Somatic Breathwork Therapy

Trauma-informed, for self-discovery, connection & growth

Welcome to Somatic Breathwork Therapy

I offer somatic breathwork therapy to help my clients connect to and explore their inner worlds. The work invites clients to discover their emotions, sensations, and their thoughts and beliefs about themselves, as well as the defences that have been constructed to manage difficult experiences and relationships.

My work is trauma-informed, using a variety of methods to help clients to ground themselves in their bodies, express held-back emotions, and work through blocks and defences to create a flow of heart energy in life and the body.

I am based in Whitstable, which is easily accessible from Faversham, Herne Bay and the surrounding areas.

Why do people do Somatic Breathwork Therapy?

Often, my clients have an awareness that something is not working for them in their lives, and they want more for themselves. There are all sorts of life circumstances that bring people to see me, but here are some common experiences of the people I work with.

• Feeling stuck

• Missing a sense of life purpose

• Over-thinking

• Wanting to feel more present in life

• Feeling scattered / ungrounded

• Being absent-minded

• Experiencing physical symptoms that cannot be attributed to a medical cause

• Difficulty accessing emotion

• Feeling overwhelmed by emotion

• Caught in unhelpful behavioural patterns

• Wanting to digest traumatic experiences

Why is the breath important?

The way in which we breathe into our bodies and the amount of breath we allow in and out is reflective of the patterns we have formed to manage life experiences.

As breathwork has become more popular, people often have the notion that they are not breathing properly, or that there is an ideal way to breathe.

In reality, everyone has a compromised breathing style to some degree.

This work is about exploring the areas of the body that been boxed off for self-preservation by avoiding taking the breath there. It allows us to ask, “who am I inside this body?”

These areas may also be physically contracted as well, so bringing a breath inside the body to meet the contraction is a way of bringing presence to it. By paying attention inwardly in this way, the contraction can begin to soften, and change within the body-mind system can begin to happen organically. I use a variety of different breathing styles, depending on the needs of each client.

Why is touch important?

Touch is a way of helping clients to connect with the sensations in their body. How people experience touch can vary from being pleasurable and comforting to being physically/emotionally painful, or even unwanted. In addition, different parts of the body might be more responsive to touch than others, and sometimes there may be inner conflict between wanting and not wanting touch.

All of these possibilities are taken into consideration when I am working with clients, and this and we explore them during the sessions. For some, consciously feeling the edges of their body through touch or saying “no” to touch can be important ways of re-establishing boundaries that have been broken. When physical or emotional pain is experienced in the body, touch can provide an anchor that allows clients to bring their breath towards the pain so that they can experience it more fully so that the tissue can soften and release.

What happens in a Somatic Breathwork Therapy session?

During the initial session I invite clients to tell me about what has drawn them to Somatic Breathwork. The work is usually done lying on a massage table using the breath, touch, movements on the body, and sound, with a view to helping the client to find a way to connect with their inner experiences, such as sensations, emotions, memories, thoughts, and beliefs.

It is not unusual for emotions to arise spontaneously: fear, sadness, anger, grief, for example. I support clients to allow emotion as much as possible. Often there is a fear that if the feeling is allowed it will never end, but clients quickly discover that if they express the emotion, it can pass. Clients will also encounter the ways that they have kept their feelings at bay: numbness, tiredness, and thinking, for example. When this happens, we honour those experiences too, by getting to know them when they happen. I work slowly with clients, paying close attention to their experiences, to make sure that we work within their capacities. Breath and touch can be very provocative, particularly for people who have experienced a lot of trauma.

What are some of the changes that clients might experience?

For each individual this will differ, but here are some of the possibilities of what may evolve over time:

• Feeling connection with the self and others in a new way

• Gaining awareness of the inner sensations in the body

• Re-connecting with emotions that might have been supressed for many years

• A fuller sense of self

• An increased ability to be present in the body, rather than distracted or dissociated

• Getting to know and honouring the defences that have been developed for self-protection so that they can fall away when no longer needed

• Resolution of old energetic patterns tat may run through several generations

• Building new boundaries within the body

• Accepting “what is” and encountering life more fully

Other ways we can work together

As well as offering individual sessions, I also collaborate with a colleague in the following ways:

One day workshops

These workshops are an opportunity to experience the work in a group setting. Powerful shifts can be experienced in a group dynamic.

Meditation group

A monthly meditation group that explores self-expression using humming and open-mouth sounding, and how that affects the sensations in the body, the mind and the emotions.

Training

A foundation course and full practitioner training for self and professional development

Some frequently asked questions...

Considerations before booking

If you are currently undergoing counselling or psychotherapy, it is important to discuss this with your therapist prior to booking

Please book a discovery call first if you often feel flooded with emotion so we can establish if Somatic Breathwork is the best next step for you

Preparing for an appointment

• Please wear comfy clothes

• When doing breathwork you will need to drink more water than usual during and after the session to help process the work. I will offer you water during your appointment, but please feel free to bring a bottle of water if you prefer

• It is advisable to avoid making plans for the rest of the day/evening, if possible, to give you time to process whatever has arisen

• It is not unusual to feel nervous before your appointment. Please feel free to contact me if you need help with this

Next steps

If you have questions that you would like to ask me, either about your situation or about the work I offer, you are welcome to book in for a free 15 minute discovery call. There is no obligation to sign up for a session by having the call.

You can book yourself in for an individual session to discover what this Somatic Breathwork Therapy is like in practice. After that, you can book session as and when you feel ready, or commit to a series of sessions.

I also offer 30 minute online appointments in between sessions if additional support is needed.

You can book any of the above by visiting the booking page, and you can sign up to my newsletter to keep in touch.

Get in touch

Contact me if you would like any further information. I aim to respond to enquiries within 48 working hours

Location

I am based at Clinic 124 in the centre of Whitstable, which is a 15 minute walk from Whitstable Train station, making it easy to access from London, Faversham, Margate, Ramsgate and Folkestone. There is no parking onsite at the clinic, but there is a pay and display carpark further down the road towards the seafront.

The full address is 124 Middle Wall, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1BW.

Fees

2025 Fees are as follows:

£65 for a 75 minute session

£240 for a block of 4 75 minute sessions

£32.50 for 30 minute online support appointments

Sessions are payable in advance, non-refundable, and can be moved once with a minimum of a week’s notice.

Visit my bookings page to make your appointment