Many of us lose connection with our authentic selves for reasons that extend to childhood. As we develop, we want to come home to our Self, the compassionate, curious, present Self that has in fact, always been there.
Integration of different parts of ourselves is challenging at times, but rewarding. Using an integrative approach, I draw on different ways of working with this task of integration. Having an arts therapy background, I also work with the body, with symbols and mythology during the course of therapy.
Offering an alternative or complementary approach to traditional talk therapy, arts therapy allows for verbal and non-verbal avenues to explore this coming home to Self.
If you are looking to explore yourself more fully, in a therapeutic process that is different to traditional psychology, this approach may be for you.
I’m not a big believer in many New Year’s resolutions, but a new year provides us the opportunity to honour ourselves by undertaking the adventure to which we are called.
Staying in the ordinary world – home, comfort, the Known – brings us no closer to coming Home to ourselves.
The journey is not without challenge, excitement, temptation, tolls, trials and love. Indeed, it is venturing into the Unknown, a place ripe for transformation.
This is not a journey that you take alone. A mentor is needed, although you are the traveler, responsible for your life and your choices.
The reward is awesome and the freedom, wisdom and power that you can attain is real.
If you feel a nudge, a sense of an urge to respond to a call that beckons you beyond your ordinary world, I encourage you to listen to it and follow where it takes you.
My personal call is to mentor people just like you, to come alongside you as you bravely venture into the Unknown. I provide direction, encouragement, understanding and wisdom through various different approaches that I have honed over the years.
There are many ways to follow your call. If you are in any way aware of this urge to dive deeper, you have only to contact me to set up an initial meeting, where we can see if my mentorship and your story can find a healing synergy.
Contact Melissa via email (info@melissamcwalter.co.za) or via WhatsApp (0834129768). This may be your first step towards following your call to the path you know you need to follow.
Often we know these are false beliefs, but to feel the truth isn’t always so easy. It’s good to be reminded that trauma doesn’t have to be our only story, and we are bigger and more expansive than anything that has happened to us. Our central identity is not our trauma.
“I have been to so many different therapists, psychologists and helpers but I have not found what I need.”
“I haven’t found anyone that I can really connect with.”
“I need to connect with a real person, not a blank face.”
“I don’t feel like I can relate to my therapist.”
“I don’t want to blindly follow a conventional medicine model, but I also don’t want to ignore important medical advice.”
“Traditional therapy is just not working for me.”
“I am desperate for my mental health or my child’s mental health to improve, and nothing seems to be working.”
“I’ve tried everything.”
“Just simply talking isn’t helping me.”
These are some of the most common reasons my clients look for alternative therapies, and often why they come to me. I highly value the fields of psychology and psychiatry, which is why I work collaboratively with other professionals. However, traditional therapy approaches are not for everyone.
Sometimes, people need a different approach in order to feel seen and heard. The traditional therapy models tend to allow less transparency, real-ness and openness from the therapist, with the focus remaining exclusively on the client. This works really well for many people.
For others, the core element of safety in therapy can only be found in an imperfect, somewhat irreverent approach that allows relationship and connection to unfold between two real human beings. I bring a valuable expertise to the relationship pertaining to the areas of therapy and skills I offer; however, I am not an expert on life. This is a journey we undertake together. The relationship we form is the vehicle for growth and healing.
The integrative nature of this approach means that we may use talking, music, art, movement, trauma-informed yoga, breathwork, lifestyle modification, creative process, symbol work, nature, writing and/or mindfulness in a way that feels safe and appropriate for you.
I like to take 1 – 3 sessions to get to know you and to allow you to get to know me. From there, we can decide whether we would like to work together and if I could be helpful.
If you are interested in integrative therapy, an alternative approach, please contact Melissa by clicking here
Because there has been such a keen interest in my trauma-informed yoga (TIY) classes, both individual and group, I am opening another small TIY group. The group is almost full, if you would like to reserve a place, please contact me directly.
The group will only facilitate a maximum of four people. Location is 3 Belsay Road, Kenilworth.
If the group is full by the time you contact me, I will waitlist you for the next group which should be opening soon.
