Press Play Music Therapy

24/01/2023

And if you want to skip the back story - here is the news. I'm writing a book!! Come follow me at Embodied Cultures for any more updates :)

24/01/2023

A 2023 update for those who are curious! Come follow me at Embodied Cultures if you're interested in more of this :)

But before I go into detail, here is a winding road through the back story of how I landed here in 2023, writing a book. In 2018 I started a PhD. It was to work towards a neurobiopsychosocial framework of music therapy for complex trauma and PTSD. I wrote an amazing proposal. Was accepted. Enrolled....

24/11/2022

I asked:

What would it mean to feel wildly supported right now?

Not a superficial kind of support that leaves you unsure if it is even support.

Not the kind of support that makes you feel restricted and squeezed and pushed.

But a web of support.

A web that has anchor points of:
- Different humans
- Tools
- Non-humans
- The earth
- Gravity
- Music
- You having your own back (or at least experimenting with what this might feel like)

Every thread of the web returning again and again to you.

She said:
Everything.

So she said yes to everything that felt like a full bodied resting into life.
And all of the unnecessary efforting began to melt away.

What would it mean for you to feel wildly supported right now?

Let the question really sink in as you consider all the possibilities.

And what supports are here to rest into today?

……

I’m supporting women, non-binary and those assigned female at birth to move beyond the thinking and talking about support - and into really genuinely feeling what support feels like.

Cultivating a culture of safety and support within our own bodies is where we start as we build the foundations required for therapeutic and post-traumatic growth to emerge.

Samford Valley and online at Vera Women's Wellness.

If this sounds like what you need, I’m so happy to chat.
The world needs more supported humans who feel safe in their bodies.

16/11/2022

I have dreamt for many years of working in a space where relationships, diet, movement, nature, culture and community were all valued and recognised as key players in our health.

Not below medical health as a ‘nice to have extra’ but embedded into a way of working and being.

I’ve found it at Vera Women's Wellness.

Working alongside a team of integrative and trauma-informed gynaecologists, dieticians, physiotherapists, naturopath, acupuncturist, beauty and massage therapists - I’m able to consider the whole health of a person because I know there is a team that recognises the importance of all of these aspects.

Places like this are so very rare and also much needed.

I'm now taking in-person and online bookings on Wednesdays. DM if you'd like to hear more :)

21/10/2022

Post somatic water colour play truths:

- Forcing safety doesn’t = genuine safety

- Starting with the tiniest thread of safety is better than forcing a wave of fake safety

- It’s ok to dip back for water (or fuel or resourcing) again and again

- Subtle changes are still changes - they can surprise you with a whole lot more than you realise (and be more sustainable along the way)

- Rhythmic movement settles

- Grief and scatty and grounding and slow and play can co-exist

- Just because I’m not an artist doesn’t mean I’m not an artist 🤪

I’m slowly re-emerging from a season of sickness and have some wonderful things emerging with me.

1. I’m opening my books up to the public again soon for 1:1 work.

I’ll be weaving my signature blend of trauma-informed; brain-based somatic creative arts and music processes. Online anywhere. In person Samford Valley.

2. I’m going to begin a quarterly free online workshop soon. I’m thinking the first one might be:

Why doesn’t self-care work for me? (It’s not you it’s self-care).

If you’re interested in any of these things reach out - I’ll make sure you are in the loop!

30/08/2022

Will Embodied Cultures still be about music therapy and creativity?

Yes and no.

Over the last number of years I have taken the time to actually begin to embody all I knew intellectually.

Guess what?

Music and creativity have been paramount to this process.

And it makes sense. Because even though most of our lives we've been told that creativity is a useless skill while simultaneously being drummed into us that music makes us smarter (Don't get me started on this 😜)...

Music and creativity are important for us to learn what it is to embody a culture of care with ourselves and each other.

It's how we integrate our experience of the world.

Especially when it comes from an embodied, sensory and somatic space (vs intellectual).

AND.

It's more than this.

In a culture of care - music and creativity are not separate, boxed off components that are only available to certain people of privilege or talent - or those of particular cultural background.

It's embedded into a way of life.

Oomph. So yes it will be about these things but not in the ways you might expect.

Come join me Embodied Cultures

28/08/2022

Did you hear about Embodied Cultures?

It's my new online home.

A new/old paradigm.
A new/old way of working.
A new/old way of seeing the world.

It's where we zoom out and see how the cultures we are raised, educated and cared for in impact EVERYTHING.

How the cultures we live in make us feel that we are a problem to be fixed (spoiler alert: you're not).

How our health and functioning is a personal, relational, social, systemic AND cultural issue.

As I gradually return to work in the coming years Embodied Cultures will include:
- Me doing my best to imperfectly embody cultures of care in a world that tells me it's a waste of time
- 1:1 therapeutic support, supervision and mentoring
- Group collaborations with folks who experience and see the world differently from me
- Education resources for what it takes to embody cultures of care
- Music, creative and somatic tools that develop our capacity for cultures of care

Looking forward to seeing you over at Embodied Cultures!!

27/08/2022

Embodied Cultures is here.

Where we embody cultures of care through music, creativity and somatics.

Where we bring to life, the conditions required for growth.

