BODY POET
Practitioners
ILLUMINATING UNTHOUGHT KNOWNS
Founded by Katie Sarra
Welcome to the Body Poet practitioner listing
Please Scroll down to see the NEW Body Poet Practitioner listing.
This is a NEW page that is currently being updated as I receive our Body Poet´s Bios and Photos—watch this space!
Body Poem is a practice facilitating radical acceptance. This can be understood as central to honouring and trusting the self-organising intelligence inherent in every human being. It is a skilled synthesis of Body Focusing*, Clean Language*, and Dream Form*, illuminating unknown and unspoken parts of the self in spontaneously emerging poetry.
The Dream Scribe trusts their creativity to read the exact words in spontaneously emerging poetry. This process is a dance of trust and creativity, where one person's world is received into the chords of the heart and voice of another.
A stance of radical acceptance offers the potential for receptivity to the emergence of a living, inspiring transformation. Like attuned caregivers transform and bridge an infant’s somatically felt raw experiences into a shared reality, or like an artist transforms the mundane and rationalised into shared beauty. Radical acceptance in the chords of another’s voice can soften our hearts and welcome our authenticity into belonging.
testimonial
“Body Poem has been a crucial part of my journey, it came into my life at exactly the right time, as an act of grace.
It is gentle, intelligent, nature-based, and in alignment with indigenous teachings that have supported me in my desire to heal, learn, and accompany others. I find it comparable to soul retrieval while being grounded in sound nervous system theory and trauma awareness.”
- Karen Yendal ~ Certified Body Poet
Katie Sarra - Founder of Body Poem
Katie Sarra is the founder of the Institute of Relational Harmony Studies, where she choreographs and teaches professional certification in Body Poem, Sexological Intimacy Coaching, Somatic Sex Educator and Sexological Bodywork Practitioner, training in the UK, Ireland, Europe & Kenya with an international team of leading-edge educators. She is a member of the Ethics Committee and Grievance Council and follows the Code of Ethics of the Association of Certified Sexological Bodyworkers (ACSB).
Katie has developed her practice over 35 years of professional clinical practice and research. She specialises in facilitating radical acceptance and integration of exiled aspects of ourselves. She is an Art Psychotherapist, Founder of Body Poem, Artist, Bwiti Initiate, Certified Wheel of Consent and Right Use of Power facilitator, Certified Somatic Sex Educator, Certified Sexological Bodyworker, Playback Theatre Practitioner and member of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society.
Katie believes that every human being has gifts to share, often grown from where we have suffered the most. She emphasizes that our self-acceptance, kindness and ease with ourselves, when we have felt acknowledged and witnessed, can have a profound ripple effect, supporting ease with others.
Trusting Spontaneity
testimonial
“Body Poem has been a priceless resource for me. It has enabled me to access, accept, and integrate parts of myself that I didn’t know existed, through providing a safe container for that process. I have seen it do the same for my clients. It is truly an honour for me to guide others through this powerfully gentle process.”
- Rosi Lalor ~ Certified Body Poet
ILLUMINATING UNTHOUGHT KNOWNS
certified body poets
Abi Denyer-Bewick
Abi is passionate about all humans returning to their cyclical nature, restoring right relationship with earth and the more than human realm. Abi loves engaging with people as they learn how to listen to and communicate their changing needs and desires with kindness and curiosity…
Becoming a Body Poet brought Abi back to the simplicity of her calling, to hold a space that is permission-giving and welcoming of whatever is present, even when what is present might feel full of paradox, confusion and fogginess. All is welcome. Abi designs personal programmes for people using the skills of Body Poem, Menstruality Medicine Circles, Functional Medicine, Conscious Kink and Eating Psychology.
Abi is an experienced, gifted body poet available for body poem sessions and as a mentor for your journey as a body poet.
Join Abi at Tree Sister's online Full Moon Gatherings monthly to experience Abi's inspirational Community Body Poems. www.treesisters.org
Contact Abi
menstrualmedicine@gmail.com
Julian Marcus
Julian Marcus - Body Poet, Relational Bodyworker & Embodiment Coach
Supporting you to live aligned with your deepest calling
through joyful creativity and service
"Great Therapist! I feely really comfortable expressing myself in the loving and calm precense of Julian!
It was liberating and a big step in my healing to connect to my inner voices trough this process Bodypoem facilitated by Julian. "
-Soraya Neves
Body Poem provides a clear structure that is the closest to pure person centred practice that i have found in 20+ years of study and practice as a bodyworker. I use it for intake, helping my client with somatic opening, to inform the quality and direction of therapeutic touch and for deeper integration. It is also my go to tool for group work for similar reasons. I have found nothing to be as clear and useful for structuring person centred sessions. If you are a practitioner or simply want to find a powerful tool for self-regulation and embodiment, I highly recommend you experience it!
