Embodied Process

While my Gestalt therapy practice is rooted in talking therapy, I place great importance on integrating embodied practices. Our emotions, experiences, and patterns of being are expressed and held throughout our whole selves. Recognizing and working with this can open up new pathways for awareness and change.

Before becoming a therapist, I worked for many years as a professional dancer, movement director, and teacher. My foundational training included Bartenieff Fundamentals, Body-Mind Centering and Laban Movement Analysis which profoundly shaped my understanding of how movement and awareness support personal growth and connection. These practices explore developmental movement patterns—how we first learned to move, interact, and relate to ourselves and the world. By working with these fundamental patterns, we can uncover areas where growth may have been interrupted and find new ways of moving that feel supportive and integrated.

In therapy, this translates into a focus on how you inhabit your body and the ways this might reflect or influence your lived experience. For instance, if you're feeling overwhelmed or stuck, we might explore how that sensation is expressed in your posture, breath, or sense of weight. By gently bringing attention to these patterns and inviting small shifts—such as grounding through your feet, adjusting your alignment, or deepening your breath—we can support new ways of being that feel more connected and alive.

This embodied approach can also help us access pre-verbal states of experience. Much of what shapes our emotional and relational patterns originates in early life, before we had language to describe or understand our experiences. Through gentle attention to movement, sensation, and breath, we can explore these early layers of being, offering the possibility for healing and integration where words may not suffice.

This approach also supports exploration of themes like boundaries, presence, and self-expression. Drawing on my background in movement, I might invite you to experiment with gestures, explore how you hold tension, or practice movements that feel grounding or expansive. These explorations can foster a sense of vitality, creativity, and curiosity, offering insights that complement verbal processing.

My work is grounded in the belief that the wisdom of your whole self is always present and accessible. Through a compassionate and collaborative process, we can explore how your unique patterns of movement and awareness can support your healing and growth.