A place to discover more of yourself.
Therapy can be more than talking about problems.
It can be a process of discovering how you are living, feeling and organising yourself right now, in the present moment, and how old patterns may still be shaping your experience without you even realising it.
My work is grounded in the Hakomi Method, a mindful, body-based approach to therapy sometimes described as "assisted self-discovery". Rather than trying to fix you or analyse you from the outside, Hakomi supports a gentle exploration of your lived experience from within.
Much of what we experience as anxiety, shame or self-criticism can be understood as intelligent forms of protection rather than signs that something is fundamentally wrong with us.
Beneath these protective patterns there is often something much more alive waiting to emerge.
Underlying all of my work is a trust in what I like to call basic innocence. The sense that beneath our adaptations and self-protective strategies there is something fundamentally whole within us.
I hold a Masters Degree in Somatic Counselling Psychology and have been certified in the Hakomi Method since 2009.
I am also a certifiedl eader with Transformational Connection
and a registered member of the BACP.
How I Can Help You
My approach to therapy is experiential, mindful and deeply grounded in present-moment awareness.
Rather than focusing primarily on storytelling, analysis or trying to think our way to answers, we pay careful attention to what is actually happening in your experience right now. This might include bodily sensations, tensions, impulses, emotions, gestures, images or subtle ways of holding yourself.
Exploring experience in this way can reveal unconscious patterns that developed as intelligent adaptations to past experiences but which may now limit your sense of freedom, connection and aliveness.
Therapy sessions often involve a gentle process of mindful inquiry into these patterns, allowing new experiences, insights and possibilities to emerge organically rather than through force or self-improvement.
My work is also influenced by Circling and Transformational Connection, practices that explore authenticity, presence and human connection in real time. This relational orientation informs how I meet people in therapy. I see healing not simply as an individual process, but as something that can unfold through genuine contact, awareness and connection.
This work can be especially supportive for people who sense that insight alone is not enough, and who are longing to feel more grounded, embodied, emotionally alive and authentically themselves.
What brings people to this work?
People often come to this work because they feel caught in patterns of self-judgement, emotional inhibition or disconnection from themselves.
Some people arrive feeling anxious, stuck or overwhelmed. Others may appear highly functional outwardly while inwardly experiencing shame, self-consciousness, chronic self-criticism or a persistent sense of not quite being fully themselves.
This approach may particularly resonate with you if you:
- long to feel more emotionally alive, grounded or connected
- feel disconnected from your body, feelings or spontaneity
- notice patterns of shame, self-monitoring or harsh self-judgement
- struggle to relax in relationships or authentic connection
- feel that talking and analysing only gets you so far
- sense that there is something deeper in you wanting to emerge
- are drawn to mindfulness, embodiment or experiential forms of healing
- experience emotional struggles that also seem to manifest physically in the body
Rather than trying to become someone different, this work is oriented toward discovering and reconnecting with more of who you already are.
Get in touch
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how therapy works, or to arrange an initial assessment appointment. This enables us to discuss the reasons you are thinking of coming to therapy, whether it could be helpful for you and whether I am the right therapist to help. You can also call me on 07854 083131 if you would prefer to leave a message or speak to me first.
Sessions are usually weekly, lasting one hour and cost £65. I offer a limited number of places for people on a low income and for students. If you need to cancel a session, please give 24 hours notice.
© Diarmid Baillie
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