Managing Pain Symptoms with Somatic Metaphor Inquiry
The Story
When we experience emotional or physical pain, we usually try to make it go away. We want to experience relief, and our unconscious mind packages it away in our Shadow. However, we seldom ask the pain what it is trying to say. What is the message carried by the symptom? Somatic Metaphor Inquiry provides a way of discovering the story the symptom is trying to tell.
Why Should I Try Somatic Metaphor Inquiry?
Metaphor Inquiry taps into powerful resources that you may not have accessed. It often uncovers surprising outcomes you would not have imagined, even in your wildest dreams. If you haven’t heard of it, or tried it yet, chances are, it will make a difference, particularly with mysterious chronic problems that defy description.
Our Approach: Face It, Talk To It, Be It
Mark the places where you experience emotional or physical pain on a diagram of the human body.
Choose one of the painful areas to work with.
Describe your subjective experience of the pain.
Re-Present your pain symptoms by drawing a metaphoric image with oil pastels.
Use Metaphor Inquiry to unpack the message hidden in the symptom.
Be your experience.
Share your experience with the group.
What is Somatic Metaphor Inquiry?
Imagine you have a safe with your valuables locked inside. The combination is written on a piece of paper that is also locked in the safe. How can you find the combination, and gain access to your wealth?
Metaphor Inquiry gives you a way of scanning your mind-body, so you can discover the code hidden inside, unlock the safe, and gain access to your treasure.
This is quite different from other approaches you may have heard of or tried. It is a mind-body technique that is easier to experience than to explain.
Mining metaphors for their meaning is a magical method for making the impossible possible!
Who Developed Metaphor Inquiry?
David J Grove, a New Zealander, developed the Metaphor Inquiry, Clean Language and Clean Space techniques during the 1980s and 1990s to help people with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Who Can Benefit from Metaphor Inquiry?
Ian Johnson's clients use Metaphor Inquiry for Personal, Professional and Organizational Development. They include Business Owners, Body Workers, Healthcare and Healing Arts Practitioners, Life Coaches, Managers, Executive Directors, and Members of Non-Profit Boards.
Metaphor Inquiry sessions can also help people seeking relief from chronic pain symptoms.
What is a Session Like?
Imagine you have been given a microphone to interview your symptom or challenge, and find out what it has to say!
A metaphor is a way of expressing one thing in terms of another. When something happens to us that we cannot process consciously, our unconscious mind packages it away as a mind-body metaphor, a symptom that we can deal with later.
The Metaphor Inquiry session follows a structured interviewing procedure using Clean Language and Clean Space. It is a method of questioning that unpacks the meaning hidden in people's personal metaphors.
Each session is unique, usually lasting between 30 to 90 minutes. As the session unfolds, clients can feel the changes happening inside their body in ways that are surprising, satisfying and elegant.
As your metaphor landscape changes, your mind clears, tensions are released, and physical symptoms of emotional blockage and chronic pain can lessen or disappear.
How Many Sessions Will I Need?
For some clients, one session is all they need. Others may have issues that resolve after one or two sessions. Those with deeper challenges may schedule a series of appointments. Metaphor Inquiry is also a great way of taking care of yourself, and maintaining good health. Clients may come for one meeting in person, and then continue with telephone sessions in the comfort and convenience of their own home.
Because the Metaphor Inquiry method taps into the natural healing wisdom of your body, you will know what is right for you.
What would you like to have happen?
How Will I Feel After a Session?
Each person responds differently to the Metaphor Inquiry experience - some quickly, some slowly, and some in ways so subtle that they may not seem to respond at all. Clients may go through a "healing crisis" after the session - feeling worse, before they feel better.
For these reasons, Ian asks his clients to stay in touch with him after their sessions, so he can follow their progress, and assist them as they manage their response.
How Can I Book a Session with Ian?
Call (604) 889-2566 or
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to book your session at The Broadway Wellness Centre, 204-1114 W. Broadway, Vancouver, BC
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