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Writer's pictureMioi Forster-Nakayama

Newsletter No.25 - Somatised Stress

Hello, everyone. I hope you all have been doing well. I am writing to you from a new house where we finally settled in. In this new house, there are four pomegranate trees, a bottle brush tree, my favourite Australian tree, and a plenty of space in the backyard. I felt quite emotional when the key was handed over to us as it took us a lot of effort of from finding the jobs to a right place for us. As I was sorting out and saw how much stuff we have been holding, it felt to me a shame as I hear more about poverty and the wars happening around the world. When I lived in India, I visited a house where Mahatma Gandhi lived. He was an absolute minimalist. He had nothing in his home – just two pairs of cotton clothes, a cup, a bowl and a wooden spinning wheel. I was struck with his simplicity. It is hard not to possess so many things in this materialistic world. The small size of the house feels right to me in this minimalist’s perspective. I am aware that I come from and live in a wealthy country. It has been important for me to remind myself of simplicity and live minimal. As I have been easing my workload in May, I noticed that my skin has been feeling itchy all of sudden. It took me to a level where I could not sleep due to itchiness. I realised that my workload preyed on my body and now I have a somatised symptom caused by the work stress. I had never had eczema in my life but, I had to go to a GP and get me a steroid prescribed. As a body-based psychotherapist, I should have noticed these somatic reactions in my body earlier, but I simply could not take care of myself. I even had neglected myself getting the prescribed medicine. I know the importance of self-care which I emphasise for my clients and students too.

Perhaps many changes came to my life including job opportunities, house situations and so forth. I need to remind myself that I am still adjusting myself to a new life in Australia, trying to understand the cultures, politics, people, history to name a few. In coming months, I hope I have capacity to look after myself including doing something creative for myself.

Offering Dance Movement Therapy Sessions – F2F or Telehealth When words are not enough, the body speaks. Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is a movement and body-based therapy that I practice. If you may like to try dance movement therapy sessions either face-to-face (in Adelaide) or telehealth, please get in touch with me. I specialise in trauma informed and body related psychotherapy. Please find more information on dance movement therapy here. I hope you all will be able to look after yourself whenever you can. Thank you for reading my newsletter.

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