Last call for Early Bird pricing!

The Feel to Heal Program for Chronic Pain starts March 31

Is it okay to be angry? Is it okay to be sad? Is it okay to be really excited?

Do you allow yourself to feel your feelings? Maybe some but not others? If so, do you know why? I'm sure there's a good reason... Perhaps there's a voice that says you shouldn't, that it means you're immature. Or maybe you don't feel like you have time to feel feelings, that there are more productive things that need done. Or, (this is often true of grief/sadness) maybe you are afraid that once you start crying that you'll never be able to stop...that the pain is just so deep that all you can do to get through life is stuff it down and keep moving. All of these things are legit reasons to not feel... We do what we do (such as not feel our feelings) for very good reasons...

And yet, maybe you are at the point where you're ready for things to be different, as far as how you handle or process things. Did you know that it is not uncommon for those with suppressed or avoided emotions to experience chronic tension and/or chronic pain? This is not random; there is an explanation for how and why our unfelt feelings get stored and stuck in the body. This has been my line of study, my "research project" if you will, for years. As a Licensed Massage Therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and what I do is work with people on uncovering how their unprocessed emotional experiences are showing up in the form of long-held tension in the body or chronic pain, either in one place or all over. Ongoing issues such as stomach aches, tense neck and shoulders that won't let go, back pain, muscle spasms, TMJ pain, heaviness in the chest, etc. are common symptoms of not allowing ourselves to feel "big" feelings. So while there are good reasons why we sometimes don't let ourselves feel our feelings, occasionally we reach a tipping point where our suffering becomes too intense, and something has to change.

If you find yourself in such a position, I want you to know that there are options! There are really useful things we can do to help. The mission of Studio A Body Therapy is to provide a safe space for exploring what's standing in the way of you moving forward, out of chronic pain, including thwarted emotional processes or self-protective impulses that arose out of a fight/flight situation. We aim to make this important work accessible to all, with group programs and individual appointments that are available in the evenings and weekends, and a sliding scale to accommodate those without enough income to pay full price.

While our calendar for individual appointments is full right now and we're not able to take on new one-on-one clients at the moment, we do offer a small group program that opens up a new round on March 31 called Feel to Heal Program for Chronic Pain. If you resonate with what I wrote above, or with what you see on our website, I encourage you to sign up for this 8-week group program that meets on Friday nights from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. In it, we get to deep dive into the neuroscience of emotions and of pain, learn gentle myofascial release techniques to release tension and pain, gain tools to reduce stress and deal with emotions in real-time instead of storing or stuffing them, understand the mechanisms of fight/flight and freeze survival states and how those interplay with our emotions and with muscular tension, and also glean strategies for reducing overwhelm.

The Feel to Heal Program offers a fresh and unique perspective to the problem of chronic pain and/or chronic discomfort around feeling your feelings. All from a trauma-informed and holistic perspective, in a small group format. I hope you will join us!

Cost is $230, with an early bird rate of $207 until 2/24/23 (TODAY!). (Use coupon code EARLY-BIRD.) That is about $25 per 90-minute class, where you are guaranteed to learn a lot, meet others facing similar situations, and gain new strategies.

Read more and sign up at studioAbody.com/feel-to-heal Feel free to comment below with any questions you have. I hope to see you there!