Positive Moves Wellbeing

05/08/2025

Our health does not exist in a vacuum. The systems we live in shape the adaptations we adopt to maintain connection and safety.

Symptoms are rarely due to individual pathology but rather a response to the features inherent in our environment. If we do not attend to systems that surround us, we risk perpetuating an unhelpful belief an individual is the source of the problem rather acknowledge the collective responsibility we share.

Physical, social, and relational environments impact our internal human system. Patterns of emotion, behaviour and cognition are shaped by our

- family dynamics and structures
- social connections and interactions
- organisational structures
- culture and community
- physical environments

In therapy our work is to explore how particular adaptations may have been required. It can be complex and messy work and the reality is “symptoms” rarely arise from a “within-person” deficit. Layers of experience across the lifespan, and adaptations intended to keep a person safe and connected, can underlie present-day symptoms.

We collaborate and consider how environments, resources, relationships and connection can support and sustain healthier humans. Our environment can restrict our humanity or it can support us to thrive and be whole.

01/04/2025

Regulation has become a widely used term when referring to emotions and nervous systems but there is an inherent risk when we confuse the concept of regulation as demanding calm rather than connection. Healthy human beings have the capacity to feel deeply and maintain a connection with themselves and others. Feelings of awe and wonder, intense disappointment, loss, anger and frustration are also places where we can connect and be truly felt. We risk depleting our vital source of energy when we equate regulation with suppression, denial or repression of our feelings.

Restoring a sense of safety in the body - letting the full spectrum of human emotions know they can be safely contained and expressed - means building our capacity to recognise, understand and express our emotions and adapting our responses to life. Constant micro-adjustments without avoidance, shame or dismissing builds this capacity. Life is messy, and so are our emotions. Let’s not pretend a calm exterior is an indicator of a healthy regulated inner experience. Such pretence can come at a terrible cost.

25/03/2025

11/02/2025

In therapy we witness the compounding costs of attachment wounds - needs that went unmet, needs that were met with blame, shame, and hidden beneath layers of protective coping responses. When these needs remain unmet in adulthood we continue to miss opportunities to accumulate more adaptive information. The absence of what should have happened can continue to be a barrier to connecting with the good stuff here in the present. A weekend event facilitated by and brought to life what happens when the needs of our younger self are met with courage, compassion and connection using our breathe and sound vibration as the vehicle of delivery. Thanks so much for tending all those little parts with such care.

21/08/2024

So many challenges impacting our mental health relate to a sense of disconnection - the disconnection from our roots, the disconnection from part of us denied or repressed, societal disconnection, and the disconnection from our communities and natural environment.

Spending time immersed in the natural world can feed our soul and calm our mind. It’s not easy to slow down, develop patience, and an ability to deeply listen to the natural world. If we are to restore balance and a pace more in sync with the rhythms of nature it takes investment in this relationship of reciprocity.

Imagine receiving healthcare in settings that are naturally healthy places to be - fresh air, plentiful plants, proximity to awe and wonder of natural sights and sounds. Nature-based health interventions embedded within our medical system can help restore wellbeing to those suffering as well as encourage protection and cherishing of nature’s health giving capacity. Therapeutic interventions have the potential to intuitively support hearts and minds to make choices better aligned with restoration of the place we each call home.

Bringing therapy out of the clinic and into the natural world we can work together through seasons of change and immersive therapeutic experiences. We can reconnect with the outer world and restore connection with parts of our inner world. Through regeneration and reconnection to our ecosystems we offer sustenance for resilient whole well beings.

18/06/2024

Being able to access states of physiological and relational safety is foundational to our work in therapy. The content of our mind is a narrative directed by the state of our nervous system. When we can shift our nervous system from alarm and restriction towards safety and ease, our thought patterns start to follow. The best way to get out of your head is to get into your body - so much of how we navigate life keeps us in a chronic state of disconnect and without access to the wisdom our physiology holds.

Bring your awareness to how you are moving through life within your body. How do you exist in that skin suit? How does the way you hold yourself affect the messages your mind is receiving? How do you allow your body to move at different times of the day? How you move through the morning/day/week will dictate how you are moving through life.

Instead of slowing down thoughts, try slowing down your body and breath. Notice the different ways of engaging your body appreciates and when it feels constricted or resistant.
How are you moving right now?
What sensations are you experiencing?
What messages is your body conveying and how are you listening and responding to these?

