76: Exploring Postpartum Intimacy and Somatic Healing with Spacious Ground

Thyme in the Studio: Art & Wellness

What are some of the struggles and realities of postpartum intimacy? How can couples continue to connect on a deep level after baby is born? What happens when a baby is born 2 months early? And how can we heal from the trauma of time in the NICU? We get into some fascinating topics about healing using movement and somatic therapy and connecting to others in a much deeper way. By paying attention to what is, dynamics are transformed.

LEXI CHATARA-MIDDLETON LPC, R-DMT (she, her, hers)

Lexi has spent most of her life using her body to express herself and helping others to do the same. As a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Colorado and a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist, Lexi works with a foundational understanding that the mind and body are not separate, but inexorably linked. And that exploring this connection in the present moment, both verbally and non-verbally, has healing and therapeutic effects.

Lexi received her Master's degree from Naropa University in Somatic

Counseling Psychology and spent many years working at Windhorse Community Services, Inc which provided her the opportunity to combine and develop her interests in neuroscience, therapeutic methodology, dance/movement, and mindfulness/awareness practices. The development of her therapeutic style was an organic process growing out of life experiences, graduate training, time spent working with individuals experiencing extreme states, and with parents who have struggled to process challenging birth experiences.

Her own journey as a cis-gender woman and mother has ignited a passion to support others on their journey into parenthood. There is no other act that can make one feel as helpless, vulnerable, or powerful as that of starting down the path of parenthood. Becoming a parent and birthing can happen in many different ways and for many it is not just a physical experience, but also a psycho/social/emotional one.

Working in the birth and parenting world has taught Lexi many things, one of the most valuable being that we do not have control. We don’t always have control over whether or not we can become pregnant, how we become parents, what type of birth we will have, or the impact it will have on our lives. What we can control and decide however, is when and how to get support. It is Lexi’s belief that integrating the intensity of the birth experience or the path to parenthood can take time and effort and needs to be approached with the understanding that what happens in the body has an effect on the mind and what is present in the mind is held in the body.

http://www.spaciousgroundcounseling.com/

https://sagebirthandwellness.com/lexi/

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