The reasons behind changing my scope of practice from talk therapy to an embodied approach

I have been practicing as a psychologist (for the first 10 years), counsellor or therapist for the next 30.  Additionally, I have been a yoga practitioner for the last 30 years, a yoga therapist for the last 15 and a yoga teacher for the last 5 years.  Since the 80’s, I have realized the importance of working in and with the body and I tried to find various ways (for the times) for fitting this insight into my personal and professional practice.  I studied clinical hypnosis (80’s) and EMDR (90’s) in order to make room for the body especially since the main body (pun intended) of my work with clients has been healing from trauma.  Although both modalities showed promise (and I still use EMDR at times), according to my observations, they did not offer a gentle and integrative enough way of healing for my clients. 

It has been very different as I started noticing the benefits of yoga in my own body, mind and spirit.  The physical, mental, emotional and spiritual experiences I had during yoga and meditation encouraged me to explore ways which I can share with clients.  As this way of working has become more mainstream in the last while, I felt I could be bolder in experimenting more (initially on myself) and go deeper and eventually share the wisdom of the body with students and clients.  I could see beneficial changes even when yoga students came to one weekly class or when clients had only a few sessions using the embodied way of work.

I am now at a stage where I feel more confident postulating that working with the body and spirit offers more possibilities for healing than working cognitively/behaviorally which happens mainly through the mind (mostly the left side of it) and talk therapy.  This is why I decided to change scope and delegate the mind to a less central place.  I feel strongly that not offering what I know to be more beneficial is an unethical way of work therefore I need to be true to it.

Let me qualify the reasons behind my decision:

As you know, it is impossible to change in any way unless feeling safe.  This is fundamental to the healing process.  You may also know that there are varying degrees of feeling safe physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  I have worked with clients for years, especially people who were subjected to trauma who related to me that they felt completely safe in my presence and yet, their body language and emotions revealed a different reality.  When we were able to go below the neck, a deeper relaxation and peacefulness started emanating and the processing of the difficult experiences was experienced as less painful.  Furthermore, the healing process sped as the body received and responded in immediate and trusting ways.

Working with the immediacy of the body also allows for the experiences to be absorbed and received with less resistance or blockages.  As Einstein said - “You cannot resolve a problem from the same level of intelligence in which the problem was created”.  Talking through resistance/ blockages is exactly that – asking the mind to resolve something it created. Dropping below (body) or above the mind (spirit) allows us to open new dimensions of healing which were not possible before.

Unfortunately, Western societies put the mind in the centre and delegated the rest to a minor place especially when it came to treating non-Western traditions, ways of knowing and cultures. Remember Descartes – “I think, therefore I exist”.  This is part of what we call white supremacy which privileges the white, male, linear mind.  Yoga and other ancient traditions and practices have known otherwise (that there is so much more to us and other sentient beings) for thousands of years.  One example out of the infinite - yoga recognizes three main energy channels in the body – the left (Ida) is the feminine; the right (Pingala) is the masculine; the centre channel (Shushumna) brings together the two to create balance and well-being, release what is not needed and make space for the energies we all wish for – of love, peace and harmony.  All sentient beings contain these channels which is a law of energy in the whole universe. We have the innate ability to heal even if we do not fully understand how these channels work and perform their magic.  It is encouraging to observe the (slow) shift that is happening towards a more inclusive and balanced acceptance of this which in turn, informs how we treat ourselves, each other and hopefully, our planet as well. 

There are other reasons for preferring to work with the wholeness of who we are; it comes very easy to us to lie to ourselves if we only rely on the power of the mind.  On the other hand, I have not yet experienced even one way of lying through the body as long as we truly listen and are open to the experience.   Another example here - our breath cannot lie; actually, it is highly sensitive and responsive to every word, thought and emotion we feel, think or utter and it can be witnessed in a matter of seconds.  Furthermore, I have learnt that our body’s wisdom is so vast that many times we just need to get out of its way as it knows what to do on its own.  Our Western-trained mind will either be at a loss here or oppose this way of being (inside the body including its breath) out of fear as it cannot comprehend it initially. This is where we start realizing the limitations of the mind especially when it comes to healing. 

For many years of practicing, trauma work has been the staple of my practice.  I met with many clients whose memories were inexistent, vague or changing (another product of the mind). Some clients experienced trauma before they had the words to describe what they have gone through; some were born to one or more traumatized caregivers without knowing what happened to them; some even forgot traumatic experiences for many years before the memories, partially or fully came back.  How can talk therapy heal something which is inaccessible to the verbal/ remembering mind? I believe you can relate to my own past frustration when encountering suffering people with very few tools to be able to be of service to them.

I am not negating that the mind has an important role to play (in yoga, the mind which includes thoughts and emotions, and the body are one; in Kabbalah, the mind, body, emotions and energy are all part of the material reality as opposed to our spiritual/soul reality).  Where I see the mind as important is in the beginning and the end of the healing process and much less in the “body” of the healing work (which is the majority of the work).   In the beginning, as we are used to rely on our visual sense, on our thought process and on language, it can help create the therapeutic contract which allows for good enough safety to delve into the (sometimes) difficult process of healing.  In the end and sometimes at intervals during the healing work, it helps with the meaning-making and integration of the healing work done mostly through the body, therefore connecting mind and body again with the development and growth of awareness and consciousness which are above the mind.

One word (or a few) about resistance/blockages – as much as we wish to heal and change, our mind is continually discouraging us from going through pain again.  The mind has its own intelligence which is vast and mainly unused but at the same time, it is heavily conditioned by evolution to protect us from danger and allow us to survive and/or is conditioned by civilization to search for approval and avoid punishment and adversity.  It has done a tremendous job in this regard as we are a very successful species, at the price of extreme suffering to all species including us.

If our goal in life is survival only, then healing takes a back seat as it is not at the service of survival per se.  I have yet to meet one human who wishes only to survive and not to do better than that.  As soon as we create this intention for ourselves, the linear mind experiences this as danger to its employment as the leader of protection from extinction and will create obstacles to prevent us from going there.  We call them judgement, rationalization, analysis, planning, managing, directing, controlling etc., all known too well.  The body holds obstacles as well, experienced as stuck stress.  The difference is that the body obstacles are receptive to release the stuck stress in direct ways through breath, touch, movement, sound, attention and conscious intentionality whereas you and I can have a conversation about mental blockages for the next 20 years, going in never-ending circles.

I find it difficult to relate all of the above in words, again, due to their limitations. I hope this humble beginning gives us the opportunity of opening a portal to different dimensions of healing therefore creating a more open and inclusive way of creating change and more importantly, an open heart and a joyful spirit.  I invite you to step into this with curiosity and wonder.  You are most welcome to ask, feedback me and raise concerns. 

I am wholeheartedly welcoming you into this way of being, as I am learning every day a teeny weeny more.

With best wishes for your health and well-being,

Lydia