Freedom Within; Bodywork & Somatic Inquiry for Chronic Pain

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Freedom Within; Bodywork & Somatic Inquiry for Chronic Pain

Relational Somatic Therapy | Helping you move beyond insight into a felt experience of safety, connection & self compassion.

Integrating Embodied Processing | Bodywork | Nervous System Support.

30/10/2026

“Our nervous system is our safety system”

I came across this description recently and I love it.

Our nervous system is constantly taking in information. It communicates and interprets, faster than your conscious thinking mind ever could, meaning we can respond to what is happening around us and within us in a split second. Clever. But sometimes the NS stays alert, protective or overwhelmed, even when we’ve consciously caught up and know we’re safe.

At the point our mind catches up, that’s where a different relationship can begin.

Rather than getting frustrated with ourselves, or trying to force our bodies to calm down, we can become curious.

What might this part of me be responding to?
What might it need?
Can I meet it with a little patience, kindness and understanding?

For me, this is at the heart of somatic work.

It’s not about fixing our nervous system or making ourselves feel calm all the time. It’s about listening, building trust and discovering new ways of relating to ourselves.

Because sometimes, what we need most isn’t to be told we’re safe, but to begin to experience it 🤍

28/10/2026

A little sensory reset 🤍

When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I can get stuck in mental paralysis, it’s hard to think clearly or take any action and everything feels like a bit too much.

Rather than trying to think or reason my way out of it, l like to give myself a little sensory reset.

I roll a little peppermint essential oil blend onto my wrist, rub both my wrists together, take a gentle inhale through my nose, notice the familiar uplifting scent, and then breathe on out, through my mouth.

I often combine this with rolling my shoulders, inviting some movement back into my body.

The scent. The breath. The movement.

I’m not expecting these small actions to make everything disappear. But they help me reconnect with the present, create a little space, and feel more able to turn towards whatever needs my attention next.

For me, that’s the point. Not being calm all the time, but finding ways to move through the ups and downs of being human.

Your reset might look completely different. Perhaps it’s stepping outside, stretching, feeling your feet on the floor, or noticing the sights and sounds around you.

Experiment and find what works for you.

One small thing to try.

What helps you shift gears when overwhelm takes over?

23/10/2026

One of the things I’m loving about my NeuroAffective Touch® practitioner journey is discovering just how many layers there are to working with touch.

As I move through the training, I’m finding myself looking at familiar themes in new ways, and asking different questions about the relationship between our bodies, our emotions and our need for connection.

Recently, my study group explored eating disorders.

One aspect that really stayed with me was the possibility of understanding eating difficulties not simply in terms of food or behaviour, but also in relation to feeling, protection, control and connection.

For some people, behaviours around food and the body may serve an important purpose. They may help meet a need, maybe to manage overwhelming feelings, create a sense of control or protect against experiences that feel difficult to meet.

This invites a different kind of curiosity.

What might be happening underneath the behaviour? What is the need? What is being managed or protected? And what might it be like to experience support, connection and receiving in a different way?

I’m particularly interested in what NeuroAffective Touch® can offer in exploring these questions, always with consent, choice and respect for the individual’s readiness.

This doesn’t mean touch is always appropriate, or that it replaces the specialist support eating disorders can require. Rather, it opens up another area of exploration within a broader therapeutic approach.

As I continue this training, I’ll carry on sharing some of the themes, questions and discoveries that stay with me along the way.

It’s a privilege to keep learning about the many ways we can work with the body, connection and the human experience. 🤍

EmbodiedHealing NeuroAffective Touch® Institute

16/10/2026

I covered many of the foundations of PRT during my SIRPA Practitioner training, so this isn’t completely new territory for me. But understanding deepens, things move on, and I really value the opportunity to revisit this work through a current lens.

So, what is Pain Reprocessing Therapy?

At its heart, PRT explores the relationship between the brain, the body and persistent pain, including the way the brain can learn to interpret certain sensations as threatening, even when there isn’t ongoing tissue damage causing the pain.

It isn’t about telling yourself that your pain isn’t real.
It absolutely is.

It’s about becoming curious about what your brain and body might be doing, and gradually developing a different relationship with those sensations.

And there’s a really simple piece of this you can experiment with:

The next time you notice a familiar pain or uncomfortable sensation, see if you can get curious rather than immediately trying to make it stop.

You might quietly ask yourself:

What do I actually notice right now?

Is it pressure? Tightness? Heat? Pulling? Tingling? Movement?

See if you can notice the sensation itself, rather than immediately going to the story about what it means or what might happen next.

You don’t need to change it.

Just notice.

That small shift, from “How do I get rid of this?” to “What do I actually notice?”, can be an interesting place to begin.

It’s fascinating to learn about the connections between persistent pain, the nervous system, the brain, our experiences and the way we relate to our bodies.

And I’m finding PRT naturally weaves into the somatic work I already do.

I’m gathering more tools and perspectives that I can draw on with my clients.

So for me, this isn’t about adding another modality.

It feels much more like deepening the work that’s already there.

I love that there is always more to learn. More to question. More to explore.

