Help people connect with their emotional experience
More often than not, our emotions are perceived as illnesses rather than normal and appropriate responses to our individual life circumstances.
With my work, I want to help people develop an awareness of how they feel and be comfortable with whatever that might be. It is ok to feel sad, angry, scared, anxious or whatever they might feel. There is not such a thing as a bad emotion!
The kind of messages we receive growing up, are often associated to how wrong is the way we feel, for one reason or another. For example, you might be familiar with phrases like “if you show how you feel people will think you are weak”, “just get on with it, it’s nothing”, “boys don’t cry”, “it’s not good to be angry” and so on. With these kinds of messages, it is not surprising that we end up disconnecting from how we really feel!
Emotions are an intrinsic part of being human and its central for our wellbeing to be able to recognise and express them without being judged or criticised by ourselves or others. Not acknowledging or expressing our emotions, won’t make them go away, but might actually lead to the development of physical symptoms, insomnia and a general sense of unhappiness and discomfort.
Further, in my work I emphasise the importance to recognise and observe bodily felt emotions and states that might have never been consciously acknowledged by the person but viscerally experienced. I believe that is extremely important to be able to connect with the experience of our body, as everything we experience is felt through and responded to by the body.
After many years of training, research and clinical work, I realised how complex and beautifully different we are from one other. Instead of fearing the differences between ourselves and others and constantly trying and minimise them behaving in ways that fit with what is recognised as ‘better’ or ‘normal’ in society, I want to help people be comfortable in expressing and embracing their individuality, emotions and become who they truly are.
