Sandhya Dave
Shiatsu Practitioner. Gestalt Psychotherapist. Body Psychotherapist
Change is possible & I truly believe that you, the client can lead the way, have the answers to create the change you need. I see my work as a therapist, to be a tool, in your tool box, to support and empower you to move through any of your difficulties in life. I provide a deep listening, respectful, space to enable the changes you have identified, need to happen, to take place.
When I first discovered Shiatsu bodywork 25 years ago I knew I had found a system of working that made complete sense to Me. It was direct, immediate in it’s effect and emotionally intelligent. Chinese medicine was holistic in its thinking, viewing Us as interconnected beings with the Earth, the elements & the cosmos. It believed that our immediate environment and our community, all had an impact on each other.
This made complete sense to Me. The idea that we affected the outer landscape with our behaviours & that the outer landscape affected our inner landscape to the point of feeling well or not well, was just logical. Just think of, when it is a sunny day and how you feel versus a wet windy rainy day!
The concept of all matter being energy excited Me as the thinking is that energy can be moved & transformed. So change is possible. This made me realise that we could shift and change this energy state to create the change we needed for ourselves to remain in a balanced state. This could be through emotional relationships & connecting, movement practices, foods we eat, attitudes & general lifestyle approaches.
I then added Gestalt Psychotherapy to my practice as I recognised that people were bringing issues that they needed space to talk about, explore and find resolutions for. Gestalt fitted in beautifully with Shiatsu as both practices were about present time awareness, used the body as a resource for communication and understanding, allowed space for experiments where new things could be tried out to invite new ways of being in life. Gestalt like Shiatsu also recognised that we are all interconnected so our cultural and historical environments also had an impact on our current way of behaving.
I have since developed my practice as a Body Psychotherapist to use the body as a resource and tool to guide Us in cultivating awareness. The body never lies, is immediate in it’s recognition and by listening to the body we can bypass the slippery, trickster mind that can keep Us locked into non-useful patterns of behaviour.
I have had an Insight Meditation practice for over 26 years and studied Inquiry, a method of raising awareness through gentle questions and the tracking of body sensations.
I bring to all my work a global, multi cultural, interconnected systems understanding of issues of inclusion, race, heritage and ethnicity. Inclusion of the whole self, without the need to apologise, censor or explain who you are, is vital to all my work. Being a Woman of Colour and having experienced racism, I fully comprehend the need for this.
Some areas of study & practice for me have been:
Shiatsu Bodywork- Ki Kai Centre London
Gestalt Psychotherapy- Heartwood Counselling
Insight meditation- Gaia House
Cranial Sacral body work- London School of Cranial Sacral Therapy
Birth work- Ray Castallino/ Chantek George
Outdoor environmental movement work- Helen Poynor/ Suryodarmo Prapto
Ritual- My Indian lineage/ British Pagan
Grief Ritual – Sobonfu Some/ Dagara Tribe
Mindfulness In Schools Project- teaching 11-18years old
Trauma Informed Sexual Abuse work with Devon Rape Crisis
Sexual Abuse Trauma and shame- Carolyn Spring
Somatic trauma informed approaches- Peter Levine
Please feel free to give Me a call for an arranged chat, to see if it may work for you to have sessions with Me.
Change is possible & I truly believe that you, the client can lead the way, have the answers to create the change you need. I see my work as a therapist, to be a tool, in your tool box, to support and empower you to move through any of your difficulties in life. I provide a deep listening, respectful, space to enable the changes you have identified, need to happen, to take place.
When I first discovered Shiatsu bodywork 25 years ago I knew I had found a system of working that made complete sense to Me. It was direct, immediate in it’s effect and emotionally intelligent. Chinese medicine was holistic in its thinking, viewing Us as interconnected beings with the Earth, the elements & the cosmos. It believed that our immediate environment and our community, all had an impact on each other.
This made complete sense to Me. The idea that we affected the outer landscape with our behaviours & that the outer landscape affected our inner landscape to the point of feeling well or not well, was just logical. Just think of, when it is a sunny day and how you feel versus a wet windy rainy day!
The concept of all matter being energy excited Me as the thinking is that energy can be moved & transformed. So change is possible. This made me realise that we could shift and change this energy state to create the change we needed for ourselves to remain in a balanced state. This could be through emotional relationships & connecting, movement practices, foods we eat, attitudes & general lifestyle approaches.
I then added Gestalt Psychotherapy to my practice as I recognised that people were bringing issues that they needed space to talk about, explore and find resolutions for. Gestalt fitted in beautifully with Shiatsu as both practices were about present time awareness, used the body as a resource for communication and understanding, allowed space for experiments where new things could be tried out to invite new ways of being in life. Gestalt like Shiatsu also recognised that we are all interconnected so our cultural and historical environments also had an impact on our current way of behaving.
I have since developed my practice as a Body Psychotherapist to use the body as a resource and tool to guide Us in cultivating awareness. The body never lies, is immediate in it’s recognition and by listening to the body we can bypass the slippery, trickster mind that can keep Us locked into non-useful patterns of behaviour.
I have had an Insight Meditation practice for over 26 years and studied Inquiry, a method of raising awareness through gentle questions and the tracking of body sensations.
I bring to all my work a global, multi cultural, interconnected systems understanding of issues of inclusion, race, heritage and ethnicity. Inclusion of the whole self, without the need to apologise, censor or explain who you are, is vital to all my work. Being a Woman of Colour and having experienced racism, I fully comprehend the need for this.
Some areas of study & practice for me have been:
Shiatsu Bodywork- Ki Kai Centre London
Gestalt Psychotherapy- Heartwood Counselling
Insight meditation- Gaia House
Cranial Sacral body work- London School of Cranial Sacral Therapy
Birth work- Ray Castallino/ Chantek George
Outdoor environmental movement work- Helen Poynor/ Suryodarmo Prapto
Ritual- My Indian lineage/ British Pagan
Grief Ritual – Sobonfu Some/ Dagara Tribe
Mindfulness In Schools Project- teaching 11-18years old
Trauma Informed Sexual Abuse work with Devon Rape Crisis
Sexual Abuse Trauma and shame- Carolyn Spring
Somatic trauma informed approaches- Peter Levine
Please feel free to give Me a call for an arranged chat, to see if it may work for you to have sessions with Me.
