About the Therapy
Have you…
- Worked on your emotional struggles with anxiety, depression, early childhood trauma or PTSD in therapy for years but are still stuck in old behavioral and emotional ruts?
- Struggled with persistent symptoms or illness that medicine hasn’t resolved such as chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, autoimmune illnesses, chronic pain?
- Noticed a connection between your emotions and how your body feels, but don’t know what to do about it?
Bodymind Repatterning is a breakthrough holistic therapy that will…
- Help you discover how your mind and body interact to make you sick or unhappy
- Give you tools to resolve your physical symptoms and emotional struggles and break the cycle of pain, limitation and illness…for good!
- Increase the effectiveness of the conventional therapies you’re receiving
- Show you how your illness can actually guide you to a richer, fuller life!
What is Bodymind Repatterning™?
In Bodymind Repatterning™ we uncover your unconscious patterns and go beyond understanding them to release the hold they have over you and learn to make new choices that allow you to feel more freedom, safety, aliveness and authenticity.
It is based on the notion that in order to heal emotionally, we must address how our emotions are living in the body and nervous system and that addressing the emotional component of our physical symptoms, we can heal them much more deeply and permanently.
Why consider the body in therapy?
All our emotions and emotional issues live in the body as well as in the psyche. Likewise, all physical symptoms and imbalances have a psychological component (sometimes conscious but often unconscious). Throughout our lives, all of our experiences and responses to challenges and traumas create patterns in our nervous systems, tissues and psyches that show up in our emotions and moods, our behavior, and our physical bodies.
What do Bodymind Repatterning™ sessions look like?
Bodymind Repatterning™ works much like regular talk psychotherapy but adds an important element…the body. In these sessions we talk about your emotional experiences and struggles much like in regular talk therapy. We also go beyond this to explore the roots of these issues in the past by uncovering the body’s historical “postures”, ways of armoring and holding of emotional energy. You’ll learn literally how you are living energetically in your body and learn to release held emotions and outdated protective postures. As you open into this exploration, your own body will guide you in gently releasing held emotions and you will learn to find new ways of being in your body and self that allow freedom, clarity and the ability to live your life as who you really are.
“Deep within us lies a place called the authentic self. Unfettered by the wounds and false beliefs of who we think we are and unaltered by the defenses we have built to navigate our lives, this core is the source of all we truly are and can create our lives to be. The true task of healing is to come home to ourselves.” -Alison Shaw
A goal is to help you to become embodied in a safe, grounded, boundaried, free and empowered way that perpetuates health on all levels. We do this through guided exercises called body dialogues, orienting and mindfulness practices, movement and expressive exercises. Alison will offer insights into the energy body as well and interventions to allow you to clear your patterns at the deepest level.
Together we will create a customized blend of these modalities that is right for you, and progress at the pace you determine.
A Note on Remote Sessions
At this time I am offering remote sessions only. You might ask, How can I work with my body without a hands-on component? One of my goals in working with folks is to help them learn how to work with their own body and energy field so they can be fully in charge and effective in carrying their healing forward on their own. It can be surprising how much change you can experience through coaching, guidance and distance energy work.
How was Bodymind Repatterning™ Developed?
The therapy combines principles and techniques from models including Bioenergetics, Core-energetics, Internal Family Systems therapy, Sensorimotor psychotherapy, Somatics and Somatic experiencing, Jungian psychotherapy, and other trauma based therapies, psychoneuroimmunology, mindfulness practices, Aikido, Embodied Leadership and energy medicine. It is deeply informed by Alison’s 30 years of experience as a Deep Tissue and Myofascial Bodyworker and Practitioner of Energy Medicine (Brennan Healing Science). Bodymind Repatterning™ is the culmination of over 30 years of integrating mind-body and energetic perspectives into a unique blend that is effective on its own or as an adjunct to psychotherapy, bodywork and conventional and alternative medical treatment.
“Sometimes the function of illness is deeper than having something wrong and getting rid of it. To catch a glimpse of the forces of the psyche and the unconscious motivation behind the illness can be astounding”. -Brugh Joy
What message does your illness have for you?
Do these stories sound familiar?
“I had a feeling that my cancer was like a symbol for the ways I had been stuck and unhappy for a long time…it was like a dark messenger calling me to wake up and stop living my life for everyone else but me!”
“I noticed that whenever I felt anxious, (like in any social situation!), I would hold my breath, feel a knot in my stomach, and clench the muscles of my jaw, throat and chest. Then I realized I was walking around in that posture all the time! No wonder I had an ulcer and chronic pain in my neck!”
“I was told my chronic fatigue was “all in my head.” When I discovered how I had been living my life in ways that were sapping me emotionally, I recovered my vitality on all levels”.
Your symptoms are never “only in your head.” But they’re never only in your body either!
Bodymind Repatterning will teach you how to listen deeply to your body, moods, beliefs and emotions, and to identify the connections between them. You will learn simple techniques and practices to interrupt your automatic, restrictive body-mind patterns and develop a life posture that is free, open, centered, vital and… healthy.
Through Bodymind Repatterning™, clients often report that they:
- Feel less pain and more physical, mental, emotional and spiritual freedom
- Have increased energy, vitality, overall health and feeling of wellness
- Are better able to handle stress
- Have more access to their inner strengths, creativity and passion and are more able to create and sustain the lives they have longed for
- Express themselves with more ease and confidence
- Gain a greater sense of their authentic self; who they “really” are
- Are able to create healthier, more fulfilling relationships
- Understand and appreciate their illness as a guide for growth and healing on all levels
- Acquire effective practices and tools to be more in charge of their own healing
Who can benefit from Bodymind Repatterning?
Bodymind Repatterning is appropriate for adults who are experiencing chronic physical illness or emotional challenges and those who want to explore their emotional, behavioral or spiritual issues from an integrative perspective.It is powerful when used by itself or as an adjunct to conventional medical and psychotherapeutic treatment.
Examples of conditions that may benefit from Bodymind Repatterning
Emotional Conditions
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Trauma/PTSD
- Relationship Issues
- Low Self-Esteem
- Eating Disorders
Systemic Illnesses
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Fibromyalgia
- Cancer
- Heart Disease/High Blood Pressure
Systemic Musculoskeletal Problems
- Back Pain
- Headache
- Neck / Shoulder Tension
- Recurring Injuries / Accidents
I look forward to exploring how Bodymind repatterning might support your healing. -Alison