A body-first way of working with the nervous system, and one of the ways I work with people.
As kids we felt things we couldn't process: fear, shame, being unseen, being too much or not enough. Sometimes it was one big event. More often it was years of small ones.
With nowhere to go, it got stuck in the body, and the body learned to brace, hide, please or prove.
Our work is helping your body and nervous system process what got stuck, so it no longer runs the show.
It can be big T trauma, a serious event or a frightening time. It can be little t, the quieter kind that builds up: not being seen, being shamed for your feelings, having to be the strong one. Either way, the feeling had nowhere to go.
Trauma isn't who you are. It's what happened, and what never got processed. That's what we work with.
Embodied Processing is one of the ways I work. Instead of talking a pattern through, we work with the nervous system directly, which is where the pattern lives.
It sits alongside other modalities in my work. I choose what fits the person in front of me, because every person is different and the work is never one size fits all.
You can understand exactly why you react the way you do and still react that way. Understanding sits in one part of you. The reaction runs in another. That is why this work starts with the body.
The next pages are from The Centre for Healing, the school that developed Embodied Processing. They explain the approach in their own words.
Embodied Processing (EP) is a groundbreaking therapeutic approach developed by The Centre for Healing to address trauma, low self-esteem, anxiety, addiction, and depression. Unlike traditional methods that primarily engage the intellect, EP is a body-first (bottom-up) approach, working with the autonomic nervous system to process unresolved life experiences.
Instead of just managing symptoms, EP helps the nervous system complete survival responses that may have been trapped in the body due to past stress or trauma. This results in deep healing and a more present, embodied life.
EP integrates insights from Somatic Experiencing (SE), Polyvagal Theory (Stephen Porges), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and ancient healing traditions to provide a holistic healing approach.
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) plays a crucial role in regulating our responses to stress and trauma. It is made up of:
EP works by bringing awareness to the body's survival responses, allowing the nervous system to discharge stored stress and complete unfinished responses, leading to deep healing.
Your nervous system is always shifting between states, below the level of thought. Here is a simple map of the three the Centre describes.
Shutdown. The body slows down to conserve energy. Numb, flat, heavy, disconnected, stuck.
Mobilised in response to perceived threat. Anxious, wired, irritable, driven, on guard.
The body can relax and recover. Present, grounded, curious, connected.
The line shows how the body can rise when something is triggered, then settle back.
Everyone moves between these states. When something that was never processed gets triggered, the body can jump to fight, flight or freeze and stay there. Embodied Processing works with that: noticing the shifts, and helping the body settle back.
EP is not about controlling or fixing emotions. It's about allowing them to be fully processed.
The core process of Embodied Processing involves:
By working with the body instead of against it, EP allows trauma and emotional patterns to dissolve naturally, rather than being suppressed or bypassed.
EP is effective for individuals dealing with:
Since EP is based on body-based intelligence, it works regardless of whether someone consciously remembers their trauma or not. This makes it a gentle yet powerful approach for deep healing.
While working with an Embodied Processing practitioner can provide deep transformation, you can begin to support your own healing with simple practices such as:
A typical Embodied Processing session is tailored to your needs but often includes:
This work tends to find people who are doing well on the outside and living with something underneath:
We don't see a label as who you are. We see symptoms, and a body that learned to survive. This work is about those symptoms, and the processing underneath them.
Not every approach suits every person. Together we work out whether this is right for you now. If it isn't, I'll connect you with someone who is.
We'll look at what's been showing up, what you want to shift, and whether Embodied Processing is the right fit.
eliteperformanceco.com/embodiedprocessing