The Transformation Process

Many individuals I work with are coming to me because they experience three things. First, they have persistent discomfort in their body. Second, they sense on some level that they have begun to intertwine their identity with that discomfort. Third, that discomfort and identity around it has a noticeable, negative or dysfunctional affect in the lives.

Instead of paying for a massage every month or so, these individuals are seeking something deeper, more comprehensive - a guided, but fully participatory experience of their own body and mind. The intention of my work is not just the release of tensions, but long-lasting transformational change. This is where Transformational Bodywork shines. 

Every client is unique, just as your treatment will be. But in the process of release and embodiment, I have noticed patterns in the experience of clients. An embodiment journey that moves through five stages. Your bodywork journey may start at any one of these, and progress also varies by client. Knowing that there is a road map can help encourage you, through the ups and downs of the journey, that there is a destination.

Many clients experience the difference in the way I work in the first session, and after several sessions, many clients can also relate their experience to this roadmap. The roadmap below marks what I observe in my clients, how I work in my sessions and the progress that I have seen.

The in-session work is accompanied by a changing client experience and understanding. I will support you to understand your experience and your changing experience as you continue on your embodiment journey, in bodywork sessions, or group embodiment exercise sessions, and via follow-up sessions online.

Although every client journey is unique, in every client session, I work with what we find, where you are at, what you are able to be present with, and what is ready to be released.

This changes for every client as the work continues, as does your understanding of the process, and the journey you are undertaking. This is how the transformational process unfolds.

Stage 1: Release of Accumulated Energies

Accumulated energy can manifest as nervous or muscular tension, constant stress, or an over-activated, unsettled or hyper-vigilant state, or over-sensitivity, reactivity or dissociation in some clients. This initial 1-2 hr treatment helps to release this energy stored in the muscles, help clients re-embody (i.e. feel more connection to their body and their feelings) and emerge feeling more spacious, grounded and connected. Solid muscles will feel loose and relaxed.

Stage 2: Release of Myofascial Armouring

Some individuals have rigid and solid lines of hardened myofascial tension that run through their entire musculoskeletal system. For these clients, the initial sessions require breath and embodiment exercises to feel sensations in the body, then sensitive work to observe tensions in the body. Only then can we work with deeper pressure, with awareness and observation, to soften and break up these solid myofascial structures, so deeper lines of tension can be released. This stage helps bring the client back into the body, increasing somatic awareness and depth of feeling, and a lower baseline for rest state, so clients are better able to relax and unwind.

Stage 3: Deep Myofascial Release

Once the solid, myofascial armouring is released, we can then work deeper lines of tensions and patterns of myofascial holding held through the structure of the body.

Ironically, this deep work requires less strength than the previous stage, but instead works with sensitivity and presence, guiding the client’s awareness through lines of myofascial tensions, and experiencing tensions as they release.

This stage often brings the gentle release of long-held emotional energy, for example, stagnant feelings, grief, embodied emotions or past trauma, and old wounds that still affect us in the present. This stage is about bringing more energy in the body, more lightness, more grounding, and more clarity in emotional understanding, and better access to embodied wisdom.

Questions that typically come up at this stage: What do I want to achieve? What is it that I am feeling, and why? What can I do about it?

You may find that the answers are not the product of knowledge or thinking, but rather arise from your in-body experience.

Stage 4: Re-Connection and Re-Integration

After the release of localised patterns of tensions, and after long-stored energies have been released, this next stage is focused instead on working with anatomy trains. These include the lines of myofascia, the fascial meridians, which connect through the entire body structure, giving it form, structure and alignment. Adhesions in these deep fascial trains can have effects in seemingly unconnected parts of the body.

At this stage, we are working to increase the flow of energy through the body, prevent the accumulation of energies, including held emotions or stagnation, in particular parts of the body. Full body complaints, which may have a physical or structural effects, might find more relief at this stage of treatment.

This stage is about reconnecting the different, seemingly disconnected parts of the body. In the therapeutic process, we are trying to re-integrate disconnected parts of the psyche and bring the body back into alignment. Aligning the body and reducing tensions helps clients become more embodied. More embodiment can mean that more alignment and coherence in our lives; to know and live true to our values, in our direction, our behaviours and our actions…to be truly integrated as a person.

Stage 5: Bio-Sculpting and Bio-Hacking

This is for the individual seeking the extra 10% in performance, function or body shape. A release of myofascial tensions, working through the entire myofascial system, and realignment across the joints and through the body can yield a boost in functional performance without any additional strength building or exercise. This stage is for the performance-focused individual.

You experience life through your body.

The pain you feel reflects years of joy, anxiety, grief, determination - the full spectrum of human emotion, held in your physical being. Working through these points of pain is a journey, and I am here to help you move through it with efficiency and care.