EMBODIMENT & CONNECTION
WELCOME
My name is Neela Paulussen.
Stress and emotions live in our bodies, that’s where I start. I am deeply curious about the interplay between the body’s signals, emotions, thoughts and consciousness. This interplay makes how we connect to ourselves, to other people and to other nature.
In the sessions that I offer, your question and your physical experience in the here and now guide the learning process. Allowing yourself to take your physical perception serious gives you a richness of information about yourself. It takes curiosity and courage to look at yourself and also to do this together with someone else. I am happy to support you in this. I offer you an honest and safe setting in which you can look at which new steps you want to take. I cannot give you answers, but I can facilitate you in finding your own.
As a citizen and as a therapist I am actively involved in the climate and social justice movement. People are not separate from their environment and the time we live in is unbelievably challenging, touches on existential themes and helps us realize that all life is interconnected. This context and the role that trauma plays in how we live together is increasingly guiding in how I shape my practice. I enjoy working with social changemakers (click here for more info).
A body aware approach
Sessions from the inside out
We feel with our bodies. We don’t have to think about laughing, crying, longing, fleeing, fighting, letting go, loving. Although we often do. If our attention is mainly focused on what we think, less attention is paid to our bodies. And so we easily lose contact with your innate ability to move with what we feel.
Thinking about what we feel can lead to understanding. And understanding is the way to acceptance. But thinking is also used to ruminate, fast-forward and control emotions. We judge what we feel, we expect how we are going to feel, we have ideas about how we should feel. This often does not lead to more acceptance, but rather to additional unrest. In my view, bodies are better indicators than our thinking.
In body-oriented sessions we use the intelligence of the body and examine the language it speaks. Through a combination of talking, somatic awareness and bodywork, the body as a source of information is integrated into the sessions, making it possible to work with signals of stress where they live: namely in your body, in the here and now.
We often don’t realize how much our thoughts, emotions, and actions are affected by unconscious blueprints of what we’ve been through. But the body remembers what the conscious mind does not do. Often you react without knowing to stressful situations in the here and now in the same way you reacted to stressful situations earlier in life. These unconscious memories are not written in words, but in the language of sensations, posture, gestures and the way we move. And these unconscious memories create patterns that limit the quality of our relationships and the way we are in the world.
Stress is primarily a physical process. It helps shape our characters and is the root of most emotional problems. More and more psychological and non-psychological illnesses are known to be related to repressed emotions and tension. And we cannot always relax these just by talking about them, because words are simply not enough.
By listening to our bodies and learning to translate the language it speaks, we can bring to light the non-verbal story that lives just below the surface: the story that the body tells. This way we can use the signals from our bodies to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and the people around us. From contact with our authentic impulses, our natural emotion-regulating capacity is restored and we can create real, meaningful change.
Sessions are about meeting, which is why I pay a lot of attention to the way we connect. It is in contact with others that our deepest desires and also our deepest wounds are felt. I use my presence, experience and interest to support you in gaining clarity about what lives in you.
“There’s a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.”
Leonard Cohen
for who
climate and activism-related issues / stress issues / if your head is loud and you can’t get out of it with thinking / if talking doesn’t help and you don’t know what you feel / emotional challenges such as fear, emptiness, control, anger etc. / if you experience not much energy and flow / relationship issues: are you afraid of love or addicted to it / high sensitivity: do you feel a lot and do you get easily over-stimulated / boundary issues: do you say yes while you mean no / grief and loss: do you want a listening ear / sense making issues
This list is not exclusive, you are welcome with other questions as well.
what effect
more vitality, energy, aliveness / more relaxation / more intuition and inner guidance / more body awareness / more insight into your complaints / more honesty, connection and autonomy in your relationships / more clarity about your boundaries / more courage / more (self) confidence / more resilience / more authenticity / more decisiveness / more grounding (including at HSP) / more surrender / more simplicity / more compassion and acceptance / more freedom / a deeper experienced belonging