Let’s Try Something Different: Movement in Therapy
Sometimes words can feel dizzying.
Sometimes words can circle and circle without seeming to illuminate a new path.
Sometimes words miss something about what’s really going on.
Movement can bring new parts of our experience into awareness in ways that are different than talking-about. (Not better, just different: a new perspective, a different angle.)
In our work together, these are Gestalt therapy sessions … and embodiment is a big part of how I work. Sometimes that means we stay with words. And sometimes we might gently wander elsewhere. Like opting for the dirt path in the park when you’ve been sticking other the paved path for a while.
Not to fix.
Not to correct or improve.
Not to “work on” your body or achieve some physical goal.
But to gently bring some new awareness through your body-sense.
The Co-Creation of the Moment
Any movement we explore arises from our shared context:
From what we’ve been talking about.
From what feels needed.
From a desire for a breath of fresh air in the middle of intensity, perhaps.
I might ask:
What do you feel like doing?
How are you feeling right now?
Is there anything you’d like to enhance (stay with, augment) or shift (play with, riff on) in your body?
We begin with what is already happening.
A movement moment is often simple: standing and noticing your feet on the ground. Feeling your breath move. Shifting your body position/shape. Letting your hands speak.
Sometimes it’s a relief to step away from emotional intensity without leaving it entirely.
We can use movement to stay with something challenging without having to explain or intellectualize it.
To feel into the experience - or feel around the experience - without having to make sense of it right away.
Let’s try something different.
And then we’ll come back.
We’ll talk about how that was.
What you noticed.
If anything is different now. (It doesn’t have to be.)
When Words Aren’t Enough
Your body often already knows something that’s true.
It shows up in the way your shoulders lift.
In the way your eyes look away.
In the way your breath pauses mid-sentence.
Movement can offer:
a break from trying to think your way out
space to not work so hard to understand or be understood
a bridge between sensation and meaning
Sometimes we move a little.
Sometimes we barely move at all.
Sometimes we simply notice that we are already moving.
If you’re alive, you’re already a mover.
No Performance Required
Movement in therapy isn’t about doing it “right.”
It’s about curiosity.
About deepening.
About resting.
About enlivening.
About being-with.
These explorations aren’t instructions.
They’re invitations into getting to know yourself better.
Opportunities to discover something for yourself, rather than being told by someone else what’s true (about you).
To connect dots.
To feel more whole.
As we build your awareness, you may find that choice becomes possible.
And sometimes knowing a new possibility is available is enough.
If you’re curious about exploring movement as part of embodied, relational Gestalt therapy in Toronto or online across Ontario, I’d love to connect with you.
