Lichaamsgerichte therapie (psychotherapie & traumatherapie) in Amsterdam / Mindfulness

NARM™

02.11.2025 Mindfulness, Psychotherapy, somatic therapy, somatic traumatherapy, therapy, Trauma

“Paradoxically, the more we try to change ourselves, the more we prevent change. On the other hand, the more we allow ourselves to fully experience who we are, the greater the possibility of change.”

~Dr. Laurence Heller, grondlegger NARM

 

 

NARM, the NeuroAffective Relational Model, is a form of trauma therapy that focuses on healing relational, attachment, and complex developmental trauma (C-PTSD). In NARM sessions, we work with survival patterns that cause lifelong difficulties in connecting with ourselves and others. These early unconscious patterns get in the way of connection and are associated with all kinds of psychobiological symptoms.

 

The patterns arise around five life themes that we all encounter in our development: connection, attunement, trust, autonomy, and love-sexuality. NARM places less emphasis on why someone is the way they are and more on how their survival style distorts what they experience in the present moment. The here-and-now way of working is based on somatic mindfulness and increases our capacity for self-regulation. In this way, we create more capacity to be present with ourselves and with others.

 

 

Photo: Tehzeeb Kazmi

collective trauma & the cultural crisis

02.11.2025 Mindfulness, Psychotherapy, somatic therapy, somatic traumatherapy, therapy, Trauma

“Of all the dangers we face, from climate chaos to permanent war, none is so great as this deadening of our response.”

~Joanna Macy

 

Trauma occurs where vitality has come to a standstill. Trauma is not an individual problem; it is a social problem and it is systemic. It does not belong to an individual, but is relational and always occurs within a context.

 

Collective trauma occurs when groups of people dominate and others are excluded, when human rights are violated. Think of racism, colonialism, and sexism. The consequences lie like a layer of permafrost in the history of humanity (Thomas Hübl).

 

Many indigenous peoples see the interconnectedness. In modern Western culture, we have come to believe in the illusion of separateness and hyper-individualism. This culture lies at the roots of the climate and ecological crisis. This crisis is about injustice that is so interwoven in our culture that we hardly see it.

 

The people who contribute most to exacerbating the crisis are the least affected by its consequences. Climate disruption hits those who contribute the least the hardest, such as people in the global south, young people, people who are not even born yet, and species other than our own. We in the West live a life of privilege, which brings with it a responsibility to address injustice and do the right thing. Standing up against injustice stems from our concern for others.

 

If there is one thing that the climate and ecological crisis makes abundantly clear, it is that we are all connected. All life on Earth breathes the same air. All life is physically connected to and therefore also by the Earth. And everything that every human being contributes makes a difference. Healing collective trauma is everyone’s responsibility. We heal this when we can see and feel the other in ourselves.

 

Photo: Simon Berger

Spiritual bypassing

02.01.2020 Mindfulness, Persoonlijke ontwikkeling
“If you are using meditation and/or some other form of compassion-based practice to try and calm yourself down without first properly processing, metabolizing and integrating the agitation, anxiety, fear and anger, then it’s only adding more toxicity to your world.
 

Read More