What looked from the outside
like illness and symptomatology was,
viewed from the inside,
a move to consciousness and wholeness.
John A. Sanford
Bodymind Repatterning™ is a unique and revolutionary therapeutic model that works with the body and mind at the same time for transformational healing, growth, and resilience in life and work.
Conventional medicine, alternative treatments, and psychotherapy may help but they can’t always resolve the deepest root of illness when used independently.
I’ve tried everything to feel better,
physically and emotionally
but I just stay stuck in illness and pain.
I can’t seem to break free.
What am I missing?
You’re not alone.
Bodymind Repatterning™ can help.
Have you…
- Worked on your emotional struggles with anxiety, depression, early childhood trauma, or PTSD in therapy for years but are still stuck in old behavioral and emotional ruts?
- Struggled with persistent symptoms or illness that medicine hasn’t resolved such as chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, autoimmune illnesses, chronic pain?
- Noticed a connection between your emotions and how your body feels, but don’t know what to do about it?
Bodymind Repatterning is a breakthrough holistic therapy that will …
- Help you discover how your mind and body interact to make you sick or unhappy
- Give you tools to resolve your physical symptoms and emotional struggles and break the cycle of pain, limitation and illness … for good!
- Increase the effectiveness of the conventional therapies you are receiving
- Show you how your illness can actually guide you to a richer, fuller life!
What is Bodymind Repatterning™?
We uncover your unconscious patterns and go beyond understanding them to release the hold they have over you and learn to make new choices that allow you to feel more freedom, safety, aliveness, and authenticity.
It is based on the notion that in order to heal emotionally, we must address how our emotions are living in the body and nervous system. By addressing the emotional component of our physical symptoms, we can heal them much more deeply and permanently.
How was Bodymind Repatterning™ developed?
The therapy combines principles and techniques from models including Bioenergetics, Core-energetics, Internal Family Systems therapy, Sensorimotor psychotherapy, Somatics and Somatic experiencing, Jungian psychotherapy, and other trauma based therapies, psychoneuroimmunology, mindfulness practices, Aikido, Embodied Leadership and energy medicine.
It is deeply informed by Alison’s 30 years of experience as a Deep Tissue and Myofascial Bodyworker and Practitioner of Energy Medicine (Brennan Healing Science).
Bodymind Repatterning™ is the culmination of integrating mind-body and energetic perspectives into a unique blend that is effective on its own or as an adjunct to psychotherapy, bodywork, and conventional and alternative medical treatment.
Sometimes the function of illness
is deeper than having something wrong
and getting rid of it.
To catch a glimpse of the forces of the psyche
and the unconscious motivation
behind the illness can be astounding”
-Brugh Joy
What message does your illness have for you?
Do these stories sound familiar?
I had a feeling
that my cancer was like a symbol
for the ways I had been stuck and unhappy
for a long time.
It was like a dark messenger
calling me to wake up and stop living my life
for everyone else
but me!
I noticed that whenever I felt anxious,
(like in any social situation!),
I would hold my breath,
feel a knot in my stomach,
and clench the muscles of my jaw, throat and chest.
Then I realized I was walking around
in that posture all the time!
No wonder
I had an ulcer and chronic pain in my neck!
I was told my chronic fatigue was
“all in my head.”
When I discovered
how I had been living my life
in ways that were sapping me emotionally,
I recovered my vitality on all levels.
Your symptoms are never “only in your head.”
But they’re never only in your body either!
Why consider the body in therapy?
All our emotions and emotional issues live in the body as well as in the psyche. Likewise, all physical symptoms and imbalances have a psychological component (sometimes conscious but often unconscious). Throughout our lives, all of our experiences and responses to challenges and traumas create patterns in our nervous systems, tissues, and psyches that show up in our emotions and moods, our behavior, and our physical bodies.
What do Bodymind Repatterning™ sessions look like?
Bodymind Repatterning™ works much like regular talk psychotherapy but adds an important element … the body. In these sessions, we talk about your emotional experiences and struggles much like in regular talk therapy. We also go beyond this to explore the roots of these issues in the past by uncovering the body’s historical “postures”, ways of armoring and holding of emotional energy. You will learn literally how you are living energetically in your body and learn to release held emotions and outdated protective postures. As you open into this exploration, your own body will guide you to gently release held emotions. You will learn to find new ways of being in your body and self that allow freedom, clarity, and the ability to live your life as who you really are.
Deep within us lies a place called the authentic self.
Unfettered by the wounds and false beliefs
of who we think we are
and unaltered by the defenses we have built
to navigate our lives,
this core is the source of all we truly are
and can create our lives to be.
The true task of healing
is to come home to ourselves.
