How I Start Every Session

When I get on my zoom video or when a client walks into my office and sits down, I ask them if they’d like to start by closing their eyes and taking a few breaths. This is a time for them to land, unwind, and get present in their bodies.

All of this is useful because if they can touch presence, then whatever material wants to be worked with in the session can start to arise. They’re often surprised by what comes up and this can be very much the right track…to address what’s here and now rather than what they had in their mind to discuss. But that’s up to them.

It’s also useful because you know everyone is either rushing to the call, rushing in their car, on the phone just before the session starts, or getting in one last task just before our time. And that one last task is very rarely a slowing down or a checking in with themselves.

And we need it. We almost always need it. It’s also a good chance for the practitioner to reset. To let go of the client and the session before and to get present to the client’s energy, noticing the feeling in the room. There is almost always good information to be had here from feeling the room. You don’t need to make it mean anything yet, but it’s good to notice it because it will likely inform your tone or maybe a question you ask later in the session.

I sometimes talk a little bit through their quiet time. “Just take the time to slow your internal pace and connect inside.” or “Get present with your body here just as it is.” Something gentle. And I generally say, after a few minutes, “Just stay as long as you need and come back when you’re ready. No rush.”

They almost always come back and say, “thanks” or “whew, I needed that.” and I smile and say, “Where would you like to start today?”