Hello, friends, and welcome. What with Mercury going retrograde (for astrology believers) and my patchy IT skills (no belief required; it's simple facts), it'll be a miracle if this post goes off (or on) without a hitch. I'm no magician, but magic IS what's on the table today.
When people I've just met ask me what it is I do, in terms of my offerings here, I can relay the basic principles, and somewhat of the science behind it, but I'm often hard-pressed to explain how and why it works. I'm not sure I entirely understand it myself. I usually end up saying. 'Here, have a look at the website first and then ask me!', for want of a better option.
Sometimes I half-jokingly tell people that my work is a wondrous mix of a bit of somatic (body) work, a bit of psychotherapy-type exploration, and more than a touch of magic. The magic's the most important bit, truly; the bit that binds my work all together in some inexplicable way, like a silvery cord winding around and through the sessions. It's a Mystery, with a capital 'M'. Not hocus-pocus, rabbits in hats, or casting spells magic. It's more intangible than that. It's also more real. It doesn't happen right away, usually, which is why I recommend having at least a few sessions, to see what happens. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all, and those clients who don't feel the weaving of the Mystery around them don't stay longer than a session or two. I once had a client leave angrily after one session because I hadn't 'fixed their problem' in sixty minutes. That's okay. It isn't personal. Sometimes this just isn't the right path for them.
The magic happens through relationship. Relationship is at the heart of my work, and indeed the work of any therapist worth their salt. There is my relationship with the client and their relationship with me. But also, there is their relationship to themselves and their life, and my relationship with myself and my life. These four entities form the threads that weave the magic cord that binds the work together. Sometimes this is very challenging for clients; their relationship with themselves can be an awkward one, and uncomfortable. Establishing the sort of trust required to open oneself to the healing process can take time, and much gentle patience. Often it involves set-backs, peaks, troughs, and plateaus. But when they eventually do begin to open up, to unfold, the transformation can be quite moving to witness. I've seen it happen enough times now, even in myself, to believe in the Mystery of it all. It's not that suddenly all their problems disappear (life doesn't work like that, alas). It's more like something begins to shift, incrementally, inside them, and whatever felt like a logjam, suddenly begins to flow a bit more easily. Magic.
Does this answer the 'what do you do' question? Probably not. I may just have to leave it as 'a little bit of somatic stuff, a little bit of therapy-like stuff, and more than a touch of magic', and let the Mystery itself do the answering.
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