Support is not truly supportive until your whole system can feel it. You can read every self-help book, listen to every podcast, and still find yourself alone with the same patterns if your body doesn’t register, “this actually helps me.” In my somatic EMDR work in Weybridge, we treat support as something that must be built on purpose and practised in the body, not just understood in your mind. The aim is simple: when life gets loud, you have real, embodied supports that your nervous system recognises and can reach for.
We begin by creating a basic layer of regulation that you can access anywhere. In sessions we experiment with tiny, concrete shifts: allowing your jaw to release a little, letting your eyes take in more of the room instead of staring at one fixed point, feeling the weight of your feet fully supported by the floor, or letting your out-breath last a fraction longer than the in-breath. None of these is a grand technique; they are small signals that tell your body, “right now, I am here, and there is at least a little bit of room.” Practised regularly, they stop being “exercises” and start becoming reflexes you can rely on under stress.
From there, we use somatic awareness to tailor support to your actual life rather than an idealised version of it. Support that only works on a meditation cushion is not enough. Together we look at the real shape of your days: your front door, your commute, your inbox, your kitchen, the places where tension tends to rise. We then link specific micro-supports to specific moments.
That might mean a quiet phrase you repeat to yourself each time your hand touches the door handle, reminding your system that you can move at your own pace. It might be a particular breath you practise at a red light or on a train, helping your body settle before you walk into work. It could be a small pause while the kettle boils, where you feel your feet, notice the sounds in the room and give your shoulders permission to drop. Over time, these anchors become like signposts scattered through your day, guiding your nervous system back towards steadier ground.
Often, what stops people using these supports is not a lack of knowledge, but old rules living in the body: the belief that needs are weak, that “coping” means never pausing, that rest is laziness, that you only deserve kindness when you’ve done everything perfectly. This is where EMDR becomes especially helpful.
EMDR’s gentle left-right rhythm – through eye movements, taps or alternating sounds – supports your brain and body to reprocess the experiences that built those rules. We might work with memories of being criticised for needing help, being praised only when you were over-performing, or watching others burn out and assuming that is simply how life is. In session, we approach these moments in short, well-paced rounds, always returning to the present room and to your bodily anchors so that the work remains tolerable.
As EMDR loosens the grip of shame and rigid beliefs, it becomes easier for your system to accept support without an internal backlash. Taking a breath no longer feels like “slacking”, saying no doesn’t automatically equal rejection, and pausing doesn’t always trigger panic about falling behind. The supports we designed together have more room to work because they’re no longer pushing against a wall of unquestioned rules.
Between sessions, we keep things deliberately simple. You practise tiny pieces of support in ordinary moments, not just when everything feels calm. Maybe you use one grounding breath before answering a difficult message, or you let yourself sit down for thirty seconds between tasks instead of pushing through. We notice what actually helps and what feels awkward or unrealistic, and we adjust. The point is not to create another long to-do list of “good habits”, but to nurture a few well-chosen supports your body can genuinely adopt.
Over time, something important starts to shift. The same challenges may still appear, but your system no longer feels as alone with them. You have experiences – not just ideas – of support that land. Instead of change slipping away as soon as life becomes busy, more of it begins to stay. You find yourself reaching for a pause rather than a spiral, a boundary rather than a collapse, a breath rather than a shutdown. That’s what embodied support looks like: your nervous system recognising, “this helps,” and moving towards it almost before you think.
If you’d like to explore embodied support and somatic EMDR in Weybridge, you’re welcome to start with questions rather than commitments. To enquire or arrange an initial session, please use the contact page: https://www.cherie-james.com/contact
— you can outline where support currently slips through your fingers, what you hope might change, and what kind of pace feels workable. From there, we can see whether this way of building support in the body, not just for the body, is a good fit for you.
FAQ
Q1. What do you mean by embodied supports?
Skills and routines felt in the body—anchors, boundaries and rests that protect progress.
Q2. Will these supports fit my context?
Yes—designed around your roles, spaces and energy so they are easy to keep.
Q3. Are sessions flexible across formats?
Yes—Weybridge and secure online options.