body to body
Over the years, I've completed many different trainings and collected many certificates.
But somewhere along the way, I realized, again and again, that none of that was quite the same as simply being with another human being.
No matter how much I learn, I can never fully prepare for what is about to unfold.
As someone walks into the room, my attention naturally begins to open.
I notice...
How they move.
How they breathe.
How they sit.
How they orient themselves to the room.
How they meet me.
How they receive my greeting.
There is no analysing—only noticing, observing, and listening.
Not only through my eyes and ears, but through my whole body.
I notice what begins to arise in me as I am with them.
I may not yet know their history, but I can begin to sense something of their somatic story.
Years of training drop away.
I simply meet the person as they are.
And I meet myself as I am.
Person to person.
Body to body.
Our bodies as resonant chambers.
A quote from Ron Kurtz, the founder of Hakomi, has stayed with me ever since I first heard it:
"When you can spontaneously, and by your presence alone, make somebody else feel worthy and welcome, then you have achieved the personhood of a therapist."
To me, this goes beyond therapy.
It's about being human.
It isn't another technique, but an understanding of how all the different parts of this work can truly come together in the present moment.
The transpiring present moment—a way of being that I learned to appreciate more deeply through my recent training with Donna Roy and Jessica Montgomery.
Neither the client nor I can truly know beforehand what will unfold.
Instead, we remain open, curious, and responsive.
Prepared to be surprised.
As I reflect on what can happen during a session, I imagine an alchemy.
A living process where many elements come together, especially the willingness to stay with what is unfolding.
Something begins to emerge that neither of us could have planned.
I've been searching for the essence of this work for a long time.
Not the perfect technique.
Not the next best intervention.
But the capacity to truly meet another human being.
In the present moment.
Person to person.
Body to body.
That's the magic.
