My work has gone through many evolutions over the past 35 years as a practicing psychotherapist and Wholebody Focusing teacher. My training and personal experiences are very diverse: humanistic/existential psychology and philosophy; East-West integration; psychoanalytic therapy; somatic therapy; and drama therapy—in addition to my training and work with various leaders in Focusing, WBF and FOT (see below). My principle interest as a therapist is in helping clients awaken and reconnect with the life-force and vital energy of the body- to restore wholeness as an embodied being. It is through a deeper and fuller awareness of the body’s inner life, that we can allow the body’s spirit to come alive and guide us on the journey toward healing and growth. Each client and each situation is a challenge, calling me to be present and engaged moment to moment, using the whole body as an ‘instrument’ of somatic sensitivity and resonant attunement with whatever needs attention.

For me, Focusing is the practice of body felt connection with myself and with my clients (or students), inviting and sensing the emergence of life-energy. The shift to working with the whole body has opened new vistas for transformation in therapy- including awareness of and focusing on movement, gesture, posture, energy and tonality. As we invite the body to come alive, the energies and feelings trapped within our patterns and symptoms can be felt, embodied and restored to awareness. The awakening of the body’s energy begins the journey of opening to more life- and recovering our natural spirit. Traumas and conditioning often result in a loss of contact with the body and its spirit. Thus I have discovered that most of our physical/emotional/behavioral patterns are formed to either protect (hide) or indirectly express the life-force. Wholebody Focusing is the embodied practice of restoring the connection with our living body, returning to renew and reclaim those parts of the spirit that had to be renounced or disconnected during times of stress and trauma. We are truly lead by the body- its energy, felt sensing and life-force (spirit) show us the way.

This work has awakened my spirit, enlivened my life-energy and freed up creative expression and interaction. I see this as soul-work, using creative imagination and sensitive awareness to embody scenarios that heal the wounded or broken aspects of ourselves. For me, it is a natural extension and evolution of Focusing and FOT, i.e. opening the therapy space to allow for more life-energy, and opportunities to play out new interactions in a safe and supportive container. I see this work as guided by the soma, the spirit of the living body to show us the way forward, often by bringing to awareness the felt self and its world (scenes) where its spirit and energy have been stuck.