Always learning 🤍

rocessingtherapy

12/10/2026

Sometimes we spend so much energy trying to get our bodies to stop doing something

Stop hurting
Stop tightening
Stop reacting
Stop feeling

And I completely understand why

But I’m interested in what happens when we become curious about the response, rather than immediately trying to change it

Not because every symptom has a nervous-system explanation

And not because symptoms aren’t real

They are

But the body is constantly communicating with us, and sometimes learning to listen can be an important part of the picture

What if we could work with the body, rather than fighting with it? 🤍

08/10/2026

We can understand, intellectually, that something is in the past

but still find that our body responds as though it’s happening now

Sometimes the body needs a different kind of attention

Not more analysing

Not forcing change

Just slowing down enough to notice what’s happening, with curiosity and compassion

17/09/2026

I’m convalescing today after some dental surgery this morning, so I’m taking the opportunity to be quiet, slow down and read a good book.

A client recommended this book; The Art of Giving and Receiving by Betty Martin. I’m only a few chapters in, but I’m already getting that lovely feeling of finding something that makes you think…

Yes. This.

So much of what she’s exploring around touch, choice, agency and relationship feels beautifully aligned with what I’ve been learning through NeuroAffective Touch.

I’m particularly interested in the idea that there is so much more to touch than the physical act itself

There’s a difference between what we want to receive, what we’re willing to receive and what we don’t want to receive, and conversely, what we want to give, what we’re willing to give and what we don’t want to give.

Safety and choice are, as always, huge. Knowing in our minds that we are safe and we have choice is not enough, we have to know it in our bodies.

It’s fascinating to me how much these things matter in therapeutic touch, and how important it is that touch remains a collaborative experience rather than something simply being “done” to someone.

And just to be clear, the same dynamics underlie all relationships, be that social, business or wider society.

Anyway, I’m only a few chapters in, so I’m not going to pretend I’ve got it all figured out! 😂 but I’m enjoying the journey 🤍

I’m just really enjoying reading something that is opening up more questions and connecting some dots for me.

A lovely way to spend a delicate little recovery day☺️

10/09/2026

How often do you move through your day slightly on alert without really noticing?

Thinking ahead.
Planning.
Anticipating.
Looking after everyone else.
Being ready for whatever comes next.

Sometimes we don’t realise how much we’re doing until we experience a moment when we don’t have to.

For me, this moment, sitting in the park with my dog.

Nothing special was happening.

And that was the point.

For a while here, I wasn’t preparing for the next thing. I wasn’t solving anything. I was simply there.

And I noticed the difference.

Being on alert feels different from being present.

Neither is wrong. Our bodies and nervous systems respond to what life asks of us.

But becoming aware of those different states can give us something important: choice.

That’s a small part of what we explore in my work.

Not trying to be calm all the time.

Not fixing or forcing.

Just becoming more curious about what’s happening, and noticing what becomes possible when we create a little space.

I’ve shared more about this work on my new website. Link in bio 🤍

09/09/2026

I’ve been quietly excited about this little labour of love…

My new website is live 🤍

A simpler, clearer way to share what I do and how I work with people.

My hope is that, when you visit, you will feel like you can breathe.

The heart of the work is still the same; exploring the relationship between body, mind, nervous system, emotion and experience, particularly when pain, stress or overwhelm have left us feeling stuck.

What feels new is the clarity around Somatic Therapy, how I deliver it, and how the different strands of my work come together: Nervous System Support, Embodied Processing, NeuroAffective Touch® and Myofascial Bodywork.

There’s also more about me, and what you can expect if we work together.

You don’t need to know which approach you need.
As always, we start with you, and the work develops from there.

If you haven’t visited yet, I’d love you to take a look.

And if you do, I’d genuinely love to hear what you think. All feedback welcome. 🤍

Link in bio.

27/07/2026

Sometimes six days can change the way you see things.

I’ve just returned from London after completing the second half of my NeuroAffective Touch training, and I’ve spent the last few days at home letting it all settle.

I thought I’d return full of new techniques. Instead, I’ve come home with something harder to put into words.

It wasn’t really about learning more techniques.

It was about deepening my understanding of what it means to truly be with another person.

Again and again, I was reminded that healing doesn’t happen because someone knows the right thing to do.

It happens in relationship.

In the quality of our presence.

In feeling met rather than managed.

In not feeling alone.

One of the things that has stayed with me most is how differently I find myself seeing people.

Not as diagnoses.

Not as symptoms to fix.

But as whole human beings.

People who have adapted in extraordinary ways to cope with life’s experiences.

People carrying stories we often can’t see.

This week has also reminded me that we cannot heal the world.

We can’t take away another person’s pain.

But we can meet one person at a time with presence, compassion and care, becoming a safe harbour if they choose to rest there for a while.

And sometimes, that’s where something begins to shift.

I also came home with something rather lovely...

A set of nurturing support pillows, designed specifically for NeuroAffective Touch. They’re simple, but they create a profound sense of support for the body, and I’m looking forward to introducing them into my sessions over the coming weeks.

For so many of the people I work with, those living with chronic stress, burnout, persistent symptoms, chronic fatigue, ADHD, or simply the feeling of always having to hold everything together, life has often become about pushing through.

This work offers something different.

Not another thing to achieve.

Not another technique to master.

Just the opportunity to experience what it feels like to be deeply supported.

And sometimes, that can be the beginning of everything.

Address

DPGP Building, 41 Church Road, Ashley Cross
Poole
BH140NN

Website

http://www.freedomwithin.me/

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