What is NeuroAffective Touch®?
Return to Therapy Home
NeuroAffective Touch® is an integrated and relational touch-based therapy that is neurologically-informed and facilitates a return to early developmental moments, whether within the womb or thereafter. These are often sites of early relational ruptures, which we aim to repair through nurturing physical and emotional contact, while encouraging the adult brain to remain present and cooperative. A typical session may involve reclining on a massage bed or sitting in a comfortable armchair and can last either 60 or 90 minutes.
Many of us that have grappled with developmental trauma may encounter a standstill at some point in our lives, and despite diligent efforts to improve mental well-being through talking about it, we reach a point where progress halts. From a somatic lens, we now know that our trauma resides within the physical body, where we might hold onto unconscious bracing and tension that trap feelings of grief, fear, anger, and shame in a state of inertia. And although the body yearns to release these burdensome patterns, it remains unable to do so because the mind lacks the understanding of how to meet the body's profound needs. Even for those who acknowledge the interconnectedness of body and mind, prevailing cultural and scientific paradigms emphasizing their division have constrained our therapeutic approaches thus far.
NeuroAffective Touch uniquely bridges the gap between mind and body, speech and sensation, by integrating physical sensations with emotions and imbuing meaning with the felt sense. This approach draws upon established histories of healing through touch and movement, including Body-Mind Centering (BMC®) by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Continuum Movement by Emilie Conrad, Focusing Oriented Therapy by Eugene Gendlin, and the principles of Emotional Anatomy.
In my practice I use Nurture to Heal™ pillows, developed by Dr. Aline LaPierre as well as warm blankets and props to create nurture nests in which your body can start to develop more resilient post-trauma growth by receiving psycho-biological interventions, repairative language and therapeutic care.
Many of us that have grappled with developmental trauma may encounter a standstill at some point in our lives, and despite diligent efforts to improve mental well-being through talking about it, we reach a point where progress halts. From a somatic lens, we now know that our trauma resides within the physical body, where we might hold onto unconscious bracing and tension that trap feelings of grief, fear, anger, and shame in a state of inertia. And although the body yearns to release these burdensome patterns, it remains unable to do so because the mind lacks the understanding of how to meet the body's profound needs. Even for those who acknowledge the interconnectedness of body and mind, prevailing cultural and scientific paradigms emphasizing their division have constrained our therapeutic approaches thus far.
NeuroAffective Touch uniquely bridges the gap between mind and body, speech and sensation, by integrating physical sensations with emotions and imbuing meaning with the felt sense. This approach draws upon established histories of healing through touch and movement, including Body-Mind Centering (BMC®) by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Continuum Movement by Emilie Conrad, Focusing Oriented Therapy by Eugene Gendlin, and the principles of Emotional Anatomy.
In my practice I use Nurture to Heal™ pillows, developed by Dr. Aline LaPierre as well as warm blankets and props to create nurture nests in which your body can start to develop more resilient post-trauma growth by receiving psycho-biological interventions, repairative language and therapeutic care.