Finding freedom at the intersection of mind and body
I’ve spent months, years, close to a decade now trying to figure out what to call the work I do. My clients and students struggle to articulate in plain language just what our work together has meant, how it has added value to their lives. My license and education say that I’m a Physical Therapist but my heart says that I’m so much more. I’m straddling multiple worlds that encompass physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. I’m not a mental health therapist, but I know from experience that working with the body is almost guaranteed to bring up things that one might expect to discuss in their therapists’ office. I know that the most profound healing comes when someone shows up ready to receive support, to explore the ways in which their thoughts and beliefs are impacting their physical body, and to be open to exploring practices that help them connect more consistently with their intuition and body.
Just the other day while attending a local yoga class, I took a few moments to speak to the teacher afterwards. She is a Yoga Therapist and I absolutely love the space she has created for slow, intentional connection with each other and our bodies. She speaks the same language of the nervous system and healing that I do, which helps me reflect on how impactful this work can be. As we were talking, I was sharing a bit about what I do and also my desire to go deeper with my work and my clients. I said “I’m living between two worlds” as I described how my clients come for the physical and often stay for the deeper healing and she matter of factly responded “Yes, because what you do is Therapy.” I paused and felt a resounding YES in my heart space. Yes, my work is therapy for the body-mind.
I know that I keep myself small in this world- there has been an underlying fear of staking my flag in the ground saying “Yes, what I do is therapy” because my training tells me to stay in the lane of the Physical and to refer to mental health for all things mind. That is the foundation of our Western model- to separate everything in our bodies into parts much like the parts of a machine. There are a million different specialties to care for all the parts of us, but who is caring for the whole of us? Who is listening to the parts of our story we think are most important and drawing connections to how our physical symptoms might be connected to our lifestyle, our thoughts/ beliefs, our stress state, our support, and our connections to our own self? Who is lovingly showing up to cheer us on and help us reflect on what we might wish to invite in or remove from our lives to be more aligned with our vision?
It's been a journey of unbecoming for me to own that my purpose in this world is to share the gifts I’ve so lovingly been given. Trusting that for many of us, our pain and suffering is strongly connected to our stress, the quality of support we have in our lives, and a general lack of connection with our own inner wisdom. When is our core problem not just physical but also a disconnection from our energetic core of who we are and what we desire? It has been a journey to stand proudly in offering support beyond traditional physical and manual therapies like mindfulness, breathwork, sound, restorative practices, and yoga to help my clients explore their relationship with their own bodies, intuition, and wisdom. It is a beautiful space to invite the traditional with the expansive.
So it is here, at the INTERSECTION of the mind and body that I live- bridging together all of the knowledge and experience my years of education, teaching, and personal healing have given me with the wisdom and intuition of every person I have the opportunity to support. For those who have the gut feeling that they need a more integrative approach, I stand at the place to help support you and create hope for the highest vision of your life.
And for those who aren’t sure, I’m glad you are here and I will continue to share more as I expand my clinical practice and pursue my mission to share more deeply.
-Dr. Megan Anderson