-Alison Shaw
Through Bodymind Repatterning™, clients often report that they:
- Feel less pain and more physical, mental, emotional and spiritual freedom
- Have increased energy, vitality, overall health, and feeling of wellness
- Are better able to handle stress
- Have more access to their inner strengths, creativity and passion and are more able to create and sustain the lives they have longed for
- Express themselves with more ease and confidence
- Gain a greater sense of their authentic self … who they “really” are
- Are able to create healthier, more fulfilling relationships
- Understand and appreciate their illness as a guide for growth and healing on all levels
- Acquire effective practices and tools to be more in charge of their own healing
Who can benefit from Bodymind Repatterning?
Bodymind Repatterning is appropriate for adults who are experiencing chronic physical illness or emotional challenges and those who want to explore their emotional, behavioral or spiritual issues from an integrative perspective.It is powerful when used by itself or as an adjunct to conventional medical and psychotherapeutic treatment.
Examples of conditions that may benefit from Bodymind Repatterning
Emotional Conditions
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Trauma/PTSD
- Relationship Issues
- Low Self-Esteem
- Eating Disorders
Systemic Illnesses
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Fibromyalgia
- Cancer
- Heart Disease/High Blood Pressure
Systemic Musculoskeletal Problems
- Back Pain
- Headache
- Neck / Shoulder Tension
- Recurring Injuries / Accidents
About Alison
As much as the models and techniques I have studied, my own healing process has given me deep insight into what it means to struggle with childhood trauma, emotional challenges, and physical illness, (It is very common for these three things to go together … a trifecta of “dis-ease” as it were) It healing on all levels of being. I tried conventional treatments of all kinds … some of which helped, but none resolved my confusing and persistent challenges.
It wasn’t until I pursued body centered therapy that I made the connection between my emotional and physical challenges. I began to appreciate the idea that my body was somehow reflecting imbalances deeper in my emotional body and psyche.
I attended the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and learned about the human energy field, It became clear that the physical challenges my body was experiencing were an expression on the physical level of imbalances and traumas that began very early in my life on emotional levels and that lived also within my energy field.
I discovered this connection between my emotional issues, early unconscious patterns of belief and behavior, and my physical body. That gave me traction on my healing and allowed me to break free and find safety, aliveness, and freedom in my body in the present.
Along the way, I learned how to uncover these connections in others. I learned and innovated techniques that have helped hundreds of clients uncover the multidimensional mystery behind their dis-ease.
My mission and joy is to help people gain freedom and live in their authentic selves, knowing that they are safe in the present, just as they are, with a biology that reflects this balance, peace and aliveness.
Trainings and Certifications
- Masters Degree in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner – Pace University
- Certification in Brennan Healing Science – Barbara Brennan School of Healing
- Certification in Kripalu Bodywork – Kripalu Center
- HNB-BC Certification as a Holistic Nurse – American Holistic Nurse Credentialing Corporation
Extensive Studies in:
- Neuromuscular Therapy, Myofascial Release, Trigger point myotherapy, Craniosacral Therapy
- Bioenergetics, Core Energetics
- Somatic therapies, Somatic Experiencing, Internal Family Systems Therapy
- Yoga, Aikido, QiGong
- Shiatsu, Refexology, Polarity Therapy
My Experience
- Family Nurse Practitioner in conventional and complimentary primary care settings
- Private practice in Integrative Bodywork, 30+ years
- Director of the Center for Body-Oriented Therapies
- Faculty member – The Birchtree Center for Healthcare Transformation
- Frequent Presenter at The American Holistic Nurses Association conferences and educational programs
- Director of the Boston Chapter of the American Holistic Nurses Association
- Co-Developed and Co-Directed “The F. Holland Day Foundation’s Healing Retreats for Women with Cancer”
- Co-Developed and Co-Directed “Cancer, Dignity and Wisdom”
- Developed and Directed Programs in Bodymind Repatterning™
- Your Symptoms Are Trying to Tell you Something
- What are you tired of? – Healing from Chronic Fatigue Disorders
- Embodied Nursing – How to find your ground, move from center, and embody healing presence
- The Anatomy and Physiology of the Body-Mind Connection
- Deepening our understanding of the Body-Mind Connection
- Living from the Inside Out
- The Human Energy Field- An owners guide
- Blog and article author
A Note on Remote Sessions
At this time, I am offering remote sessions only. You might ask, How can I work with my body without a hands-on component? One of my goals in working with folks is to help them learn how to work with their own body and energy field so they can be fully in charge and effective in carrying their healing forward on their own. It can be surprising how much change you can experience through coaching, guidance, and distance energy work.
Bodymind Repatterning will teach you how to listen deeply to your body, moods, beliefs and emotions, and to identify the connections between them. You will learn simple techniques and practices to interrupt your automatic, restrictive body-mind patterns and develop a life posture that is free, open, centered, vital and … healthy.
to exploring how Bodymind Repatterning
might support your healing.
-Alison
[email protected]
Bodymind Resourcing
393 Massachusetts Avenue
Arlington, MA 02474 USA
781-646-0686
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