Talking about it @ the Pneuma Blog

When the Soul Takes Fright – A reflection on withdrawal, protection, and return

In psychotherapy and spiritual traditions alike, moments of withdrawal can carry profound meaning. When the Soul Takes Fright reflects on how the psyche protects itself through distance, and how the gentle work of personal therapy can create space for return, not through force, but through presence, tenderness, and time.

On Becoming a Therapist: A Short Reflection on Training Therapy

Personal therapy is often a quiet companion during psychotherapy training. It can become a space of reflection, presence, and discovery that shapes the deeper movement of becoming a therapist. This short reflection explores the subtle learning that takes place beyond theory, in silence, attention, and the shared space between two people.

Calling in the Light. As Diwali, the festival of lights arrives, this reflection explores what it means to call in the light within ourselves: a gentle meditation on darkness, healing, and the quiet return of warmth to the heart.

As the nights draw in across the U.K., light takes on a new kind of meaning. Candles flicker in windows, the air smells faintly of woodsmoke, and there’s a hush that seems to settle over everything. Today marks Diwali, the festival of lights, one of the most cherished celebrations in Hindu culture. Across the world, homes and temples will shine with rows of small lamps, or diyas, lit to honour the victory of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. Traditionally, Diwali is a time to welcome the goddess Lakshmi, bringer of abundance and prosperity. Families clean and decorate their […]

Wade in the Water. A reflection on the courage it takes to enter life’s deeper waters, inspired by a song that carried both hope and freedom through history.

Wade in the Water While listening to a song by The Hanumen, the words wade in the water caught my attention. Something in their rhythm felt both mournful and alive, as if they carried a message about trust, surrender, and great courage. The phrase stayed with me, repeating quietly like a reminder to keep stepping into the deeper currents of life. In my work as a therapist, I often sit with people who are learning to approach their own emotional depths. This is work I recognise, because the same waters move through all of us. Learning to meet them with […]

Men Seeking Therapy: The Difficulty of Expression

The Language Men Were Never Taught In my psychotherapy practice in Middlesbrough, I have noticed more and more men beginning therapy not because they are failing, but because coping alone no longer works. For many, the decision to reach out feels uncertain, shaped by years of being told to manage rather than express, to stay in control rather than show feeling. The language of emotion was rarely modelled; it was something to be mastered or hidden away. By the time they sit down and begin to talk, many men find there are no words at all, only a tightening in […]

Being With Grief: The Healing Power of Staying Present

The Shape of Grief Grief is not a problem to solve, it is a landscape we learn to walk. It has no fixed map, no linear process, no right way to move through it. Sometimes it comes as a quiet ache, other times as a storm that brings us to our knees. In therapy, people often ask, “When will this pain stop?” or “How do I move on?” But perhaps the deeper question is “How can I be with this?” To be with grief, to stay close to it, to breathe with it, to allow it to unfold, is the […]

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