The body constantly communicates with the mind and the way we tend and respond to physiology influences how our mind makes sense of what it is arising internally. Our body serves as the vessel for our emotional energy and needs us to provide regular outlets for expression and signals of ease to avoid overwhelm or blockages creating inflammation, pain and dis-ease.

03/04/2024

Life regulation, or homeostasis, relies on our capacity to connect with the internal signals of our body and make micro-adjustments to maintain balance. It is a dynamic concept requiring us to check inward and make the necessary shifts to maintain healthy functioning.

If our prior experience means we learnt to shut off messages from our physiology (perhaps if they were too much to bear, or the kind of support or resources we needed at the time was not available) then we risk of missing the cues and overwhelming the capacity of our internal system.

Restoring a sense of safety in the body - letting the full spectrum of human emotions know they can be safely contained and expressed - means building our capacity to recognise, understand and express our emotions and regulating our responses to life. Constant micro-adjustments without avoidance, shame or dismissing builds this capacity.

13/02/2024

Some of the most important relationships we have are the ones we nurture with different parts of ourselves so we can show up whole.

02/01/2024

Every breath we take has a start and an end, a rising up and a letting go. This cycle is reflected in all elements of life. The wave that swells and breaks, the flower that blooms and withers, the trees that bud and shed.

With life’s passing seasons we might experience both the birth of a dream and the pain of letting go. There is comfort and bittersweet in this natural pattern. Birth and death, light and dark, growth and decay are intrinsically paired. When we realise all humans experience loss and suffering, we can turn towards each other and slowly transform our collective pain as we move through these cycles with love and connection.

Whatever you are letting go with 2023 may it see you beginning 2024 with sufficient breathing space to regenerate and reconnect.

12/12/2023

According to psychologist and author Dacher Keltner, brief moments of awe are good for the heart, mind, body and soul. One form of awe is found in collective effervescence - the synchony felt in gatherings when we move and feel in unison, a sort of electricity collectively expressed. We are wired for connection and synchronicity is witnessed in patterns we share with those surrounding us. There is often physiological synchronicity in heart rhythms and breathing patterns as we engage in activity together, as we come together to sing, dance, walk, cheer, and play together. And, just as our physiologies align so too our emotions are contagious.

From infancy we watch children mirror the postures and gestures of those around them, imitating smiles, frowns and tones. Through mirroring, the boundaries between self and other can dissolve and open us up to the awe of being part of a collective. There is a porosity to the human body and sources of collective effervescence shift the rhythms of our bodies to a shared biological rhythm and breaks down that most basic barrier between self and other, the physical separation and boundary of skin.

Breathing rates of performers and their audience come into alignment as we find joy in togetherness and our energy or vibe resonates as a group. In this way shared experiences of music, dance and rhythm have the power to offer collective rehabilitation. Moments of connection and togetherness can offer a soothing balm for divisions, absence and disconnection.

This picture reflects a hefty dose of collective effervescence recently administered by and the beautiful space that contained that awesome energy

31/10/2023

This image was shared by fellow therapist () and the message conveyed resonated at a personal, professional and societal level. Sometimes a picture tells a thousand stories….

The young Slovenian artist (Anja Rozen) created this art to show what peace looks like from her perspective “my drawing represents the land that binds us and unites us. Humans are woven together. If someone gives up, others fall. We are all connected to our planet and to each other, but unfortunately we are little aware of it. We are woven together. Other people weave alongside me my own story; and I weave theirs”

Therapy can can see us connect and weave stories together, tending to the dropped stitches and holes in the tapestry of life.

29/08/2023

The internal maps guiding us through life need to be updated over time. Areas once declared no-go zones block and restrict us until they can be safely reclaimed. Difficult territory might need new resources, maturation, and relational safety to enable us to navigate it. When we traverse each of the barriers in our path we are able to step forward in the direction of our preferred future.

Therapeutic work together involves building a map. We assess the lay of the land together as we uncover features that have been formed from layers of life experience. We identify which zones have been kept off limits, the barriers preventing our return, and what resources we might need with us on the journey.

The journey becomes a respectful exploration of self. Our inner world is like a landscape we learn to navigate and rather than condemn ourselves for its features, we learn to become curious about them. With adequate resources we explore them and tend the needs that arise.