Over the past twenty-five years as a bodyworker, I’ve come to see that most of us don’t understand how powerful feeling is. And I’ve had the privilege of witnessing the important changes that happen for people experiencing pain, trauma and anxiety, when they become more skilful at the process of feeling.
How feeling can help us with mental health challenges
I used to work with people with mental health problems, including people with diagnoses of schizophrenia or manic depression. Working in mental health was fascinating for me, and I got very interested in the notion of madness, and what is sanity, and what are the power dynamics that come into play with mental health.
I had lots of different career choices back then, and one of them was to become a psychotherapist. A lot of my core friends are from that period, and they are now brilliant psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists.
But around that time, I discovered yoga, and I remember very clearly one of the yoga teachers saying – “if you have space under your armpits, you won’t feel depressed”. I really didn’t understand how that could work. He explained that if you have space under your armpits, it means that your chest is lifted, and you’re breathing well, and that is going to change how you think and feel.
This was a real landmark moment for me in understanding that we can care for our mental health by working with our bodies, and as I continued to puzzle over these ideas, and dedicate myself to my own yoga practice over the next fourteen years, I realised that I felt much healthier when I paid attention to my body.
We can change our physical, emotional and mental health
I came to see that by moving better, and by breathing better, we can feel more connected, and we can change our physical, emotional and mental health.
The more you learn to feel, and get connected with your body, the more you can learn to change emotional stories, belief systems and complex constructs such as ‘I’m not good enough’, or ‘I’m an angry person’, or ‘I’m a failure’.
When we root ourselves and find safety in our body, we realise that a lot of the very powerful, defining life statements are actually rooted in early experiences. When we come to recognise the quality of feelings like failure deep inside of us, and we notice that our physiology is completely geared to that collapsing state, even very big life statements that people think are completely fixed, can shift and change – we find new choices.
Feeling and pain
This is also very relevant for our experience of pain – when we learn to feel, we can learn how to interact with it differently, or choose a different narrative, or appreciate the complexity of pain, we can change our experience of it.
So although pain is often seen as a physical problem, anxiety is seen as an emotional problem, and trauma is seen as a psychological problem, I think that the link with all of them is that they are rooted in our ability to feel.
By connecting with our bodies, we can make real and lasting changes, we can find more joy and agency within us – we have a huge amount of adaptability and creativity inside of us.
Give feelings a location or a geography in your body
There are many commonplace metaphors we use which contain great wisdom. In English we often say we have a ’gut-wrenching decision’ to make, or ‘my heart is broken’. In German, we use the sentence “my heart’s in my trousers”, to describe the idea of your heart sinking when you’re feeling fearful.
A good way to get better at feeling is to give feelings a location in your body. For example, if you’re angry, don’t go straight to the concept or the reason for your anger, instead, explore where you feel angry, and how you feel angry. Does this anger have a location? You might find you have a closed feeling around your heart, or a fist in your solar plexus, or the big muscles in your back have really tightened.
And if you learn to make that link between a place in your body that gets activated, it’s a huge step, because once your awareness has moved into the theatre of the body you can play with the feelings in different ways;
You can breathe differently
You can move differently
You can relax into it
You can explore the feeling state without having to do mental tricks.
All of these actions can help to change the tone, and create ease, by helping that place in your body change through skilful awareness and movement.
The Art of Touch Training – we start in March 2025
I like to talk about bodywork as gardening; we are planting seeds, creating the conditions for change and waiting for growth.
If you’re interested in training with me, so that you can more deeply support others who are experiencing pain, trauma and anxiety to feel more fully and access more choice, the next two-year, Art of Touch Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy training is starting in early March 2025.
We only have two places left, so if you’re interested, please get in touch as soon as you can.
(If you’re interested in exploring this modality, but you’re not sure about the full training, you can come along to seminar one as an introduction event, without committing to the full training.)
Body College: The Art of Touch Training
Seminar One – Wednesday 5th March – Sunday 9th March
BC London 2025 Sem 1 Jane Shaw
You can find out more and apply here
The training is suitable for existing health professionals considering adding a new modality to their work as well as individuals wanting to start a career in an exciting and evolving therapy.
Body College is fully accredited with the Craniosacral Therapy Association of the UK (CSTA).
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Upcoming Trainings with Steve Haines:
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST)
The Art of Touch Two Year Trainings:
London: starts Mar 2025
Galway: starts Oct 2025
Prague: starts Oct 2025
The Art of Touch Intro Events:
(You can attend seminar one without committing to the full training)
London Seminar 1: Mar 5-9
Galway (evening): Mar 2, Apr 24,
Galway Seminar 1: Oct 1-5
Prague Seminar 1: Oct 1-5
Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE®)
TRE Intro Days:
London: Mar 24, Apr 21, Jul 21, Sep 22, Nov 3.
TRE 1 Year Trainings:
London: starts May 2025