Contact Julian
julian@feelandfollow.com
Anca
My name is Anca, and I've been fortunate to spend several years in the healthcare industry, working closely with wonderful people who have taught me so much about themselves and about myself. Through these connections, I've discovered how often we carry unspoken words and hidden emotions within our bodies—sometimes without even realizing it. These can show up as physical pain, emotional stress, or even long-term health issues.
That's why Body Poem holds such a special place in my heart. It’s a gentle and powerful way to reach those parts of ourselves that we’ve kept locked away, often without meaning to. In my sessions, I strive to create a safe and welcoming space where you can freely express yourself, using metaphors that give shape, colour, and texture to what’s been left unspoken.
At the core of my work is a deep desire to help people take charge of their health and well-being. I’m here to support you as you explore the beautiful connection between your mind, body, and spirit, and to empower you on your journey toward wholeness.
Contact Anca
Tel: +44 7540571745
testimonial
“Body Poem provides a clear structure that is the closest to pure person-centred practice that I have found in 20+ years of study and practice as a bodyworker. I use it for intake, helping my client with somatic opening, to inform the quality and direction of therapeutic touch and for deeper integration. It is also my go to tool for group work for similar reasons. I have found nothing to be as clear and useful for structuring person centred sessions. If you are a practitioner or simple want to find a powerful tool for self regulation and embodiment I highly recommend you experience it!”
- Julian Marcus ~ Certified Body Poet
ILLUMINATING UNTHOUGHT KNOWNS
Certified Body Poets
- more coming soon
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certified body poet
certified body poet
About this Body Poet
About this Body Poet
About this Body Poet
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ILLUMINATING UNTHOUGHT KNOWNS
Body Poets in training
- listing coming soon!
body poet - in training
body poet - in training
body poet - in training
About this Body Poet
About this Body Poet
About this Body Poet
contact me here
contact me here
contact me here
testimonial
“I've discovered how often we carry unspoken words and hidden emotions within our bodies—sometimes without even realizing it. These can show up as physical pain, emotional stress, or even long-term health issues.
That's why Body Poem holds such a special place in my heart. It’s a gentle and powerful way to reach those parts of ourselves that we’ve kept locked away, often without meaning to. In my sessions, I strive to create a safe and welcoming space where you can freely express yourself, using metaphors that give shape, colour, and texture to what’s been left unspoken.
”
- Anca ~ Certified Body Poet
About Body Poem
Body Poem is a practice that facilitates illuminating unthought unknowns and unspoken parts of the self into spontaneously emerging poetry that brings alive exiled aspects of the self which become somatised when not acknowledged through symbolic representation.
This process is relational, the world of one person being received into the chords of the heart and voice of another.
The structure of Body Poem has specific rules of engagement that facilitate the harvesting of projections into digestible poetry. In moments of gratitude, when exiled parts are resonated with and acknowledged, there is the potential for receptivity into the precipice of presence; rather like how attuned caregivers transform and bridge an infant’s somatically felt experiences into a shared reality. With a shared niche of attention, with symbols and metaphors, we learn to recognise; we are not on our own in the soup of undifferentiated realities that otherwise disable us from playing and co-creating relationship agreements to meet our needs.
In the practice of Body Poem, there are two roles. The Dreamer focuses on what they are noticing or thinking about, and the Dream Scribe transcribes these explorations. Body Poem sessions are easily facilitated online or in person. They can be useful for you on your own for discovering your unthought-knowns and fathoming the riddle of life. Body Poem sessions are invaluable for couples who want to have this opportunity to hear each other and be heard with the understanding of the many people in a ‘two-person’ relationship - especially with ‘I Want’ Body Poems. This practice can be used in everyday life to discover your map before you start each day.
When a person's exact words are read back, their unique metaphors come alive with enhanced viscerally felt granularity, offering recognition of aspects of the self that may have been rationalised out of awareness or out of the range of acceptance, harvesting projections that are passing on revenge.
testimonial
“I have deep gratitude towards myself for being able to be in connection with my body and being able to listen to parts of my body. It was such a relief to allow myself to sense and speak out the sensations I was noticing but most importantly that I did not have to do anything to change what I am noticing.
I had a deep relaxation and I felt grounded, present, and energised. I find the process so powerful, witnessing yourself and being witnessed without any judgment or expectation is healing and soothing.”
~ Armand Botha ~ Certified Body Poet
A live recording of a Body Poem session
- made into a short film
TURTLE AS METAPHOR
Turtles swim gracefully in the oceans, symbolising our dreaming minds receiving the currents within.
