What is Body-Centered Therapy?
Body-centered therapy is learning to listen on a whole new level.
The body carries the weight of past experiences and the wisdom to heal.
Your head aches. Your back hurts. You're grinding your teeth at night. Your shoulders are hunched up by your ears. You're fidgeting with your hands, or bouncing your leg up and down.
Our bodies are always talking to us...and we're not always the best at listening. It's hard to tune in to our body's messages for a couple of reasons:
- The human mind LOVES to problem solve and chatter away, and it is very convinced of its own importance. Our human mind is so convinced that it's the the best thing around that it often overrides or drowns out messages from the body.
- Culturally, we place a lot of value on brain-based processes like language, interpretation, explanation, and logic.
Problematically, by ignoring the body, we're ignoring a massive and helpful source of information and healing.
You've probably experienced this yourself when you've tried to make a difficult decision or work through an emotionally charged problem. You end up ruminating, stuck in "analysis paralysis," polling your friends and family for solutions, and mulling over a bunch of different ways to "fix" what's happening inside of you.
The goal of body-centered therapy is to shift us out of our busy and repetitive minds and into our physical, emotional, and spirtual being.
You might be thinking "wow, that sounds pretty woo-woo."
I get it. I can be a heady person myself, and my mind says the same stuff sometimes. Remember that thing I said about the mind being convinced of its own importance?
It takes courage and willingness to notice our thoughts and judgements about something and try it anyway.
You might benefit from a body-centered approach if:
- You've tried talk therapy and weren't really sure you were getting anywhere
- You're the type of person who can talk your way around anything
- You tend to be in your head a lot, and do a bunch of intellectualizing or overthinking
- You feel disconnected from your body and your emotions
- You want to understand yourself more deeply
Body-centered therapy helps you learn to listen to yourself, question yourself less, understand your needs, and feel more comfortable with yourself.
I've been both a participant in and a provider of of body-centered therapy, and I can attest to the deep work that happens when we drop into this untapped resource. It's not easy! But it is powerful.
Ready to use body-centered therapy to help you heal deeply and move forward intentionally?
Reach out today, or schedule your complimentary 15 minute consultation call to get started.