Abi Newman. Registered MBACP (Accred)

About me

“There is something in nature that forms patterns. We, as part of nature, also form patterns. The mind is like the wind and the body like the sand: if you want to know how the wind is blowing , you can look at the sand.” -Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

I am compassionate, empathetic and a genuine believer in people, I know that we all have the potential to meet and integrate our power, wisdom and grace. I am not detached or analytical. I work to stay in constant connection with how you are feeling in the here and now, staying open, curious and aware to my own responses to you.

The starting point

Sometimes we are not entirely sure why we need Therapy or where it might take us, the not knowing can be both a daunting and powerful starting point, however, if you do know the why, quite often the path of self enquiry meets that sense of clarity with many twists and turns along the way. I offer a gentle space for you to explore, connect, heal and breathe. Being alongside you through your process and supporting you through those twists and turns.

How I work

As a Therapist I encourage a body-mind language. This approach honours the whole of your experience moment by moment, deeply acknowledging embodiment and relationship, asking what you feel and how you feel it.

This question can often be an interactive experience, answered and expressed through body (felt-sense), mind (thoughts) and emotion (relationship).

Acknowledging the stories and language of your body can offer another dimension to our therapeutic work together and creates a space to explore the difficulties in your life that do not seem to move or change simply by talking about them.

I feel inspired by many ancient traditions and modern teachings, often weaving together elements of Body-mapping with Psychotherapy.

Our sessions together will depend entirely on what works best for you and could involve:

·         Talking therapies: Relational, Transpersonal, Gestalt.

·         Formative Psychology

·         Body mapping and meditation

·         Ecotherapy (strengthening your relationship with Nature)

·         Voice/sound exploration

·         Ritual and ceremony

·         Creative writing

·        Mindful Movement

·         Breath awareness

·         Visualisation work

·         Play

The healing challenge of change

Many of us meet the challenge of wanting and needing change in our lives, while not knowing how to move away from the safety of what feels familiar. To want to be free while also wanting to protect ourselves, these mixed messages can become confusing. I have found that working with and moving through inner conflicts rather than against them can be deeply nourishing work, allowing us to come home to ourselves and find peace.

Inner conflicts and inner conversations are alive within all of us and can present themselves in both conscious and unconscious ways.

Some examples might be experienced through body; posture, shape, tension, breath, excessive or deficient connection to certain body parts/areas.

Through mind and thought; an internal argument, indecisiveness, uncertainty, the I should vs the I need/want.

And through emotion/relationship; anger, sadness, fear and anxiety, prolonged depression, attachment, detachment, indifference, co-dependency, pulling closer and pushing away.

‘The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any’- Alice Walker

I will to be alongside you through powerless moments, times of feeling stuck, through change and expansion, I will support, guide and hold space for you to come home to yourself and your power.