The Turtle is a metaphor for exploring and diving into one's inner world and returning to the surface to reflect and integrate those experiences. Our ability to symbolically represent our feeling states influences our emotional fluency as we navigate, updating our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. The imagery of turtles gracefully swimming in the ocean and returning to shore to lay their eggs mirrors this cycle of exploration and reflection. Turtles represent accepting and embracing the evolving versions of ourselves, in and out of the waters of experience.
When we ask a Dreamer, ‘What are you noticing?’ we invite them into the oceans of their dreaming body into the waters of experiences. The Dream Scribe becomes a conduit resonating with these feeling states, supporting emotional regulation within this learning zone, where expansions of consciousness are explored.
When we ask a Dreamer, ‘ ... and what’s that like to notice?’ we invite them back to the shore to differentiate and recognise what they have been experiencing in this emergent process. Differentiation with acknowledged symbolic reference updates frames of reference and predicted identity maps. Sometimes, this can feel like a prawn that has been hidden safely, suddenly being cooked alive in the light of recognition. When we experience prediction errors with our preconceived maps, this immediately activates expansions of consciousness as the brain’s antenna reassesses safety. If our authenticity has jeopardised our safety in the past, this can sometimes activate fears of being accepted in shared socially created realities.
Body Poem offers a titrated way of going into the water to feel and returning to the beach to notice what that was like. This is where the left and right brains integrate the raw process of life in the emergence of a living, updating the territories of our belonging. Emotional fluency can be challenged by inhibiting fears and projecting adverse outcomes. The radical acceptance felt in the tones of the Dream Scribes' voice can be comforting with these new versions of self that are being recognised, and this, in turn, has the potential to co-create new social realities of acceptance.
Turtles bring what they have harvested from the ocean to the shore.
They lay their eggs and return to the ocean, accepting the self-organising intelligence of nature.
The Dream Scribe becomes an instrument, transforming communications that may have lost their belonging into poems that become part of the chorus of life again rather than pharmacologically or surgically removing the PANIC and RAGE of exile. These poems transform the nothingness and physical pain of alexithymia into embodied symbols that harmoniously bring life and PLAY with what was indigestible and projected into the body.
The role of artistic self-expression in all cultures is to transform rationalised, suppressed aspects of self into a shared experience of beauty. Meaningless symbols of nothingness can spontaneously become embodied, illuminating aspects of self calling for felt recognition.
This allows tension from pole positions of our heart’s chords to be simultaneously borne and transformed into something digestible and harmonious.
At this precipice, we might live or die, and the metaphor of a poem holds us safe, like the banks of a river, containing and allowing the flow of what might have been dammed, unresolved resentment, and making what might ordinarily be unbearable, bearable, even beautiful and harmonious; like a love song transforms the lament of loss into a song we can weep with together.
Learning the Language of the Body
How do we transcribe the language of the Body into explicit referencable memory?
Our bodies are in the timeless raw emergence of living, with our minds translating and interpreting solutions for our equilibrium in the reflections of living. A sense of emptiness, numbness or unexplained pain can occur when our maps are not viscerally attuned to their locations. Body Poem can transmute the emptiness of alexithymia and indigestion pain into vibrant embodied symbols updating our maps. Alongside treatment models that are life-saving and necessary when illness sets in, and the build-up of pain gets too much to bear, Body Poem has the potential to transform the raw sensory data, numbness and blame into embodied symbols, harmoniously breathing life into what was once indigestible and projected. Aspects of self, projected onto the body or environment, can find solace in symbols that harmoniously come to life in poetry, inviting playful interaction.
Body Poem is a transformative process that illuminates unthought knowns and breathes life into the dormant aspects of the self, often manifesting as physical discomfort when left unacknowledged. Poetry's symbolic representation acts as a catalyst for this transformation.
The structure of Body Poem has rules of engagement that facilitate the harvesting of projections into poetry.
As the literalised becomes poetry, this pattern interrupts out-of-date clarity that might limit self-acceptance and receptivity. Updates to versions of self are assimilated in this new form in ways that bypass the guards, simultaneously allowing privacy for somatic openings and integration within a person's sovereignty.
www.relationalharmony.institute
BODY POEM
ILLUMINATING UNTHOUGHT KNOWNS
Radical Acceptance
IS love without wanting more or less
Body poem documentAry
The 2022 body poem retreat
castanheira de pera - portugal
With special thanks to Nikita for her sensitivity and attuned kindness, and generosity in filming this documentary. Nikita is also the filmmaker who has created the films for the body poem recordings from live sessions.
