One way to view illness, injuries or conditions (such as habitual tension or aches and pains) is that they are a way that our bodies communicate to us. Pain is a fantastic way for our bodies to get our attention. Sometimes our bodies have to shout quite loudly in our busy lives.
Often we will push such symptoms away, ignore them, deny them or medicate them away with painkillers. These can be very effective ways to get by, but can just delay the inevitable and we miss the message we were trying to tell ourselves.
BDP is a process through which we can explore what your body is trying to communicate to you through its illness or dis-ease, its tension or its weakness, or just the symptoms you are experiencing.
BDP is a way that different parts of ourselves can begin to connect to each other by hearing what our differing and sometimes conflicting needs are. For example we may have a deep need to rest, but also a fear of not earning enough.
BDP is a way of mediating between our different needs and finding what we really want in a way that works for us, and can bring us back to wholeness by listening to all of who we are.
With injuries, disease, or protracted or painful illness many medical models will focus on the symptoms and the road to recovery, which can be very effective. What sometimes gets missed out is our relationship with being ill, or incapacitated. How do we feel about being ill, or stressed, and what meaning do we make of it?
BDP is a way of really connecting to our whole-selves and listening to what our bodies are crying out for. Through BDP we attend to the inner distress, instead of just managing the pain or the symptoms of the illness.
An important aspect of how I work is based on the understanding that the human body is a part of nature. Just as nature has seasons, patterns and rhythms, so do we. There are seasons for activity, for rest, and for reflection. For example, illness can be a way that our bodies tell us it is time to rest.
My experience is that our bodies and nature are intelligent. BDP draws on this wisdom to help support the healing process. BDP is an opportunity to really hear what that tension in your shoulders is really saying. What the knot in your belly is trying to communicate or what the intelligence was behind that sprained ankle. If we have time enough to listen it can be amazing what our bodies can subtly yet profoundly convey. Pain is one of the languages of the body, and sometimes all it needs is to be heard.
BDP uses both touch and dialogue to support the body's communication.