ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE
“The most valuable knowledge we can possess is that of the use and functioning of the self.”
F. M. Alexander
We all know that stress can be harmful, creating anxiety, interfering with freedom, and even causing pain. But how often are we aware of the tension we bring to the activities we do? What is the short and long-term effect of that tension? And once aware, how do we undo it? Lessons in the Alexander Technique help identify and prevent patterns of excessive muscular tension to restore effortless movement, balance, and coordination.
Lessons
Lessons are an exploration of movement and thought. Through verbal instruction and gentle guidance, clients develop deeper awareness of their bodies, their thinking, and their reactions to simple stimuli.
Students discover the joy of moving freely and find that they can respond to the challenges of their lives with grace, efficiency, and ease. They learn to let go of pain, to work with less effort, and to think more clearly.
Clients meet with Karen in an individual setting at her studio or on-line. Lessons are 50 minutes, and are tailored to meet specific needs.
For more information, or to schedule a lesson call 937-974-8945 or email Karen at karen@karendehart.com
The Alexander Technique helps with:
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pain and stress relief
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confidence and self-control
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self-development, self-awareness, and personal growth
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better posture and improvement of posture-related problems
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improved performance in publis speaking, singing, dancing,
music, and sport
For more information:
Practical Theory?
American Society for the Alexander Technique
Articles and Blog posts:
Injury, Pain and Medical Applications of the Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique: An Alternative Therapy for Chronic Back Pain
SOMATIC ENNEAGRAM
“Each of us scans the whole world, looking for bits of information that confirm to us that the world is as we see it.”
Helen Palmer
While the Alexander Technique addresses how we react and provides a method for change, the Enneagram is a tool for understanding why we react, describing the way personality patterns narrow focus and limit possibilities. It identifies habits of being and allows us to step back and observe our behavior to decide whether we are acting out of reactive patterns. The nine-pointed symbol with its interconnecting lines also guides transformation.
The nine types describe ways of seeing, being and reacting to the world we know. Helen Palmer says, “Each of us scans the whole world, looking for bits of information that confirm to us that the world is as we see it.” As we find those bits that confirm our biases we react, constructing a limiting version of others, the world, and ourselves, and in reactivity contract to meet those restrictions. Our beliefs drive our behavior and cause suffering.
But the Enneagram, while describing habits of misuse, also points to wholeness; it implies a state of integration. Unlike many systems, it suggests that we are more than our personality; that even though we respond to the world in habitual ways, there is some essential self that can be invited and accessed through awareness and inhibition of the patterned responses.
It teaches us our habits of being and shows us our core beliefs and defensive strategies. It reveals what we are drawn to and what we avoid. It helps us develop a capacity to witness the self as it appears. In the narrative tradition we discover ourselves, tell our stories and discover more. Personal growth and spiritual awakening come through awareness, pausing, acceptance of what is and active, gentle engagement. Is it possible to allow what I resist? And once begun, can I remember? Thus new possibilities are created.
CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY
A gentle hands-on
approach that releases tension
deep in the body
Since 2009, Karen has offered CranioSacral Therapy (CST) and SomatoEmotional Release (SER). Her training is through the Upledger Institute where she continues her education and is also a teaching assistant.
Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is a very gentle hands-on approach that releases tension deep in the body to relieve pain and dysfunction and improve whole-body well-being. Pioneered and developed by Dr. John Upledger after extensive study at the University of Michigan, it uses no more than five grams of pressure (about the weight of a nickel) to encourage release of restrictions in the soft tissues that surround the central nervous system. Most clients find CST deeply relaxing.
In the course of his work, Dr. Upledger recognized that the body often retains the energy of unresolved emotional and physical trauma, which may result in disregulation in the nervous system and physical pain or emotional stress. He developed a process of facilitating release of this stored energy called Somato-Emotional Release (SER).
In an SER session the client is assisted, through gentle touch and therapeutic dialogue to become aware of and listen to his/her inner self, that part of self that holds deep wisdom but is often ignored. Through this supported mind-body approach the client can begin the process of safely releasing the effects of trauma.
For more information: www.upledger.com
A session is about 45-50 minutes. In a typical CST/SER session the client rests on the table, fully clothed.
FOCUSING
“Every bad feeling is potential energy toward a more right way of being if you give it space to move toward its rightness.”
Eugene T. Gendlin, Ph.D., Focusing*
How do we change?
Do you sometimes feel yourself going round and round, revisiting the same patterns, hoping for something different but finding yourself stuck?
Your body has an unspoken wisdom: an unclear, unformed understanding of the situations of your life. This understanding expresses as a bodily felt sense of what you don't yet consciously know, and it can be invited. There is a special way of listening to it, called Focusing, which brings that knowledge into conscious awareness and carries forward into your next step.
Would you like to engage with that wordless knowing, letting it express itself in you, listening it into being as it emerges into your next forward step?
I can help.
A Focusing session with me is 50 minutes. We can meet in person at one of my offices, or online. I will guide you through the session using gentle suggestions that facilitate your inner exploration.
Schedule your session with me here.
Would you like to know how to do Focusing yourself?
I am certified to teach you the process and offer classes and workshops through out the year.
In addition, all of my work is focusing-oriented; I integrate the principles of Focusing into what I do to help you discover your own way forward.
Learn more about upcoming classes and workshops.
For more information:
The International Focusing Institute and Focusing Resources
*Gendlin, E. (2007). Focusing. New York, NY: Bantam Dell.
