The material I'm providing here (videos, audio files, descriptive text, exercises, etc) has been put together as a result of working one-to-one in a clinical setting for about 20 years. I realised some time ago that it had a wider application, but had no idea how to translate individual work into something that could be more widely taught.

Around 2005 I started to write a book on a somatic view of dissociation. This project is still ongoing, but the process of writing helped to clarify a lot of material, made it more conscious, and therefore made it potentially more teachable.

In 2020 I offered a Resilience workshop to Extinction Rebellion. Having beein involved with the environmental movement back in the 1980's and 90's I was well aware that burnout was a common problem in campaigning groups, and thought it might be useful to them. Jenny Haycocks contacted me and we ran one physical workshop just before the Coronavirus lockdown started, followed by half a dozen online zoom sessions. The online format forced me to structure the material into a more modular format, and this resource website is the natural conclusion of that process.

Sources

There are a huge number of material sources that have been brought together - some of which I don't even remember. I have been practicing Qigong for over 30 years, and some material is based on the reflective way in which it is possible to make a "Gesture" (i.e. a movement) and then feel a "Response" (i.e. somehting in the body-mind changes as a result of that movement). I have actively applied HeartMath's use of appreciation for about 30 years, and some of that has also rubbed off(!) Along the way I have come across a range of NLP, Non-Violent Communication, and material by the usual suspects of the 1990's personal development world such as Dan Siegel, Wayne Dyer, et. al. I have always from being a child been aware of "something" in the natural world, and all the spiritual practice I have gravitated towards has connection with that "something" somewhere in its heart. Around 2003/4 I took a base-level training in trauma treatment with the SensoriMotor Psychotherapy Institute when Liz Hall was still alive and organising UK course from her home in Lincoln. And the practice of Craniosacral Therapy and the remarkable people who teach it have, of course, had a major influence.

In particular, you will find that there is a focus on HEALTH. As you will find me banging on about several times in various places, our culture focuses on pathology and what is wrong, and this is one of the biggest factors in causing ill-health, trauma and dissociation. So all the material here is - even if it takes a slightly circuitous route to get there - based on viewing the human organism as inherently healthy, as having an evolved organic intelligence far more sophisticated than our mind or our science is aware of. That organic intelligence expresses health, and all the material here is essenially describing how to return to a state in which that organic health is (more) easily accessible. The biggest barrier to accessing that health is the cognitive distortions in our culture, some of which are even embedded in the grammatical structure of the English language. So thinking that "simple" is going to be completely easy and quick - might be a little too optimistic.

I wish you good health!