VISUAL SOMATIC THERAPY
Returning to the body, with attention to what is here.
Visual Somatic Therapy is a body-based, visual and field-aware approach developed through the VAST Methodology created by Emily Waymire.
It offers ways of attending to bodily experience, images, relationship, patterns and the wider field in which experience occurs.
I use VAST as one of the ways I listen and work. I do not assume in advance that an experience is trauma, a survival strategy, a family pattern or something that needs to change.
We begin with what is actually present.
What is VAST?
The VAST Methodology offers maps for exploring different positions and organisations of experience, including Wound, Strategy, Core Self, Essence, Objective Witness, Trauma Field and Generative Field.
These are ways of orienting and enquiring rather than conclusions about what is happening.
A map may help something become more visible. It does not tell us beforehand what we will find.
I am particularly interested in VAST’s movement from Trauma Field organisation towards the Generative Field: from experience organised primarily around protection and survival towards greater possibility, agency, connection and participation in life.
This is not a predetermined journey. Sometimes what is needed is movement. Sometimes it is understanding, support or recognition. Sometimes something needs to be left alone.
Somatic Reclamation
Somatic Reclamation supports a renewed relationship with the body, with greater presence, capacity and choice.
Rather than trying to override what is present or forcing the body towards a particular state, we can become curious about sensation, breath, boundary, movement, orientation and what is happening now.
The body does not have to become another problem to solve.
It can become part of how we listen.
Somatic Mapping
Somatic Mapping gives us a way of making aspects of experience more visible.
We may notice bodily sensations, images, positions, relationships, movements or patterns in the wider field.
A map is not an explanation.
It is a way of seeing what is here and noticing whether something becomes clearer when we give it attention.
What might happen in a session?
A session may involve conversation, body awareness, visual or somatic mapping, movement, images, sensation, gentle enquiry or simply staying with something long enough for it to become clearer.
There is no requirement to arrive knowing what the problem is, why it is happening, or what needs to change.
We begin with where you are.
Consent matters. Pace matters. Capacity matters.
We do not force the system to go where it is not ready to go.
My relationship with VAST
VAST has deeply informed my work, particularly its attention to the field, embodiment, capacity, agency and the possibility of movement beyond survival organisation.
I bring it into more than 35 years of therapeutic practice rather than using it as a fixed method.
My experience in Homeopathy, Bowen Therapy and other body-based approaches, alongside my creative practice as an Artist, all influence how I perceive, listen and respond.
What matters is not fitting someone to a model, but discovering what, if anything, the model helps us see.
Training and professional support
I am a Visual Somatic Therapist and Somatic Reclamation Master Practitioner, having completed all five Gates of VAST training with Emily Waymire.
I continue my study and development through advanced VAST training, Matrifocal Leadership and reflective peer supervision with other VAST practitioners.
Begin here
All new clients begin with an:
Initial Consultation
120 minutes · £250 · Online via Zoom
Book an Initial Consultation
If you are not sure whether working with me is appropriate, you are welcome to begin with a free 15-minute discovery call.
Book a Discovery Call
Important note
Visual Somatic Therapy is complementary and is not a substitute for medical care, emergency support or specialist mental-health care where these are needed.
If you are in acute distress or crisis, please seek appropriate professional help.
