Life just doesn’t stop, and you are getting buried.
Underwater, in a hole, out in space—wherever you are finding yourself, it’s not good news. You have some strategies you’ve learned along the way when your anxiety and stress take over but they aren’t working anymore. You feel like your world is getting smaller and smaller as you attempt to avoid the things that seem to set you off. It’s getting impossible though as that list grows and grows. You want to be in the world and in life but the 'how' seems so elusive. And when you do find ways to show up, it feels like a chore and that joy and relaxation are things that only happen to other people. Your body seems to more and more refuse to cooperate with your mind and thinking up the good ideas & strategies doesn’t get you anyway where the anxiety and stress kick up. You’re noticing that no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to relax anymore. You always feel on edge and jumpy. It’s hard to fall asleep, and even then you consistently wake up throughout the night or wake up the next morning feeling like shit. Maybe this describes your life exactly and maybe not but you do know one thing: Something has to give, and you’d really prefer that it wasn’t you anymore. |
Somatic Counseling for
Anxiety & Stress
As I often tell my students, the two most important phrases in therapy...are “Notice that” and “What happens next?” Once you start approaching your body with curiosity rather than with fear, everything shifts.” ― Bessel A. van der Kolk |
Imagine What It Would Be Like If Anxiety & Stress
Didn't Determine Everything About Your Life.
When I work with people who are coping with anxiety and stress, it’s important that we act fast. Often times, folks have been overriding their limits and silencing the alarm bells in their body for some time before they seek out help.
The truth is there's wisdom in your anxiety and stress and they are actually feelings that are important to have in your body. And sometimes when they have taken over and are driving the bus, you need some help wrestling the steering wheel back. They are welcome passengers but their driving skills suck. So many folks dealing with anxiety and stress are professionals at minimizing their feelings and teaching themselves to just muscle through it. When folks finally seek out my help, it’s often because the minimization and muscling isn’t working anymore and the feelings are overwhelming. Your body is screaming out at you, and you’re about to loose it from the near constant screaming and nothing you do seems to help. It feels like you’re right on the edge of an abyss, and things do not look good. The good news is that I can help. Body-based healing is so effective at addressing anxiety and stress because it works on the level of the nervous system where anxiety and stress often are battling from. I can help you build tools so that you can stop tip-toeing around your life avoiding the ever growing mountain of triggers, so that you can understand what your body is asking for and start to practice building the muscle memory of showing up for it. Your sensitivity and empathetic nature are gifts, and I want to help you figure out how to wield them in a way that takes better care of you. Together we will figure out a plan so you can notice the alarm bells before they are landing you on the edge of the abyss, build tools so that your only option isn't to muscle through and start living. I want to help you figure out how your world doesn’t have to be such a place of suffering because we need you and all your gifts in it. |
How Does It Work
I start individual sessions with an assessment about where you’re at: What’s working? What's not working? What do you long for? How would we know if you got what you long for--what would your life been like?
This assessment is an active accountability document for both of us. I use them to make sure that we are developing the tools to get you what you want. We will refer back to your assessment both to check in about how we’re doing and also to better understand how far you’ve come. And this document can and will likely change as you heal and have attainable visions of your life that you could have never imagined before. From there, our time is spent in a variety of ways. Often we will start the session with a practice that helps you develop your ability to identify and notice the nuances of your bodily sensations. We might work some boundary setting skills and delve into how your individual nervous system responds to triggers and how you can use your sensations to recover before you act after that trigger. There are often many of my ridiculous, occasionally brilliant metaphors. We might have a larger verbal check-in about a relationship and what you want to practice differently in it. We might break down how ableism is impacted your self-worth and develop a kinesthetic forgiveness practice. We might practice identifying the loudest sensations that are accompanying your anxiety and learning how to titrate in and out so we don’t overwhelm your nervous system. My sessions are generally emergent and largely guided by you. If you're into it, I love giving homework because it gives you scaffolding to develop the muscle memory that new patterns require and also the ability to take what you are learning directly into your life. |