Sessions of DFA - Somatic pattern recognition

How is a session in DFA Somatic Pattern Recognition

DFA sessions approach the overall work with a person from three angles:

At the beginning of each session we see how the different parts of the body relate to each other as well as to the body’s gravitational axis. Then, with the person fully dressed and lying down on a padded table, we work with these shapes with a gentle hands-on intervention which allow us to

find and relax the tensions which cause pain and/or keep parts of the body or of the person’s behavior outside their awareness
re-establish connections in the nervous system which give access to the information contained in the shapes of the body in order to be able to process and integrate it
explore the meaning we associate with the sensations that surface and re-examine them as to what extend they continue to be valid in our present lives
recover lost freedom of movement
restore inner balance after traumatic experiences
complete emotional processes that were truncated in the past
find support in one’s own body as well as in the gravitational field of our planet.

At the end of the session we dedicate some time to integrating the new options we found while lying down, into the actions of standing and walking. This makes it possible to apply them to different situations in our everyday lives.

Private DFA sessions typically are of one hour duration at a weekly rhythm. In a limited time frame, for exemple for people who come from far away, it is possible to do up to five sessions per week.

Tuition

How is a session in DFA Somatic Pattern Recognition

Recognize your primary holding pattern

The habitual holding pattern makes up the shape in which you occupy space and move with your body. It is typically yours, and determines your particular way of behaving.

You created it in order to adapt to the initial conditions of your life. In order to gain a margin of freedom from old habits, it is essential to know the pattern both on the sensory and cognitive level.

Habitual tension tends to restrict your freedom of movement, your ability to respond to the requirements of life, your freedom of expression; it keeps you anchored in the past, in continual reaction to unresolved childhood issues; it causes pain, both physical and emotional; it is at the root of depression, anxiety and numerous chronical and degenerative ailments.

Private DFA sessions help you to recognize your habitual holding pattern, both on the sensory and cognitive level. Like this you can learn to perceive the shape in which you tend to hold yourself and move in relationship with your environment. The coordinates of the gravitational field of Earth offer an objective frame of reference. As you are becoming aware of the relationship between your body and your environment, in which you hold yourself by means of the habitual tension of the pattern, your discover ways to move more freely, to calm your anxiety, to come out of depression and enjoy life; pain diminishes and sometimes even disappears altogether. You learn to delay reactive behaviors and develop ways to respond to what is really going on in the present moment. You can recover your health and protect it. You speak your heart and know how to be silent when it is better to not say anything. Your creativity allows you to find solutions that before used to elude you.

Solutions for pain, trauma, stress, anxiety, depression and other ailments

A poor relationship with the gravitational field of Earth may be the cause of many health issues, or it may be a consequence of ailments that follow an illness, an accident, an unrecognized emotional charge, an overload due to repetitive movements, bad posture, personal or multigenerational traumas, etc.

In all these cases, becoming aware of how we move and occupy space with our body in relationship with this greater force field of the planet allows us to modulate our habitual way of doing it. The most important tool in this task is our sensory perception which sheds light into the areas of our experience that are held in the dark of the unconscious but the tension of our holding patterns.

The workshops and private sessions in DFA Somatic Pattern Recognition offer a safe space to access these areas, which we tend to hold outside our awareness by means of habitual holding. Like this, a person can find ways to rescue the part of their experience that are held captive by unconscious patterns, possessed by autonomous complexes that steer their behavior in automatic forms beyond their own will. One can find ways to move in accordance with the gravitational force so that joints, muscles and connective tissues become free of excessive involuntary holding that interferes with the physiological functions of the body on all levels: breathing, digestion, circulation, the flow of information in the nervous system, good working order in the muscular-skeletal system, hormone balance, acid/base balance, etc.

For social beings who are deeply relational, like we human being are, an essential part of taking care of our health is to

... manage one's emotions
Very early in life we discover that we can use the tension of our muscles to interrupt the flow of sensations we do not like. These, then, accumulate underneath the threshold of consciousness and the very tension increases their intensity even more. When we can no longer hold them back, the break out in a measure that is incommensurate in relationship with the event that set them off. Sensory perception is an essential factor in being able to orient the flow of emotions instead of being carried away by their intensity.

... communicate efficiently

Literally, the habitual holding of our muscles holds us away from the ground and it distances us from the person we are speaking with. This way of occupying space communicates fear in an attitude of menace of submission, which thwarts the wish and the possibilities of communication and relationship inherent in our nature. Becoming aware of the shapes in which we occupy space and we move in relationship with our environment allows us to adopt postures that facilitate communication and a good understanding.

... create good relationships of cooperation and mutual help

Communicating, relating and helping each other is deeply rooted in our nature. For us human beings it is indispensable to learn how to use our abilities for sensory perception in order to cultivate relationships of communication and cooperation instead of the individual and collective violence that dominates the lives of so many people in the world.

... resolve posttraumatic stress due to personal or multigenerational trauma

The mechanisms that help us survive traumatic experiences may keep body and psyche stuck in the moment just before the impact of the worst. If they are not processed adequately, life may organize around the effort to avoid the impact of what happened and the patterns resulting from that effort may be transmitted from generation to generation, leading to repetition and reiteration of traumatizing circumstances.

.... orient when we want to change the course of our lives

The starting point for change has to be the place where one is. Only from there can we explore the possible perspectives within our reach.

Solutions for pain, trauma, stress, anxiety, depression and other ailments

Online sessions

In the online work we follow the same principles as in the face-to-face sessions. Although the hand-on intervention is impossible to carry out at a distance, we approach the body following the proven sequence of steps that facilitates access to unconscious content and the development of new options for more support, freedom of movement and responsiveness.

We explore the patterns that determine our way of occupying space in the world and of moving in life with attention to the context in which they have their roots. We observe how they show up in the present moment in the relationship between the body and the immediate environment and in the movements of the breath.

During the confinement of the Covid-19 pandemic we discovered that it was possible to do a large part of DFA's work online. Even without the hands-on intervention, guiding the perception of sensory experience creates a closeness and connectedness even at a distance. In the absence of a possibility of direct contact, it has proven to be a valid resource that makes it possible to recognize one's somatic patterns and develop alternatives.

Obviously, being able to work with the hands-on intervention allows form a stronger effect. Also, a person who comes with an agitated, stressed or depressed sensory field can get entrained with the more balanced sensory field of the DFA practitioner more easily, when physically present, rather than at a distance. Nonetheless, it turns out that, even online, people get entrained into the calmer and more balanced sensory field provided by the practitioner.

The work follows the same principles as in hands-on sessions to gain access to unconscious content and develop new options for more support, freedom of movement and responsiveness. The duration of the sessions is one hour.

The preferred platform is zoom. It is possible to use others.

Tuition

Here you find the tuition for sessions with Brigitte Hansmann. In order to find out what the other practitioners are charging, please, contact them directly.

Hands-on sessions

90€ for weekly sessions, to be paid monthly, at the beginning of the month, or in sets of 2, 3, 5, or 5 sessions grouped together in a week, to be paid when scheduled.

100€ in case of biweekly o sporadic sessions

Online work:

70€ for weekly sessions, to be paid monthly, at the beginning of the month, or when scheduled.

80€ in case of biweekly o sporadic sessions

Private sessions