long held feelings of not being seen or heard and being neglected by my family of origin. The sadness and grief around my heart was where I held those feelings of rejection which came up again with my partner. This helped me understand my reactions to simple actions in our relationships that triggered these feelings and then my angry reactions. I could eventually hold my younger self and her sadness and abandonment but only after I contacted this feelings in my body. I knew this in my head of course and had worked with this in previous talk therapy but there was more revealed and then healed by breathing into my body and working with those bodily held emotions.
Breathwork is a safe and very gentle way to contact those parts of yourself that are hidden from your mind. It takes time to work with your body because we are so used to trying to figure it out with our mind. Words and thinking only takes us so far and cannot heal us fully from old wounds.
More and more therapists are working somatically now as they see the value of working with the whole self; body, mind and spirit. The book The Body Keeps the Score has helped us know more about this type of work.
Breathwork counselling and psychotherapy could be your next step to healing so let’s get curious together about what the wisdom of your body holds.