Marcus James

Psychotherapy & Alexander Technique in Addlestone 

Psychotherapy With Marcus James

I’m an experienced, accredited therapist working in-person at Addlestone in Surrey, and online. My approach is person-centred, offering a supportive, respectful space and effective tools to help you heal, grow and re-connect with your own wisdom, resilience and strength. I offer traditional talking therapy, and also a person-centred form of body psychotherapy called Bodylistening.

I work with many issues, especially anxiety and trauma, developmental trauma, childhood sexual abuse and recovery from sexual assault as an adult.  

How I work

I believe that we all have an innate wisdom and tendency towards healing and wholeness. When we feel safe, accepted and allowed to be ourselves it is natural for us to start to orientate towards well-being and growth. I offer a variety of approaches to help you make the changes you want. There’s no formula, everyone is different, and you are always in control. My aim is always to create a safe space in which you can unfold, explore, grow and let go of what no longer serves you in a way that feels right for you. 

From the first meeting with Marcus he put me at ease whilst talking about difficult subjects and encouraged me to work on issues that presented themselves physically as well as mentally. With his help and encouragement I was able to come to terms with things in my own time and way.” —Anna G

I aim at all times to treat you with understanding and respect, to meet you where you are, and to be authentic, present and empathic. I undertake to self-reflect, to be honest if I make a mistake, and to act responsibly and ethically. Some of the ways in which we could work include:

  • Talking. Many people find that just talking to someone and being really heard and understood is all that is needed to help them sort through their feelings and make sense of things for themselves. 
  • Body Psychotherapy.  I offer the option of working through and with the body. This can offer a different perspective to traditional talk therapy, and can provide powerful ways to bring fresh insight, to shift trauma, and to make changes when talking and words on their own are not enough.
  • Walking and talking. Some people find it more comfortable to work out of doors than inside. Walking together and talking things over can help you see the world in a new way. It may be comforting if you are in distress, and can help you discover fresh perspectives on what is going on in your life.

Free Initial Session

If you’re thinking about coming for some therapy I offer a free, no-obligation half-hour meeting to give you a chance to ask any questions and see whether you think we would be a good fit.

Heal the Past

Resolve Trauma and PTSD

Let go of Anxiety and Stress

Bodylistening

Bodylistening is a person-centred form of body psychotherapy. We can work with awareness,  movement, breath-work, and hands-on contact. 

The Bodylistening process is gentle and explorative, enabling you to access and transform parts of yourself which are difficult to get in touch with by just sitting and talking. Allowing the body to fully feel, express and tell its story can bypass the stuck record of old thoughts and beliefs enabling you to let go of the past, process trauma, and open up to things in a new way. 

We work in a good-sized, private and comfortable space in which you are free to move and spread out (or be still and contained) in any way you wish. 

There is no formula for how we would work or what a session would look like. Everyone is different. Some of the ways  we could work include:

  • Moving. Often we hold physical and emotional tension in our bodies and don’t give them the chance to move as they really want to. Working creatively with movement can allow us to access and process our feelings in a new way.
  • Breathwork. Working with the breath offers a powerful way to calm an over-active nervous system, and to help you land in your body and process strong emotions safely.
  • Hands-on work. It’s difficult to feel solid and secure if your body is out of balance or holding excess muscular tension. If it feels helpful we can use hands-on work to help your system to come back into balance, align, integrate and release. We can also use hands-on contact to connect with repressed emotions and to explore how you relate to yourself and others.  
  • Talking. Although embodied therapy can sometimes look very different from traditional psychotherapy, sometimes it really is just ‘good to talk’!
  • Trauma work. Trauma is not only generated from single dramatic events. It can also develop from periods of sustained distress and anxiety. Some people also may have had difficult experiences growing up leading to developmental trauma which can have a significant impact in the present. Bodywork can be one of the most powerful and effective ways to let go of these kinds of held feelings in a safe, contained way. This can liberate us from old patterns of behaviour and release long-held tension and stress.

Working with Marcus has been life-changing, he’s helped me realise my body is an ever-present resource for self-healing and learning.M.L.

In the sessions you are free to moveand express yourself as you wish, helping you to experience new ways of being and to expand the range of possibilities that are open to you in the rest of your life.

Embodied therapy is particularly suited to healing very early emotional wounds and developmental trauma, freeing you to move positively the future free from the burden of the past.

Dance of Awareness

I also teach a therapeutic dance practice called Dance of Awareness, which is based on the same Reichian developmental model as Bodylearning. Dance of Awareness can be taught in groups, and also bought into one-to-one sessions in various ways. Dance of Awareness can help increase self-awareness while encouraging you to make friends with your body, let go of limiting patterns from the past, and find the confidence to express yourself more freely. It offers a deep exploration of what it is to be in a body and to connect more authentically with yourself and others. It incorporates several strands including character styles, authentic movement, five rhythms and mindfulness.

The Dance of Awareness cycle (sensing, grounding, expressing, releasing, connecting and completing) allows us to revisit our early body history, to celebrate the embodied patterns that make us unique, and to discover new ways of being who we are. As we move, release and breathe together we open more fully into self-awareness and a wider consciousness of our place in the world.

At the moment I am teaching Dance of Awareness mostly on residential weekend workshops. For more information see here.



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