Integral psychotherapist Audrey Jolly
Danforth and Chester in East Central Toronto
416-597-9067
WHAT IS AUDREY JOLLY'S APPROACH?
It is called integral healing. It combines “talk” therapy with body work and energy healing.
HOW CAN INTEGRAL HEALING HELP YOU?
It can help you intellectually, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Resolve a particular issue or shift a negative pattern in your behaviour that is holding you back. Help with issues of low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, anger, addictions or abuse. Help you to communicate with clarity and confidence, set healthier boundaries and develop trust in yourself and others. It can free up creative blocks, intuition and a sense of purpose in life. Build self-awareness, intuitive trust, access and expression of your emotions. Dissolve body tensions, improve you posture and presentation, free up your physical, sexual energy for a richer, fuller expression in life and love.
HOW DOES A SESSION LOOK?
It varies depending upon your needs, but will always begin with a conversation to see how you are doing. In the early stages of your therapy, more conversation is often needed. Later on in the process, bodywork is introduced and then energy work. Sessions may focus on one of the three approaches or consist of a combination of all three, beginning with conversation, moving into bodywork and ending with an energy re-balancing. It all depends on what you need. We figure that out together as we go along. Nothing is fixed or rigid but flexible, sensitive and geared to your ever-changing needs. Patience, respect and complete confidentiality are crucial to this process.
WHEN IS EACH METHOD USED?
TALK THERAPY: Earlier sessions often consist mostly of talking with a possible introduction to breathing techniques and/or mindfulness meditation if beneficial to your specific needs - symptoms of stress and anxiety, issues with anger, panic attacks, sleeplessness, etc. No problem is too large or too small to bring into a session. We are often not the best judges of what is relevant in relation to ourselves and our healing. Together we create an environment where all of who you are is welcome. It is a time and place for you to safely explore “self”, something that families, school systems, and communities often fail to provide.
BODYWORK & BIOENERGETICS: At a point in therapy you may become aware of physical sensations such as discomfort in specific areas of your body - bands of tension, holding patterns, tightness in muscles (clenched jaw or fists) or areas where there is uncomfortable active energy (butterflies in your stomach, nausea, a racing heartbeat). At this point in the therapy process we may shift our focus from a more intellectual level to tracking these sensations in your body. Each of these sensations have their stories to tell, often originating in past traumas, which can be explored, released and re-patterned towards health. Bioenergetics helps to unlock these restricted areas in your body. Blocked body energy gradually shifts to a freer, flowing state. You build up a tolerance for greater sensation in your body – its pleasures as well as other challenging feelings such as fear, anger, despair, loss, disappointment, sadness, etc.
Your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes towards your feelings are also explored. They are the inner running commentary that can fill your mind with negative chatter at any given time. These inner judges or critics, dishing out guilt, shame, and blame are revealed within the therapy process, gently worked with until they are fully understood and willingly give up their grip, releasing you from their oppressive holds. These inner holding patterns may be caused by current situations or may go back to early childhood, even before you developed the ability to speak or think cognitively. It’s only through your body that you can retrieve and re-pattern these lost and restricted (and restrict-ive) parts of yourself. Integral healing can help these parts to grow, expand, breathe and move, shifting into a feeling of mature, integrated wholeness.
ENERGY HEALING: When you feel safe and comfortable within the therapy process, energy work using hands on or above the body may be used to further augment the healing process and repair damage to subtler levels of your energy body. It can help you to feel grounded, centred, contained, and protected within your own secure energy boundaries. You can learn to live more comfortably in your skin.
WHAT MIGHT YOU GET FROM THIS THERAPY?
We can work with issues of addiction, abuse, anger, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, poor body image, depression, anxiety, or trauma. You can learn how to make healthier choices, develop skills to cope with whatever life throws your way and cultivate a compassionate understanding towards yourself. This will improve the overall quality of your life, both on a profoundly personal level and in relationship to others. Your intimate relationships improve as well as friendships and acquaintances at work or in your community. You can - relax into your well being with a new sense of ease - feel new hope and excitement around your creativity, goals and dreams - feel that you belong and deserve to be here - feel fully alive and engaged in living – live fully in your body and in the moment – be able to go with the flow of what life has to offer while making good choices for yourself along the way - or bounce back faster if you happen to find yourself off balance from unpredictable circumstances or even a temporary lapse in judgement. For any further information, please feel free to call or e-mail me.
About myself
I am a registered psychotherapist (Ontario), a clinical member of the Ontario Society of Psychotherapists (OSP) and a graduate of the Integral Healing Centre of Toronto, with a Master’s Degree in Psychology and Movement from York University. I have worked therapeutically with individuals and groups for over 20 years, at the Banff Centre, York University, Ryerson University and Skyros Centre, Greece. I also work as a visual artist, having trained in visual and performing arts. Creativity and healing are my lifelong passions. Further information about integral therapy can be found at www.integralhealingcentre.com
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