Our childhood and present-day experiences affect not only our thoughts and emotions but our brains and bodies as well. Body-oriented psychotherapy approaches, including the Sensorimotor approach to psychotherapy, assume that bodily-based thoughts, feelings, and behaviours should be worked with in therapy. If trauma has altered your life and you find yourself struggling with symptoms that manifest physically (such as panic attacks or other biological issues that are resistant to medical treatment), this approach can be a way to directly address and involve your body in the process of healing. In body-oriented psychotherapy, you will address your difficulties in dialogue, as you would with other forms of talk therapy. However, your therapist will also help you to increase your awareness of your bodily sensations, emotions, and behaviours. Therapists often use your proprioception (focused attention to your body, such as your physical sensations that accompany anxious feeling), movement, and breathing/relaxation exercises to assist in this goal.

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