Removing emotional blockades

De-armouring

Soft Touch method – in Mechelen

 

Let the healing touch open you

Who is de-armouring for?

The Gaia Method soft touch de-armouring therapy allows your body to release tension and emotional blockades that originate from past unwanted experiences in a gentle, loving and safe way.

De-armouring would probably be beneficial for you, if you

  • Have continuous pain in a part of your body, while your doctor tells you, there is nothing wrong with your body.
  • Have one or more areas on your body that are so sensitive, that nobody can touch you on this area without you instantly starting to feel unbearably high ticklishness / burning sensations / anxiety
  • Have one or more areas on your body that are numb or unable to feel practically anything from normal touch
  • Have tension on an area of your body, which stubbornly always comes back despite kinesitherapy/stretching/massages
  • Have followed psychotherapy for a problem, and now face the issue that you can understand something with your head, but your body refuses to feel it.

If you are hesitating, whether de-armouring would benefit you, we encourage to book a free 15 minutes intake call with our therapist Sam.

Questions about de-armouring

What is soft touch de-armouring?

De-armouring is a specific body work technique focused on dissolving body armour from the body and releasing the emotions and the tension held within the armour. Sam at Studio ES is a certified The Gaia Method de-armouring practicioner.

The Gaia Method is a treatment modality developed by the Danish psychotherapist, sexuologist and midwife Susanne Roursgaard, that is based on the understanding that that the body and the mind are one whole: The mind is connected trough the nervous system to every nook and crevice of the body and all problems of mind inevitably also are reflected in the body and vice versa.

The Gaia Method therapy invites the body to release what it is ready trough appliance of soft touch only, as opposed to some Reichian de-armouring modalities that use brute force to break open the armour.

Who is sexual de-armouring for?

The soft touch de-armouring technique can also be applied in the genital region when this is relevant for the problems of the client. Sexual de-armouring can be beneficial for you if

  • You are female-bodied and suffer from external or internal pain during sexual engagements
  • You are female bodied and suffer from numbness or other difficulties to experience pleasure during sexual engagements
  • You are male-bodied and suffer from erectile issues, including difficulties maintaining an erection while wearing a condom
  • You are male-bodied and suffer from difficulties holding your ejaculation long enough, or difficulties from reaching an ejaculation, at all.
  • You are male-bodied and suffer from prostate-related issues, including problems with urination
What is body armour?

Whenever we go trough unwanted experiences in life, a lot of emotions and tension emerge in the body as the natural response of the nervous system. If our system gets overwhelmed in the process, which happens especially often in our younger years, these emotions and tension might get stuck for long term in the body as body armour.

The most tanglible form of body armour are tight “knots” in muscles, but body armour may form in any type of tissue, including on the bones.

The term body armour was originally described by Dr. Wilhelm Reich, a student of Sigmund Freud whose work on psychoanalysis later inspired among others the foundation of the body psychotherapy field.

Is all body armour problematic?

Every adult person has body armour in their body and removing it all is neither a goal or useful. Some of that armour might be much more symptomatic than others and it is the symptomatic armour we want to treat.

Typical physical symptoms of armour are

  • Long-during pain that cannot be explained by damaged tissue or nerve damage
  • Tension in a specific part of the body, which keeps re-emerging despite any attempts to massage or stretch it away
  • Hypersensitivity of a specific part of the body (unable to receive touch to this part due to ticklishness/burning sensations/anxiety)
  • Numbness, lack of any sensation in a specific part of  the body
What are the benefits of de-armouring

Most people report after undergoing a treatment consisting of 3-5 de-armouring sessions

  • Reduced tension in their body
  • Increased amount of energy in everyday life
  • Improved ease to express their emotions

Depending on why they came to de-armouring, many people report after 3-5 sessions

  • Reduced levels of their chronic pain 
  • Increased sensitivity in areas that used to be numb
  • Increased tolerance to touch on areas that used to be hypersensitive

Some people report in the weeks/months after the treatment

  • To have been inspired to make major changes in their lives
  • To experience no fear or anxiety any more in situations that used to be unbrearable
  • To have finally made a great break-trough with their long-term problem
What is de-armouring NOT for?

De-armouring is no medical treatment to heal damaged tissue. De-armouring cannot do anything about nerve damage either. When coming to de-armouring due to experience of cronic pain, you should always first consult your physician to rule out these as possible causes. 

De-armouring is not a substitute for psychoterapy. It is a complementing modality to treat the psycho-somatic dimension. It has the potential to enhance the effects of non-medicinal therapy.

De-armouring is not recommended for anyone undergoing psychiatric treatment that includes psychoactive medication. In this case, only come to de-armouring if this is a specific recommendation of your treating psychiatrist.

What can you expect?

A de-armouring session lasts by default two hours. A de-armouring treatment consists depending on the case usually from a minimum of three sessions with intervals ranging from some weeks to some months.

The session starts with an intake discussion in the therapy room, where we will ask you to explain why you come for de-armouring and what you would wish to achieve by undergoing the therapy.

After the therapy, you will be allowed to rest to integrate for about fifteen minutes before the end of the session.

Massage studio mattress

Good to know

Preparing for de-armouring

Please only eat lightly or allow at least two hours between your last meal and your booked session. We discourage coming to your session shortly after a heavy meal. Eating soon after the session is grounding and encouraged.

We strongly advise avoiding alcohol, nicotine and caffeine in 24 hours before and after your session. These all alter the functioning of your nervous system, reduce your body’s receptivity and reduce the potential of what you get out of your session. If refraining fully is not feasible, we recommend to consume only half of your habitual amount at maximum.

Aftercare: Allow yourself time

The de-armouring treatment will start processes in your body that will continue in the hours following your session and might have an impact up to 2-3 days after the session.  You might be feeling tiredness, emotionality or irritability, depending on what rose up and how deep your process went.

On the day of your session, we recommend to allow plenty time for resting after the session in your planning. There is no harm doing individual sports after de-armouring if you feel you have the energy for it. Important is to not push yourself beyond your boundaries.