We live in a fast-paced world of “go, go, go” and with increasing demands on our work life as well as personal life, it can be difficult to find and exercise the time of de-stressing. Especially for women who frequently feel the need to carry all of the responsibilities when it comes to work and family.
All of this stress and even unaddressed trauma can lead to physical issues and even internal imbalances. Katy Murray is a somatic transformation coach who is helping all kinds of people find balance but specifically focuses on working with women who are stressed out and even burnt out. You can learn more about Katy and her work here:
About Katy and her work:
I worked for 15 years in retail head offices as part of the Technical team responsible for product safety, I then later had businesses based around a business community and blog and was a Social Media Manager before having a health and spiritual crisis in 2020 when I shifted the course of my life and undertook the first of my coach training.
I’m now an ICF ACC-level Accredited Coach, Certified Somatic Coach. I’ve also trained in Polyvagal Theory to support individuals with understanding and harnessing their nervous system health and Internal Family Systems to support clients to go deep with their healing work and be able to contact and release painful, trapped emotions that are keeping them stuck in difficult patterns in their life.
I’ve always had a “wise” quality, even as a child, and had the ability to listen and see situations from different viewpoints., I had an inkling that my relational skills and natural sensitivity would lend themselves well to coaching. After embarking on a coaching journey myself, I felt sure that this was my path. I quickly evolved to add in somatics and nervous system work as the body plays such an influential role in our thought, emotions, and lived experiences, in general, I just can’t do the type of deep, transformational work I want to without it.
Without a doubt, [my favorite aspect of this work is] witnessing women connect to their true essence and unbind from long-held painful patterns.
Somatic transformation coaching from start to finish:
I co-create each of my coaching containers with the client to ensure it is 100% shaped to their needs, desired outcomes, and ways of working that are most supportive. Sessions often start with a grounding or mindful practice to help the client access the wisdom of the body. We might then do a Parts Work journey where we’re contacting their emotions and sensations held in the body to help tell their story and ultimately change their impact on the client.
We might have a session around working with the nervous system and giving the client a practical understanding of their system and ways to support themselves into and out of states and build more resilience. We might have more traditional coaching or somatic coaching sessions to better understand situations, and patterns that arise or to bring more of what they want into their lives. We work fluidly, intuitively, and purely in response to their process.
Somatic coaching can be great for almost anyone, but I tend to focus on women who are busy, overwhelmed, maybe stressed or burnt out, and also those who know they are living with complex trauma.
It helps individuals to lead a life that’s more attuned to pleasure and joy, supports the release of patterns, trauma, and habits that are causing stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression, and can also be really helpful in improving physical health regulating the nervous system, so can impact areas such as autoimmune disease or even just gastric problems, headaches and body pains.
I really love the Somatic Parts Work I do (based on Internal Family Systems), it’s amazing for supporting clients to go deep and release painful patterns. So powerful!
Clients tend to find my containers to be a place where they can deeply relax, open up, feel safe, at ease, and feel fully seen and heard. The environment alone is deeply healing as we often miss out on this type of relational space in our busy, dispersed lives.
What Katy would say for the skeptics:
I would say then it’s not for you! You have to work with an individual and a modality that feels really right for you. Trust and openness are such an important part of this work, it really can’t happen without them. There’s a modality for everyone and I’m not here to convince people.
However, if you asked me what I would say to someone who’s skeptical about the role of the body in mental and physical health, then I would tell them that they won’t believe what they find when they start to explore this – it’s fascinating and you’ll never look at the human experience in the same way again. Great places to start are books such as The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van de Kolk and Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine. If you don’t fancy reading a book, check out videos by Daniel Siegel who formed the Polyvagal Theory, which can be found on YouTube.
Katy’s universal health and well-being tips:
1. Learn to be IN your body, so do what you can to really experience your body. Either take information in through your senses or through sensation inside your body (if it feels ok too). Try to do this for periods every day. You might like to set a reminder on your phone even.
2. Have a self-care routine or ritual. I’m not talking face masks and bubble baths (unless this really floats your boat). Think of yourself as your own loving parent – what do you really need? Find ways to give it to yourself daily. Of course, I would make sure you include body-based work in this.
3. Get to love your nervous system. Once you understand your system and how it’s impacting your lived experience, everything can change.
Know that you are important and wanted in the world. The human experience can be incredibly difficult at times and that’s very normal, so don’t feel that you]’re alone with this. I would always recommend getting help first, whether that’s coaching, therapy, a doctor or just talking to a friend or member of your family. Being with another…when done right is the most healing environment we can have. Don’t believe your thoughts, they are filtered by the spectrum of your nervous system state and your past experience, they are not facts. Whatever your situation I recommend getting out in nature, it’s a natural regulator of the nervous system…and it’s free!
Katy’s additional resources:
Decoding your Nervous System – my FREE guide to your nervous system is available on my website.
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van de Kolk
Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine
Videos and books by Daniel Siegel
Call of the Wild by Kimberly Ann Johnson
When complex trauma goes untreated, it has the capacity to affect you internally. Not only to the extent of trauma but stress and burnout can also have severe negative effects. This can lead to deteriorating physical health and even make autoimmune diseases worse.
Working with a somatic transformation coach can help release negativity and stress so you can live a healthier, happier life. Katy Murray is a practitioner who has set out to help women do just that. You can learn more about Katy and her work here:
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