Come Home to your Body

If you’ve noticed your relationship with your body change drastically since 2020, it might be time to ‘Come Home to Your Body’.

‘Come Home to Your Body’ is a workshop I was inspired to create when noticing and reflecting on just how drastically my relationship to my own body had shifted since 2020.

In this article I explore the journey that led to the beginnings of this workshop.

I know we aren’t all ‘huggy’ people, but I certainly am. I love offering; a hug or handshake upon greeting, a reassuring arm around the shoulder or a high five/fist pump with a kid in a friendly encounter. To me it’s a way of affirming your importance, a way of affirming that you matter me and to the world. The children matter, people matter, you matter, the affirming encounters matter.

‘Social distancing’ threw me, it threw my body.  My whole sense of being and moving in the world was thrown off balance.

Social codes changed overnight.  It was as if suddenly my personal space and kinesphere were being determined from elsewhere and I was given numbers to adhere to. Numbers measuring permitted distances between us, numbers of people, number of visits, number of walks, number of items allowed and even the number of deaths being broadcast. It all felt so clinical, so detached. It was as if suddenly we needed to ask for permission for things that had previously come naturally to us. I felt utterly lost. I no longer felt at home in my body.

Suddenly solutions were offered to the world at large. It felt to me like some strange kind of one size fits all.  I was utterly perplexed. Surely our bodies are not all the same, we respond differently to loss, to different illnesses, to news and suffering, to different treatments, to grief, to change and not just because of our body’s biology. We respond differently because of our environment, our support structure, our worldview, our faith and perhaps even our opinion and intuition. Alarm bells rang in every cell of my body. I ached.  I ached physically and emotionally and soulfully.  I know many people ached.  My own body didn’t feel like a safe place to be.

Then came the polarization, the judgement and the heated debates. I was not comfortable with any of it. Part of me left my body just to try and survive. I had to put it on hold somewhere until it felt safe enough to return. And yes, the tears well up in my eyes as I write this, I’m noticing my body is physically responding to me sharing and remembering. It’s been tough on us all. I pause to give the tears space to be felt on my face and they remind me I am blessed.

I was truly blessed to have a husband who stood up for me, listened to my concerns, held me, hugged me when no one else would or ‘could’.  This was an absolute lifesaving blessing. Each hug soothed the tension my body held, each hug helped rebalance my system. Sure, I could spend time moving and centering on my own, but I can’t help but feel that some of us (if not most of us still) are social beings who thrive in community, even if we are introverts with our unique way of connecting. I was oh so truly blessed.

As a therapist specialising in the body mind connection, I could see the impact of all of the above on my body. I could see the impact of it on my clients and professional peers, each impacted so differently, yet by kind of the same thing.
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I saw how vital it was for me too to tend to the impact on my own body, finding support to help me to feel held in a world that felt unsafe, in a body that had also begun to feel unsafe. I needed to remember what it was like to feel safe again.   I needed to realise and reaffirm that I was actually still free.

When it came to my private practice work, it took me time to process the changes, but it became really important to me that clients continued to feel welcome. It was important that they were supported to either attend therapy online or where at all possible, to continue with face-to-face meetings when needed.  The discrimination and loss people have bared from ALL walks of life has been phenomenal.

In continuing to practice, I realized that there was a need, not just for clients, but for others too to have a safe space to reconnect body mind and soulfully.  It was not just me that needed a heartfelt, centering and rebalancing practice in my life. I knew I needed time to regroup before I officially offered this sort of practice to others. While I feel I am ever learning, I also know that I am ready to hold space to offer this heartfelt workshop to others. I am delighted to share that the ‘Come home to Your Body’ workshop is up and running. This workshop (usually 90 mins) can be offered both online and face to face where possible, depending on my geographical movements (the joys of big families and international family commitments).

Do get in touch if you or your organization would like to arrange or attend a ‘Come Home to Your Body’ workshop.

[email protected]

It would be both an honour and a joy to support you with this. I look forward to welcoming you to ‘Come Home to Your Body'.

Get   in   touch

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Many of us have alienated in some shape or form since 2020 and it can really knock us. If you would like to get in touch and enquire about 1:1 therapy and availability, please do so too.

[email protected]
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If you have felt sidelined in therapy or supervision, at home or in the workplace for your choices around your jab status or health choices or side effects, whatever they are, please be tender with yourself-this can feel so gut wrenching.  If it’s ruptured your therapy or supervision journey, home life or career, please take the time you need to find support where your healing journey can continue.  You matter. 

Get    In    Touch