I would like to suggest that there is no right way.
There are different ways, and each way has advantages and disadvantages.
Sometimes I use touch, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I work with clients who know each other, sometimes I don’t.
When I asked one of my supervisors, David Boadella, what contract he had with his clients, he answered “which client and when?”
I DON’T THINK THE WORLD IS CHANGING IN THE WAY I’D LIKE IT TO.
In these times of upheaval, confusion and anxiety, however, I think it may be useful to consider this:
“There is beauty all around us, only for so many people it is buried and perhaps obscured by fear, hurt, frustration, anger, hopelessness, confusion…….
So you’re feeling anxious or depressed. Or you don’t feel quite right but you find it hard to describe how you feel.
You know your life can be better but you don’t know how to get there. You may have already tried various approaches, perhaps even been to counsellors and psychotherapists but not been able to get the results you’re looking for.
ANXIETY, DEPRESSION AND SOMATIC PSYCHOTHERAPY
This is what my work in emotional learning – including somatic psychotherapy and counselling – is about. Restoring our capacity to give and receive love.
As a society, and indeed as a human race, we have moved so far away from our true nature, from what we know in our hearts – ie that our true nature is loving, cooperative and compassionate – that we we have come to believe that human nature is destructive.
Here is an interesting question. Does a person’s anxiety, depression or other distressing feeling indicate that they are mentally ill, or absolutely normal?
Different schools of thought will give you different answers. In core development terms, however, anxiety, depression and other signs of emotional distress often indicate that your sense of self is healthy enough to produce these symptoms of a deeper, often hidden emotional conflict.
It’s good to remind ourselves not to see and relate to people – children and adults – through the filter of a label, however correct we may think the label is.
Some time ago I had the opportunity of working with a woman in her late 20s. She was diagnosed as chronically depressed, and stuck in a junior position in her company because they said she was a slow learner with poor communication skills and no good at working in a team.
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“EVERY TIME WE TEACH A CHILD SOMETHING, WE PREVENT HIM FROM INVENTING IT HIMSELF!” Jean Piaget
You may think that the most important skill of a somatic psychotherapist is their ability to understand your process, to make sense of what you’re going through. That’s helpful but it’s not enough.
Individual Sessions, Couples Sessions, Sessions For Parents and Teenagers(together and separately), and individually tailored Talks and Workshops for Groups and Organisations.
Donald Marmara grew up in Malta where he gradually became aware of the extent of his own and others’ emotional and psychological wounding, and how deeply this affected our wellbeing and the way we treat ourselves and each other.
Counselling and Psychotherapy are powerful tools for personal and social change.
They enable us to resolve emotional issues that are preventing us from being happy with ourselves and our lives, and from having fulfilling relationships.
They can also be helpful in cases where physical problems are caused or aggravated by emotional stress. Somatic or Body Psychotherapy can be especially helpful in this respect.
by Donald Marmara, Somatic Psychotherapist, Artarmon, Sydney
“Be wary of those who say they have the answers.
Seek instead the company of those who are trying to understand the questions.”
THE TASK OF A THERAPIST IS TO START WITH NOT KNOWING
What works for one person does not necessarily work for another.
