Podcast (group): Play in new window | Download | Embed
How can you use visualization to remove stuck or heavy energy from your body after a particularly emotional session with a client? Have you ever tried dancing to reset your mind and body? What small shifts with movement can you do to use it as a helpful tool in your daily life, both in and out of the counseling session? In this podcast episode, LaToya Smith speaks about movement tips for therapists with Kandice Moss.
Podcast Sponsor: Therapy Notes
As a therapist, I can tell you from experience that having the right EHR is an absolute lifeline. I recommend using TherapyNotes. They make billing, scheduling, notetaking, telehealth, and E-prescribe incredibly easy. Best of all, they offer live telephone support that’s available 7 days a week.
You don’t have to take my word for it – Do your own research and see for yourself – TherapyNotes is the #1 highest-rated EHR system available today, with 4.9 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot.com and on Google.
All you have to do is click the link below, or type promo code JOE on their website www.therapynotes.com, and receive a special 2-month trial, absolutely free.
If you’re coming from another EHR, TherapyNotes will import your demographic data quickly and easily at no cost, so you can get started right away.
Trust me, don’t waste any more of your time, and try TherapyNotes.
Meet Kandice Moss
Kandice Moss is the owner of Moss Therapy and Wellness; a group creative arts therapies and counseling practice. Kandice is a board-certified dance movement psychotherapist and licensed professional counselor. Her experience of the healing power of dance and movement and her interest in helping individuals find their “why” led her to further her education in this field.
Visit Moss Therapy and Wellness and connect on Instagram. Email her at: [email protected]
FREEBIE: Check out Kandice Moss’s tips for Therapists!
In This Podcast
- Learning how to notice your body
- Shake it out, not off!
- Try dancing for self-regulation
- Kandice’s advice to practitioners to move
Learning how to notice your body
Check in with your body and notice what you’re noticing. Have you had a long day today? Yeah, maybe I do need to stretch my neck out a bit … [you can] utilize and incorporate simple movement into your practice. (Kandice Moss)
Learning how to notice your body is a simple but incredibly powerful tool that you can use a little bit every day to reconnect and ground yourself – and it’s an easy practice to build! The body holds a lot of tension and emotion throughout the day, and as private practitioners, your plates are often full of a lot of different, strong emotions.
We’re holding a lot for clients throughout the day, and we’re holding a lot for our staff, and we’re holding a lot for ourselves and our personal lives, so it’s essential to find ways that are realistic. (Kandice Moss)
Notice any physical tension, and see how you could release it. Try:
- Noticing where the tension lives. Check-in with yourself before your next appointment to see where the emotion moved to. In your body, in your thoughts? If it was an emotional session, you may feel some emotion in your chest.
- Give a gentle touch to that part of your body and repeat a gentle mantra.
- Gently move that part of your body, or move your hand over it, as if you were moving it through and out of your body with a simple visualization.
Shake it out, not off!
That popular Taylor Swift song is not too far from the mark. You can easily shake out negative or difficult emotions by physically shaking your body by dancing, jumping, or standard shaking by moving your arms, legs, or head
What’s really important is what you’re doing with it. If you’re identifying that you’re feeling jittery right now, start with where that place is in your body, like maybe your fingertips … start with your distant ends, moving to your core, eventually your whole body begins to move. (Kandice Moss)
Shaking is a great way to feel where the emotion or energy feels stuck in your body because it could help you to notice where your body feels stiff or uncomfortable to move freely in your own way.
Try dancing for self-regulation
In between your client sessions, consider having a playlist ready that you can put on and play to:
- Move out and free negative energy from your body and environment
- Shake out heavy emotions from a previous session
- Reset your mindset and mental state
- Dancing is a powerful tool to recenter yourself as it can be used as a form of self-regulation.
You get to [see], “What mood am I in?” [and decide], “Where do I want to shift?” … this ability to modulate. If I’m in a more down-in-the-dumps or more emotional state from ending a session and I know where I want to go [is] the ability to modulate from one [emotional] state to the next. (Kandice Moss)
Put on some of your favorite feel good music, and move without judgment. Close your eyes and concentrate on what you feel, letting it go, and welcoming in a calmer, peaceful, or happier state of being. Dancing and practicing rhythm also helps you to organize your thoughts and mind. It’s like a full body, full mental reset.
Kandice’s advice to practitioners to move
Do what you can. If you can’t seem to find where the emotion is stuck in your body but you feel comfortable shaking your body, then do that. If you feel more comfortable with dancing, then do that. Empower yourself by doing what you can to get started, because starting small and giving it a go is much better than never trying in the first place.
Useful links mentioned in this episode:
- Trust me, don’t waste any more of your time, and try TherapyNotes.
- Visit Moss Therapy and Wellness and connect on Instagram. Email her at: [email protected]
Check out these additional resources:
- Group Practice Boss: www.practiceofthepractice.com/grouppracticeboss $149 a month
Meet LaToya Smith
LaToya is a consultant with Practice of the Practice and the owner of LCS Counseling and Consulting Agency in Fortworth Texas. She firmly believes that people don’t have to remain stuck in their pain or the place they became wounded. In addition to this, LaToya encourages her clients to be active in their treatment and work towards their desired outcomes.
She has also launched Strong Witness which is a platform designed to connect, transform, and heal communities through the power of storytelling.
Visit LaToya’s website. Connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Strong Witness Instagram, and Twitter.
