Methods

The basics is that I help you sense your body more clearly, get in closer contact with your desires, allow what is there to guide the process. This approach to the body is looking at the physical tension in such a way that it can learn to release it more and more by itself, automatically. The first step is always simply noticing what’s there. Mostly we are so used to being with ourselves that we might think that there is nothing there. A fish does (probably) not see the water. This work creates an environment where it becomes visible. 

I have written down some distinctions for you below to give extra clarity. 

Manual Techniques

“Manual techniques” is any bodywork that uses the hands. I am certified as a Swedish Massage Therapist by Axelssons in Sweden which is focused on muscles and fascia (deep tissue). Some of these techniques use a lot of pressure and release, and some of them are very soft and works more on the nervous system. I have also studied soft manipulation of joints in Switzerland. This range of techniques makes it possible to analyze what is needed to work towards fuller range of movement and function, and is very helpful when we’re dealing with injuries, and long term strain patterns (like sitting like a computer bonsai human, or what ever your specialties might be!) that have stagnated.

Somatic Coaching

Or body based coaching, is an integrated and powerful way of working with the body. What is different about this compared to pure structural work that I describe above is that you are not just passively receiving. You are rather allowing the body to follow its impulses and responses, move, feel, investigate. Here we work on how patterns in your body manifest like they do, and how to do something new. When you can experience your body more clearly, you get to know how your inner world of reactions, ideas and beliefs come together. This allows you to choose other possibilities. This is a deeper process of change that is informed by the greater perspective of your life. Here touch, pressure and movement is seen more as means of communication and is combined with mindful attention.  

I am currently a student of the Pantarei Approach in Berlin, where I am learning another way of Somatic Coaching, which will over the next year be more incorporated into my practice.