Psychomotor therapy
“experience is the base from where we can connect our feeling, thinking and acting”
What is psychomotor therapy?
Psychomotor therapy puts the body, movement and experience at the centre of working with mental health and psychosocial problems. You explore yourself – your feelings, behaviour, thoughts and the patterns in them – through the body and experience-based activities that get you (back) in movement. This may sound rather abstract, and it is quite tricky to explain in words what psychomotor therapy exactly is – you have to experience it!
To give some examples: sometimes we work with more sports- and movement-oriented activities, such as dancing or ball games. At other times body-oriented activities such as relaxation, breathing exercises or yoga are valuable. In reality often a combination of these two approaches are used.
Psychomotor therapy builds on the belief that we are our bodies, instead of merely having or using our body. It invites you to experience and connect with feelings – both positive and negative. This forms the base for exploring new movements, sensations and emotions. In the end, this form of therapy is about experiencing new things and based on those experiences, practising new behaviours in a safe, structured environment.
What can we work on?
The themes that will emerge during the process will depend on your background and needs. Possible theme’s we can explore are:
- Recognizing body signals and increasing body-awareness and body-positivity
- Increasing self-confidence and self-acceptance
- Interpreting, regulating and expressing emotions such as fear, anger or sadness
- Recognizing and indicating boundaries towards one another
- Increase self-reliance and a sense of control
individual therapy
During one-on-one therapy sessions we explore, through movement and the body, the issues that have come up for you: whether you want to work through trauma or around anxiety, depression, stress or other challenges, Moving Through Trauma can provide a safe space and guidance to support you in your healing.
If you register for individual therapy you get your own trajectory tailored to your needs and wishes. After an initial chat about your background and needs, Esther will develop a therapy plan that will detail how we can work towards your goals. After that we will have regular hour-long sessions and adjust the plan as necessary. You are very welcome to book a free 25 minute session so we can get to know each other first.
body-based therapy for trauma
Trauma can root deep in the body and after a major event all kinds of feelings and sensations can arise in the body: maybe sometimes your heart suddenly starts to beat faster, you break a sweat, or it becomes difficult to breathe. Sometimes these sensations can scare or overwhelm you, while at other times you may feel empty and disconnected from your body, the people around you or the world in general.
It is quite common to, after having experienced a traumatic event, not find the words for the experiences you had. Sometimes we might not even be fully aware of what has happened. This can be either because whatever happened was so long ago or because we have used all our strength to push certain memories out of our minds. Whatever it is that happened to you, at whatever moment in your life, those memories get stored in the body. Some people remember traumatic experiences solely through their body.
It is common to disconnect from your body, as your body might make you feel things you don’t want to feel or that upset and overwhelm you. This makes it hard to feel or identify what is going on in your body and how to respond to these sensations in a caring and gentle way.
Traditional therapy is talk-based, which often results in a focus on the mind and rational thinking. Psychomotor therapy, though it does use words and narratives, shifts the focus of therapy to the body-based dimension of trauma: the physical dimension, the emotional states that are stored in our bodies, and the lived experience. Particularly in the case of trauma, body-oriented therapy can offer support in exploring and discovering the body and processing trauma. Only through becoming aware of the sensations that tell you what your body needs, can you start to take care of and be gentle to your body and the feelings that arise.
Moving Through Trauma supports you in getting to know and befriend your body again. We start with creating a safe space to then explore the themes that arise for you in order to work towards the processing and integrating of past experiences slowly. Everyone who registers for individual therapy gets their own trajectory tailored to the their needs and wishes.