Nancy Paul is a bodyworker and Licensed Professional Counselor with training in CranioSacral Therapy, Reiki, EMDR, Internal Family Systems, and Zero Balancing. It is her intention to help clients find self-acceptance, improved mood, relief from physical and emotional pain, and a sense of peace.
Nancy’s Healing Journey —
As a child I felt relegated to live in a kind of crypt.
My mother feared connection. I felt ashamed of my need for nurturing because it scared my mother. I got used to terror.
The terror manifested itself metaphorically; a fear of swallowing my tongue. If I spoke (used my tongue to express need for connection or comfort), I caused distress. If I swallowed my tongue (did not express need or desire, not take in nourishment), I could die emotionally or physically.
As an infant, I “know” that although my mother willingly breastfed me, I could feel that it was uncomfortable for her. Connection caused her distress. So I was held in her arms, fed with sweet mother’s milk, while feeling that I was the cause of her discomfort.
So how did I learn that it was okay to use my tongue… to connect and to receive nourishment… to love and to express myself… how did I learn that I’m okay and not threatening or shameful….? Well, I’m still learning. But the key has been connecting to “Spirit.”
I think Spirit came to me in many forms; to mother me, to teach me, to let me know that I am loveable. Spirit first came to me as a vague glimmer of something God-like, then as the Word of God in human form, then as Nature. Especially trees. Trees as angels. Trees “hug” me. Trees teach me. Well, Spirit teaches me through trees. Trees have been mirrors for me; letting me know that I’m a gentle, perceptive, yielding, and caring person. Trees have told me that I am playful. Trees have channeled deceased relatives, and have mothered me in a way that I have never been mothered by a human.
I, like most people, have been attracted to people like the ones I grew up with. It’s a repetition compulsion. It’s a matter of finding comfort in the familiar, but it’s also our “Inner Historian'' (Your Inner Historian — Lyrical Healing) advocating for the wounded part of us that’s still terrified, or panicked, or horribly hurt.
And repetition compulsion can mean that we only connect to people who can’t connect to us in a healthy way. That we wake up depressed or anxious everyday, feeling doomed and stuck. That the past is more real than the present.
So I needed a bridge; a human, or humans, who could “speak Spirit” to me. See me and love me for who I am with no ulterior motive. One human bridge I have found is an “energy healer” who is adept at giving and receiving emotionally and physically, and channeling Spirit. He has received my love and that willingness to receive is a phenomenal gift. He has offered me his love and I am learning to accept it.
I’d like to be a bridge for you, to speak Spirit to you. To accept you as you are so that you can accept yourself as you are; to model acceptance of self. In everyday life this could manifest as feeling more confident at work, enjoying “play-time,” having harmonious relationships,feeling free from spiraling thoughts, living relatively free from physical and emotional pain.
The way I do that is by BEING WITH you; hands-on, open heartedly, with loving neutrality.
Concretely, CranioSacral therapy, which to me is soul work, is a way to listen deeply and facilitate shifts guided by our self-healing psyches and bodies. It entails a gentle touch that gives a visceral experience of “Spirit speech.” It is a way I aim to speak Spirit to you so that you can know how magnificent you are, as you are! Another technique I use is EMDR. EMDR is in itself a bridge; between the logical mind and the “lizard brain.” It helps us become more present, to desensitize traumas, and to shift negative self-beliefs. And inner dialogue brings our True Self\Best Self\Inner Nurturer into communion with our wounded selves. EMDR and inner dialogue are like do-it-yourself healing. Parts heal parts. I typically blend elements of some or all of these approaches in each session, depending on what would be most helpful in the moment, channeling Spirit and facilitating self-healing.
Let me help you feel comfortable in your own skin, …to tend to and befriend yourself, and own your own magnificence. To find the self-acceptance and self-love that I have found.
Call 708-289-3899 or email or go to contact page to schedule an appointment.
We are all like this shell; our shadowy parts enhance our loveliness.
Dear potential client,
Here are some things that may help you understand what happens in a Lyrical Healing session.
I’m trained in CranioSacral Therapy, EMDR, Zero Balancing, Clinical Massage Therapy, Reiki, and counseling psychology (but I am not working as a counselor), and I use my intuition. Intuiting to me means listening deeply and noticing subtleties. Some may call those subtleties “energy.”
I believe that everything is energy; muscles, God, Prana, Chi, sadness, joy, etc., and that everything is interconnected. Emotions can change our biochemistry and even which genes are “switched on” or off. And our biochemistry and genes and physical state can affect our emotions. Thus I attend to your muscles, fascia, the Transcendent, your inner critic, and your Inner Wisdom and to the ways in which they intersect or interact.
I use touch because 1) it helps me to sense and understand what you are feeling physically and emotionally. 2) You can hopefully sense my neutral, respectful touch and viscerally understand that I am honoring the wisdom of your body and psyche. I am “listening,” tuning in, attending to you in a way I can’t solely by listening to your words. 3) Since I’m Reiki attuned, I channel “Universal Lifeforce” energy through my hands (as perhaps all of us do). 4) With my hands in contact with your body, I am ready to gently assist the tissue or muscle or joint; to help facilitate whatever change the body/psyche calls for. You and I partner together to find your own highest good for each session.
Lying on a massage table helps you relax and relaxing is conducive to deep work, to accessing the subconscious. Deep work has the most profound impact. Sometimes we access parts of self that clients have repressed or ignored. Hidden or disowned feelings or urges or parts of ourselves do not fade away; and listening to them, befriending them, eases their forcefulness and allows for creativity and change.
My approach is very gentle. CranioSacral Therapy, my “default mode,” is based on the premise that what you judge won’t budge. I don’t try to fix or change. The body knows, the psyche knows, I merely listen, allow and facilitate.
Here are some links to practitioners I recommend:
MartinJon the Portrait Mentor