How I work

Wheel of Consent

I work within the Wheel of Consent during my sessions which means that you are always in your power with regards to where and how you are touched. This is slightly different to the usual model of massage therapy where the therapist is seen as the “expert” and decides what is best for the client. The client then passively receives whatever is offered, even if it doesn’t feel quite right.

I will invite you to be an active participant in the treatment by asking you to feel into what is happening in your body. You are the expert on your body – I can use my skills and intuition but you are the only person who truly knows what is happening in your body.

Paying attention to what is happening in your body and tuning into your sensations and felt sense is transformative and empowering.

Encouraging you to focus on what you want, need or what doesn’t feel right helps you to feel where your boundaries are and to learn how to create and maintain boundaries – both things that we can be unfamiliar with as women or gender non-conforming beings.

Sometimes I bring specific exercises into the session before we begin so that you can be fully in your power both within the session and outside the session.

Breath, Movement, Sound

We use these three powerful tools alongside touch in order to help energy to move through the body and to dissipate any trapped energy/emotions.

Breath

The breath is the basis of all of my bodywork sessions.

We cannot heal from the thinking mind. Focusing on our breath helps to release the control of our pre-frontal cortex (our thinking, analysing brain) and come into our body. The breath also allows energy to move in and through the body – whilst shallow breathing and holding the breath can suppress emotions.

Within the sessions, I will encourage you to focus on your breath. Sometimes I might invite you to breathe in specific ways to facilitate movement of energy.

I often use “Consious Connected Breath” - which is an activating breathing process with deep potential that can be used for various purposes. There are some contra-indications to this breathing process which I will discuss with you during the session.

Sound

Your own voice is a hugely powerful tool for self-healing. Many of us are blocked at the throat and find it difficult to use this tool. I will encourage you to make a sounds during the session, sometimes at specific points – this is to help the energy to shift/ release.

I find that many people are restricted in the sounds they allow themselves to make – this changes over time: the more people do this work, the more liberated they become in their sounding and the more transformation can occur.

I may use sound myself during a session – either in the form of singing or making specific sounds to resonate with what is present.

I sometimes support sessions with appropriate healing music – and you are welcome to request silence.

Movement

This is another way that the body can release. Sometimes spontaneous shaking, twitching or moving can occur. Sometimes an impulse to move can come up which you are encouraged to follow. You are also welcome to shift and move your body during the session in whatever way feels comfortable to you.

At the start of the session, I sometimes bring in shaking meditations that help to bring whatever is in the body to the surface – this combines with sound and can create a powerful preparation for the body.

Energy

We are multi-layered energetic beings. We have a physical body and yet we are more than our phsyical body. We extend beyond our physical body energetically and we have currents of energy moving through and withing our physical body.

I work with energy, often using the physical body as an entry point. Sometimes I may work energetically above and around the physical body using various tools including breath, movement, sound and intention.

Our emotions are often described as Energy in Motion - we work deeply with the power of our emotions - to be present with them, to witness them, to allow them to transform.

ritual Space

I work with sacred ritual space within the session for you to be able to drop deeply into yourself. This is ritual space – it is different from the every day world that we inhabit. Creating this space enables people to drop more deeply into their unconscious and out of their every day mind.

This happens through prayer, intention, and the use of specific tools that establish this safe, held space.

Emotions

During these sessions, emotions can arise.

These can be so-called positive emotions: (eg. joy, bliss, mirth, happiness) or so-called negative emotions (eg. sadness, anger, grief, frustration). All of these emotions are welcomed into the space. These can be expressed through laughter, tears, sounds, movement and so on. I may suggest ways to allow the e-motion (the energy in motion) to move through the body.

Sometimes you will have a memory accompanying the emotion. Other times you won’t know what the emotion is associated with – you will just feel the emotion.

The invitation is to allow yourself to feel whatever is presenting, without trying to change it or get rid of it – simply to meet it, to meet yourself wherever you are.

Emotions do not always arise, and sometimes they arise after a session rather than during a session.

Expectations

Sometimes sessions can be dramatic with powerful sensations and emotions. Sometimes they are more peaceful.

It is advisable  to let go of any expectations when coming for a session and allow yourself to experience whatever is present for you during a session.

Communication

I welcome communication from you during a session with regards to what is happening in your body or mind – there may be a greater or lesser degree of verbal communication in any session, depending on your needs.

Clothing & Oil

Bodywork can be performed on clothed or unclothed bodies.

If the massage is performed on a clothed body, I do not use massage oil. Performing the bodywork with oil on an unclothed body allows for a deeper experience.

You are welcome to remove as many or as few clothes as you wish for the session – this remains a matter of your personal choice. You may choose to be completely uncovered.

Internal Massage

I only offer internal work if this is something we have specifically discussed – it may be that this is not something you wish to explore.

You may come to a session unsure if you want to explore internal work or not – this is absolutely fine.  A vital piece of this work is learning to listen to our vaginas and honour our own boundaries which have so often been overstepped by ourselves and others.

I ALWAYS get you to check in with your yoni before entering, even if you have previously said you want vaginal work, just to check that she is a full yes.

If you come to a session wanting internal massage, sometimes we might find that your vagina is not welcoming internal touch today. Exploring the “No” or the “Maybe” is just as powerful as working internally with the “yes”.

Internal massage is different for everyone. We focus on releasing tension, pain or numbness from the vagina, connecting with her and releasing what no longer needs to be held. Sometimes there can be pain and tenderness, sometimes there can be numbness and sometimes pleasure can arise. It is all welcome and held in the session.

After the session

Sometimes you can go away from a session feeling amazing, a feeling that lasts a while. Often people feel exhausted after a session and need to rest. You can also feel worse after a session with some physical symptoms – headaches, fatigue, cramps for example, or you may feel emotionally depleted.

It’s a good idea to leave some space for yourself after a deep session and not to rush off into life or have a busy afternoon/ evening planned. Some time alone for rest/ connection with earth – a walk outside/ time to sleep or journal is most advisable.

If activity is unavoidable, give yourself a minimum of half an hour to an hour after the session  before needing to pick up kids/ go to work etc

Always drink plenty of water after the session to help flush out any toxins moved in the session, and try and get an early night that night.

Homeplay

I truly believe that we all have the capacity to be our own healers. A therapist can help to hold the space to process deep emotions and can take clients to spaces that they can’t reach on their own. However, if we hand our power over to a therapist and belive that they have a special power to heal us, we disempower ourselves. Healing comes from within.

I see my role as lighting the way, to help women to discover their own path. I’m a huge believer in the power of consistent practice as this is, in my experience, what really brings results.

I will always give suggestions for practices to do outside of the sessions in between sessions. A session is a short period of time. The rest of your life is much larger. The session can be seen as a catalyst that can spark you on a journey of self-discovery. Honestly, the more that you give to yourself outside of the sessions, the more that you will get out of the sessions. The work won’t do itself.

Inclusivity

My Sacred Yoni work is focused on mainly on women, gender non-conforming beings, trans-men and other people with vaginas, however they identify.

Trans-women are welcome into my practice and in this case, we would be working on an energetic level with the energy of the womb and vagina, rather than with the physical organs – this is through breathwork and energy work.

Men and penis-owners are welcomed into my practice –  I do not offer genital massage to men/ penis-owners. I can, however, create a safe space where you are able to discuss your intimate emotional, sexual and physical issues and where all of you is welcomed into the space. I also offer non-intimate bodywork to men.