Co-written by Marsha Smith, MSW, LCSW and Margaret Olson, LMT, CMLDT, NCTMB

Marsha:

Bodywork practitioners would like clients to be in touch with their bodies and connect with their felt experience. We would like our clients to listen to their bodies’ signals, because we trust their bodies to give them information to guide the process of healing and change.

A key aspect of supporting clients to be in touch with their bodies is listening to our own bodies. Focusing and mindfulness are powerful ways to bring my awareness and attention to my own felt experience. That I can be in touch with my experience calmly, and am able to be present, can model it to my clients. It will serve them if they can move into it more for themselves.

As a Focusing and mindfulness therapist I especially enjoy guiding bodywork practitioners through this process. Practitioners tell me that when they are able to tune into and listen to their own experience, they are more able to be as present and available for their clients to tune into theirs.

One practitioner said that a mindfulness practice is helping her to be more present compassionately, and sense her feelings with curiosity. She described feeling physical and emotional release… Similarly, another student said, “you invite me to sit with what I just said

and notice how I feel. After having been through two weeks of neck and shoulder pain, in talking about feelings and thoughts, you asked me if I’d like to pause and notice where I feel the emotions in my body…I could feel the tightness in my neck slowly releasing.”

A massage therapist told me that learning Focusing allows her to tune in with curiosity to her body sensations to explore issues. “I nurture myself by paying attention to what’s going on inside… and I am more likely to be present and listen to my clients. Now if clients mention their feelings I would acknowledge them, I would say “if it feels right, ‘let’s be with that’”.

Marsha Smith

As a psychotherapist for 25 years, I support people to find solutions, make changes to deal well with life challenges and have more satisfaction in life. I offer empathic and practical approaches to help with a variety of psychological and social challenges, including relationship issues, anxiety, depression, parenting, work, grief, and coping well with health issues.  My collaborative approach helps you increase your ability to deal with stress and frustration with more calm and take the next steps to creatively solve problems. I work with adults and couples and offer training and consultation.  Please contact me if you would like to know more and I would be happy to answer your questions. 

From comments from a client:  “Marsha has an intuitive sense of how to gently guide me to help myself and find clarity in my thinking. She leads me to insights and ‘solutions’ that I find within myself.  I would recommend her to anyone in need of an advocate of his or her own spirit and inner knowing” -JB

Credentials: MSW, LCSW

847.323.1717 | Email | Website

Margaret:

Before my first Focusing session with Marsha Smith, mindfulness was a vague concept for me; I had no idea it would change my massage practice and my life for the better. While I no longer remember the details of that initial session, I remember the feeling of deep ease within my own body. I remember the sense that my mind had come home.

The clearing space exercise that we did together immediately became a part of my regular morning routine. It was very peaceful to allow myself to sit quietly and ask my worries to step aside for a few minutes. This exercise that Marsha taught me became the foundation of my first successful meditation practice. I was fascinated by mindfulness and sought out as much guidance and information as I could find, including continuing to work with Marsha.

As I continued to practice Focusing with Marsha, I was able to engage with my body more deeply than I could on my own. Her supportive presence and verbal cues have led me to some very profound realizations about my physical, mental, and emotional aspects. I have become more aware of myself as a complete person. I have also been able to embrace my present experiences more fully, rather than trying to force them into a narrative, or simply ignoring the parts which are difficult for me.

Today, my mindfulness practice continues to grow, and I am not only more in touch with my own mind/body connection, I am more in touch with my clients’. Mindfulness has been a gift that keeps on giving to all aspects of my life.