Meet John McLane
Certified Rolfer™, Certified Somatic Experiencing ® Practitioner (SEP)
In 2010 I began attending extended silent meditation retreats. I discovered the importance of embodiment and how, despite also practising Yoga, it often proved difficult to access and be with certain areas and possibilities within the body. Mindfulness is now a ubiquitous term in our culture, yet for many the ability to be truly present is often compromised by deep invested patterns of holding in the body.
I was fortunate to be introduced to a Rolfer™ by a meditation teacher. Rolfing® gradually assisted me to challenge and change long-standing habits of bad posture,chronic pain and long-held emotionally driven patterns of muscle tension in the body. These were the cumulative effects of historical trauma, injury, surgery and body misuse. The Rolfer™ also used elements of Somatic Experiencing® Therapy (SE) to help process the events and memories that were unfolding through the nervous system during and in-between the Rolfing® process. However strong my intentions were to become more embodied, it was only made possible through transformative touch and the re-educational nature of Rolfing® and Somatic Experiencing® (SE) therapy.
“Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body.”
– James Joyce, Dubliners
Rolfing® proved so rewarding and fascinating, that I undertook the training to become a Rolfer™. Initially I studied some courses at the London College of Massage to gain experience of bodywork in a therapeutic environment. I then undertook the full training with BARSI (British Academy of Rolfing® and Structural Integration) in London, a satellite school of ERA (European Rolfing® Association). I graduated as a Certified Rolfer in 2017.
I then studied further with SOS Internationale for three years to become a Certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP). This training provided a comprehensive in-depth understanding and appreciation of the neurophysiology of trauma healing principles and how they can be integrated within an existing therapeutic modality. In 2023 I was a member of the assistant team during Dr Peter Levine’s ‘Therapeutic Presence Rhythm and Connection’ master class in London.
As a Certified professional therapist I am committed to ongoing education and am currently an SE assistant and undertaking my advanced Rolfing Training in Germany with the European Rolfing Association.
I am particularly interested in developmental/attachment trauma and how integral somatic therapy and touch is for re-orienting the body out of trauma and towards health, vitality and connection. My experience in therapy and in life has shown that repair in relationships is preceded by repair in our original trauma. Trauma is not a life sentence.
I am inspired by the work of Giovanni Felicioni, Pedro Prado, Peter Levine and the Insight meditation teachers at Gaia House in Devon. In 2022 I graduated as a Community Dharma Leader and am accredited by the Gaia House Teaching Council to offer Meditation courses and day long retreats. I currently live in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. In my free time I enjoy meditation, reading, writing and producing music, travel, adventurous cooking, cycling and long walks in nature.
I look forward to working with you,
John