Because focusing on growth doesn't work if the culture and environment aren't alive and fertile (and I'm not convinced focusing on growth works period).

So I'm here to flip the paradigm of self-development and therapy on its head.

Come join me at Embodied Cultures - I'm really excited to be back 😀

25/08/2022

Here it is. This new seed.

It’s called Embodied Cultures.

It is the place where we discover what it takes to actually experience (not just talk about) cultures of care - in ourselves, our relationships, families, work and communities.
​
It is a place where we focus on creating the conditions required for ourselves, our families, our work and our communities to thrive.
​
Not by shaming ourselves or others into do something we think we should be doing - or by forcing ourselves or others to be anything other than what we already are.
​
But by tending to the culture we live in.
​
The culture that is etched into our brains and bodies.
The culture that is woven into the fabric of our relationships, our workplaces, our healthcare and education services.

Embodied Cultures is a living experiment of bringing all of the things we know intellectually into play.
​
Not a ‘do this’ perfectly and you will be forever healed.
Not a tick box approach of all the things you should master to ‘get there’ (wherever there is).
​
But the knowing that sustainable change rooted in compassion is a slow and creative process. It’s a process that takes a combination of gentle, soft, gritty, rebellious and playful actions while being tugged back into a culture of shame again and again.
​
Embodied Cultures is about application to real world experiences.
​
We acknowledge the impact of stress, loss, crisis, illness, difference, injury, isolation, adversity, trauma and marginalisation - without denying the deep potential available when we move away from an individualist lens and into a cultural lens.
​
Embodied Cultures is about bringing culture back.
​
Not about cutting it off for the elite or those from specific indigenous roots (although please can we keep these cultures alive and strong and make them accessible for the folks they belong to).
​
It’s about bringing culture back to its rightful place - as the conditions required for care and connection to grow.

I’m here for it. Are you too?

Come join me https://www.facebook.com/claire.embodiedcultures

25/08/2022

Here it is. This new seed.

It’s called Embodied Cultures.

It is the place where we discover what it takes to actually experience (not just talk about) cultures of care - in ourselves, our relationships, families, work and communities.
​
It is a place where we focus on creating the conditions required for ourselves, our families, our work and our communities to thrive.
​
Not by shaming ourselves or others into do something we think we should be doing - or by forcing ourselves or others to be anything other than what we already are.
​
But by tending to the culture we live in.
​
The culture that is etched into our brains and bodies.
The culture that is woven into the fabric of our relationships, our workplaces, our healthcare and education services.

Embodied Cultures is a living experiment of bringing all of the things we know intellectually into play.
​
Not a ‘do this’ perfectly and you will be forever healed.
Not a tick box approach of all the things you should master to ‘get there’ (wherever there is).
​
But the knowing that sustainable change rooted in compassion is a slow and creative process. It’s a process that takes a combination of gentle, soft, gritty, rebellious and playful actions while being tugged back into a culture of shame again and again.
​
Embodied Cultures is about application to real world experiences.
​
We acknowledge the impact of stress, loss, crisis, illness, difference, injury, isolation, adversity, trauma and marginalisation - without denying the deep potential available when we move away from an individualist lens and into a cultural lens.
​
Embodied Cultures is about bringing culture back.
​
Not about cutting it off for the elite or those from specific indigenous roots (although please can we keep these cultures alive and strong and make them accessible for the folks they belong to).
​
It’s about bringing culture back to its rightful place - as the conditions required for care and connection to grow.

I’m here for it. Are you too?

Come join me .embodiedcultures

11/03/2022

I spent so much time trying to find the right name for Press Play. And when it came - there was nothing else I could see.

Press play was about:
🤸‍♀️Play
🎮 Taking the remote control of our lives back
🪗 Playing and listening to music
💁‍♀️Supporting people to live their ‘truth’

I still love the name Press Play…

Yet I also see how it doesn’t fit who I am any more, the way I work and the way I see the world.

“Press Play” focuses on the things we do - not all the hidden things behind the action.

It’s about what we see on the outside - when inside is where the real work happens before pressing play is even an option.

Press Play. You’ve been amazing. You’re now the foundations for something new to emerge - which I am ever so grateful for.

Goodbye 👋😘✨

08/03/2022

My favourite part of Press Play has been the people and organisations I get to work with.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
The wisdom keepers.⁣⁣
The seed planters.⁣⁣
The change makers.⁣⁣
The shape shifters.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
The people I work with teach me more than any degree or course could offer.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Because they know life.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
They know life from a different angle to me.⁣⁣
From different traumas. Abilities. Experiences. Views.⁣⁣
So I get to know life with more depth and breadth.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
I get to know life in 5D. Away from the 2D of text books. And away from the 3D of my own experiences.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
⁣
And the organisation’s (or more importantly the humans who work in them) have planted seeds of wisdom with me too…you know who you are.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
These seeds will be woven into my next step.⁣
⁣
⁣⁣
Then the people who have my back when I can’t find it. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
The mirrors that reveal what is needed and deepen me further into integrity.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
My supervisors. Therapists. Coaches. Family members. Friends. Colleagues.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
⁣
This social media community. You’ve seen me through all the phases. The scientific phase. The video phase. The vulnerable sharing phase. It’s been scary (and wonderful) every step of the way - yet you step up and deliver every time.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.