To Step Into Being You

Not everyone is ready to step into themselves.
So, I mould my body into your posture. So that you can see you when you’re not ready to step into being you.

I mirror you back.
I imitate that gesture you did without realising.
I lower my back as far as you tell me when you speak of carrying that load.

‘It’s difficult to see… I didn’t know I do this to myself’ he said.

But it’s how I can show you: I’m off balance when I’m in this position. I’m in pain. I can’t breathe well. I need to slow down. And chances are, your experience is causing you the same - mentally, spiritually, emotionally or physically.

Using my body as a modality to communicate what was living within me was something I avoided when I first started out in art therapy. The words I used, the terminology, the stories, the imagery, the proofs I used were well rehearsed and already sustained me in my experience.
But once I invited my body into the conversation, pretending it didn’t have a voice felt insincere to my knowing and healing. It rebutted what I thought was obvious. Shaped what I couldn’t speak. And revealed what no longer served me at that point in my life.

Using the body can be a simple hand gesture, a bending of the body, or simply positioning yourself in the room. It is an entire apparatus of feedback and information that could lead you to what needs to be seen and unlearned.

Your whole body is voice.