“It’s a joy to be hidden but a disaster never to be found”
-donald winnicott
BODY POEM
ILLUMINATING UNTHOUGHT KNOWNS
Body Poem is a practice that facilitates illuminating unthought knowns, bringing alive exiled aspects of the self that become somatised when not acknowledged through symbolic representation.
ie Sarra
Body Poem can transmute the emptiness of alexithymia and indigestion pain into vibrant embodied symbols and bring life to dormant aspects of the self, which, when left unacknowledged, often manifest as physical discomfort. Alongside treatment model interventions, when illness sets in, and the build-up of pain gets too much to bear, Body Poem can be a catalyst to transform the raw visceral data, recognised as numbness, pain or blame, into embodied symbols, harmoniously breathing life into what was once indigestible and projected.
The Dream Scribe is a conduit for the Dreamer's experience, transmuting communications that may have lost their sense of belonging into poems that bring solace and reinstate them into the chorus of life.
A stance of radical acceptance offers potential for receptivity into the emergence of a living like attuned caregivers transform and bridge an infant’s somatically felt raw experiences into a shared reality. In a shared niche of attention, with symbols and metaphors, we learn to recognise that we are not alone in the soup of undifferentiated realities. This recognition enables us to play and co-create relationship agreements to meet our needs, fostering a sense of community and shared experience.
In many cultures, artistic self-expression transforms the pain of being human into a shared experience of beauty. Even the most seemingly meaningless symbols can spontaneously become embodied, shedding light on aspects of the self that have long yearned for recognition. This transformative power of artistic self-expression is at the heart of Body Poem.
Poems can harmoniously hold the dischord of impossible opposites, like the resilient tension between two ends of a harp string.
In this tension, we might live or die at the precipice of presence in a humbling surrender of holy cows and energy-consuming defences maintaining this separation.
The metaphor and melody of the poem hold us safe, like the banks of a river, containing and allowing the flow of unresolved resentments that might have been dammed before. This can make what might ordinarily be unbearable, bearable, even beautiful and harmonious, like a love song transforms the lament of loss into a song we can weep with together.
WWW.RELATIONALHARMONY.INSTITUTE
NPSA CONGRESS 2024 – TRIESTE, ITALY
THE 23RD ANNUAL CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL NEURO PSYCHOANALYSIS SOCIETY
TRIESTE, ITALY | JUL 18, 2024 - JUL 20, 2024
In the practice of Body Poem, there are two roles: the Dreamer, who focuses on their observations or a specific area, and the Dream Scribe, who transcribes these explorations. The Dream Scribe's role is (to be a quick writer!) and trust their creativity to read the exact words back in spontaneously emerging poetry. This process is a dance of trusting spontaneity, where one person's world is received into the chords of the heart and voice of another.
The structure of a Body Poem has rules of engagement that facilitate harvesting projections into poetry. As the literalised becomes poetry, this pattern interrupts out-of-date predictive clarity that might limit self-acceptance and receptivity.
Updates to versions of self are assimilated in this new form in ways that bypass the guards, simultaneously allowing privacy for somatic openings and integration within a person's sovereignty.
When a person's exact words are read back, their unique metaphors come alive with enhanced viscerally felt granularity. This offers somatic recognition of aspects of the self that may have been rationalised out of awareness or the acceptance range
inviting the potential for playful interaction.
WHEN THE BODY SPEAKS:
EXPLORING CONVERSION DISORDER AND BEYOND
‘The complex issue of consciousness challenges us to understand how physical processes translate into personal experiences. In conversion disorder (formerly known as 'hysteria' and now referred to as functional neurological disorder or 'FND'), we ask the opposite question: how do personal experiences manifest as physical conditions? This significant conference aims to bring together psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, neurologists, and other experts involved in the study and treatment of this disorder to discuss the impact of emotional well-being on its development and healing. By presenting clinical cases, research data, and innovative approaches, we strive to gain a holistic understanding of this intricate mind-body relationship.’
Body Poem is an innovative way of bypassing rationalised defences and illuminating unconscious drivers. Body Poem harvests these unthought-knowns through a process of differentiation that promotes integration, which is a crucial aspect of my research. I invite you to anonymously share your insights on Body Poems for my project. Your input could be very helpful, and if you agree to participate anonymously, I will share with you the context of your contributions, and you will have editorial control over what might be published. This research has the potential to significantly contribute to the literature in the realms of psychoanalysis and neuroscience. I want you to know that your privacy is highly respected, and your information will only be used with your enthusiastic consent for this research endeavour.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate”
-C.G. jung
body Poem
illuminating unthought knowns
Katie Sarra
Body Poem
11a Princess Street
London
SE1 6HH