Please note that because of the sensitive nature of this work, anyone joining a TIY group must have 1-3 individual assessment sessions with me first. Individual sessions can continue until the person is ready to join the group.
There are no strength, flexibility or fitness requirements. The classes are at your own pace. The TIY groups can be seen as a body-based version of group talk therapy. While we do not spend much – or any – time talking, we are learning to be with one another, to synchronise with our own bodies and the bodies of others, and to eventually feel more supported and calm in the presence of others. All this while exploring important aspects of ourselves in and through our bodies.
Cost:
Individual session: R790, hour long.
Group session: R350, hour long. (Group sessions can be discounted if paid upfront for the month. The cost for a month is R1000, one class per week, if paid upfront. However, I encourage each person to try a few classes until they feel ready to commit to the monthly payment.)
Having acquired my yoga teachers training more out of an interest in developing a deeper personal yoga practice, I find myself absolutely loving teaching small classes and private students. I am always amazed at how individuals with little to no yoga experience can develop strength and flexibility so quickly with regular practice.
One of my favourite parts of teaching is encouraging people to show themselves love and compassion, listening to their bodies and doing what feels right for them. This is all about embodied self-care and self-compassion, as well as learning to regulate or calm our systems through movement and intentionality.
Another favourite part of teaching, almost paradoxically, is encouraging others toward their ‘edge’, a place of discomfort that they are able to push through and past. In yoga we really strengthen the mind-body connection. In conjunction with integrative therapy, yoga creates a fuller, more holistic way of developing, emerging and being in the world.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7:30 – 9 am, yoga including meditation and optional cold water therapy. Tuesday and Thursday from 5-6pm, yoga.
Classes are small, so booking is essential. Class rate depends on how many yogis are in the class. Morning classes usually between R200-R300, afternoon classes are currently 1-3 persons, and cost is between R300-R350; enquire for individual/private class rate. Please contact me to book a mat.
Friend, this Peak you face is high and the climb is brutal. When you look up, you will see darkness; when you look down, you will see darkness – I won’t lie to you. Yes, you know this is a long, dark, cold night, and you feel each step, each breath, is a fight. I won’t lie to you, my friend.
You will continue the climb in these conditions, harsh, unforgiving, painful. You will continue because you want to see. You will continue because you have to.
Friend, when your last reserves’ last reserves have been depleted, you will turn inward and find coldness; you will turn outward and find coldness. I won’t lie to you.
Listen closely, my friend, to what will happen next: First you will feel, then you will see. Slowly, the cold, the dark, the timelessness will be erased. Life will become vivid and warm again. Friend, your reserves will be restored, you will be restored. I won’t lie to you, you will not know how to speak of your experience. For those who have faced the Peak, it is called the Sunrise.
Book a transformative session in the leafy Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. Be kind to yourself, or offer the gift of self -compassion, creative exploration and self-discovery to a loved one. The Bonny Guided Imagery of Music (BMGIM) is a form of music and image based psychotherapy that requires extensive training in mythical, pathological, archetypal, practical and other modules over three years. The qualification has it’s roots in the psychedelic experimentation and training that took pace in the 50s and 60s in labs in the United States, effective therapeutic modalities which are being resurrected now. BMGIM (The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music), emerging out of this field and growing exponentially, borrows language such as ‘Guide’ and ‘Traveller’ and even ‘Journey’. Travellers are likely to experience altered states of consciousness, unlike a drug-induces state (far more controlled than a drug-induced state) yet still reap the benefits of accessing deeply unconscious, sometimes mythological and archetypal material. Currently, I am in advanced training in BMGIM and find that my client’s BMGIM encounters are potent and hold tranformative potential, as well as the potential for deep rest, growth and healing. This topic is certain to be discussed at the upcoming World Congress of Music Therapy in Pretoria at The University of Pretoria in 2020. . Guided imagery is for adults and most teens, men and women. If you are unsure whether it is for you or are interested in finding out more about this transformative and creative way of working, contact me: https://melissaellse.co.za/contact/ Please note, no previous ‘creative endeavours’ are necessary, such as art or music etc. Come as you are.
Melissa McWalter 