What’s Underneath?

Much of what we do in life to feel better is like so many sticking plasters.  With any issue or problem we have, though, the best question is ‘what’s underneath?’.

With the whole ‘F**k It’ philosophy, Gaia Pollini and John C. Parkin recognised that what’s underneath much of the stress we feel is an over-caring seriousness, a relentless attachment to things in our lives, that ‘F**k It’ can help us work with and release.

Yet there are more personal answers to the question ‘what’s underneath?’ that Gaia is able to help you investigate (then resolve and heal) most personally in 1-to-1 sessions.

Gaia sees that each of us is meant for happiness. That there is a natural sense of rightness inside us, awaiting all of us. With her work, she helps you get to ‘what’s underneath’ that stops us accessing this rightness:
those repetitive mechanisms of mind, body and energy, that put a wall between where you are and where you truly desire to be.

As well as being a breath therapist, energy expert, hypotherapist and rebirther, Gaia is a trauma therapist, and she works specifically with developmental trauma (as this is what’s most often ‘underneath’).
Most of us have experienced trauma, in one way of another.  Though it’s not usually what we think it is (ie. one traumatic episode). Trauma is the effect of an accumulation of stress at some stage in the past which our system (body and mind) was not able to handle. It could indeed be created by a big event in early life (or later), or most commonly due to ongoing stress in childhood.

…People often find it hard to recognise whether they had to endure deep stress as children because of the coping mechanisms that were developed (usually unconsciously):
so they just had to carry on, adapt and fit in, thus preserving the love and attachment to their parents. In order to do so, they become dutiful people, highly capable, hard-working, larger-than-life or quiet-and-shy, they push themselves, judge themselves or judge others, they can be competitive, but never really feel good enough.

In these mechanisms, the body feels uncomfortable, tight and contracted, and people either disconnect from feelings or feel too much. But these mechanisms are just a lid on the top of the unresolved stress, sadness and anger at not having been supported and seen for our true beauty. The mechanisms helped us survive in early life and preserve the connection and support of parents, family and social structures, but, in fact, they become our prisons and they take us away from our true selves.

Often these mechanisms are deeply hidden and unconscious, and keep making sure that we don’t raise our heads, feel our power, or take our space.
So the work with such repetitive and stifling programmes needs to be loving, clear and supportive to allow what had to be put under a lid to be finally released in a safe and fully empowering way. When you are free from those hidden obligations, behaviours and unconscious ties, you truly feel a liberating ‘F**k It’.

Gaia Pollini, 20 years of therapeutic support.

Many of you will know, or have heard about, Gaia.

She is co-author of the F**k It books and co-founder of the F**k It movement.  Many people have experienced her ‘magic’ over the years in retreats and workshops.  It’s often been hard for people to put their finger on just what Gaia does.  She seems to intuitively understand what is needed. She is a powerful healer.  She seems to be able to say just the right thing at just the right time.

She allows people to feel safe and secure.  And yet free and strong enough to be themselves.  She creates huge liberating experiences in all the work she does.  So that many people return again and again for a re-charge and ongoing support through their lives.

What a lot of people don’t know, is the foundation of Gaia’s profound therapeutic work. And that, behind the free-flowing, intuitive ‘magic’ element – there is method, research, years of training, experience and therapeutic insight.  This has been Gaia’s passion and work for more than 20 years.  This is what she lives and breathes.

And here’s a little glimpse of the therapeutic underpinning of her powerful work:

• Gaia is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner / Trauma Therapist (this is a specialist trauma healing methodology with a 3 year training) and specialist in the ‘Neuro Affective Relational Model’ which concerns childhood attachment issues and resolutions.
• She is an Integrative Breath Therapist and Rebirther (this is deep instruction in ‘breathwork’ and a 3 year training).
• She is a trained Voice Dialogue Facilitator.
• She is a Clinical Hypnotherapist (a 2 year training with additional clinical specialist modules)
• She is a Qigong Practitioner, with 20 years’ experience
• She has counselling skills training (2 year course)
• She is a master of the Chinese tea ceremony and Chinese teas – and their healing effects..

Gaia has been offering regular personal support over the years to a select few. And she’s excited now to be making this ongoing support available to more people.

In case you’re wondering, ‘Gaia’ is Gaia’s birth-name, not an adopted new age name.  As well as ‘mother earth’, ‘Gaia’ means, in Italian, ‘happiness’.  And what an appropriate name that has proven to be.

Tell me more about the 1-to-1s

What form does the 1-to-1 take?
Gaia offers Skype 1-to-1s, each session lasting one and a quarter hours.  Gaia has many regular clients who do sessions twice a month. And, once you’ve had one session with her, you can talk to her about becoming a regular client.

How does it work with Skype?
It’s as powerful as face-to-face.  There is something about the combination of distance and intimacy that allows people to feel safe and open, and thus facilitate the therapeutic process.

What’s the basis of the work?
Gaia supports people with her own method, which has been created through blending elements of her training with her own intuition and therapeutic tools borne of experience. This method supports people as they navigate issues more successfully, heal from traumatic experiences and work on long-held patterns that no longer serve them.

What issues can I be supported with?
Anything.  From relationship issues, to self-esteem, to big life decisions that you have to make, to old trauma, to fears that you might have.  This is support whatever you need support for.

Is there the chance to do face-to-face 1-to-1s with Gaia too?
Gaia does occasionally do face-to-face sessions too, often when she’s in London for a workshop.  But these are only offered to her existing regular Skype clients.

What might a typical session look like?
We’ve recorded a session (with the permission of the participant of course) for you to get a sense of what this is like – and offer you an extract here –