Impactful Integration (Part Seven): AI-Generated Visual Metaphors for Sustainable Change in Coaching - Case Study Five
Using digital images to support clients in their integration after a somatic coaching session. A seven part series.
For the past few months I have been working on a project using digital images, generated by an AI tool, to support clients in their integration after a somatic coaching session.
Catch up on Part 1 and Part 2 where I cover the background of the project, the symbolic resonance of visuals and why integration is such a key part of the coaching process.
Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6 are the first four case studies.
This is Part 7. Our final case study. Introducing Marta and her Artist’s Store Room.
Case Study Five: The Artist’s Store Room
Marta is a creative, abundant with ideas. But is snowed-under by the mess in her mind. She has a longing desire of activating her creativity, but procrastinates. She’s overwhelmed, because starting would take too much energy.
She brought to coaching, “what’s the way to be more supportive to my creative process? Where do I start?”
We used the body-oriented coaching tool of Focussing, where Marta closed her eyes and searched internally for felt sensations that arose, when she asked the questions she wanted answers for (see Glossary for full explanation).
A big question mark drew itself down from the top of her neck, around her head and then crossed to the right side of her body. She gave over to the sensations and imagery that popped into her body and mind, without yet meaning-making.
Then the central image started to come to life. She was enveloped by a room where the walls were covered with paintings. From floor to ceiling, with no free space. It’s so full it could be a storage room, with canvasses, chairs, art materials all piled up. She was stuck underneath it all.
There were so many things that she couldn’t move. A sense of numbness by the amount of stuff pushing on her body. “How the f*** do I get out?”
However, there wasn’t an unsafeness to the feeling. It was somewhere she needed to be right now. In a somatic coaching session, I invite clients to be with whatever is there, don’t rush past it even if it’s not making sense or is uncomfortable. Sometimes something needs to be aired to be understood.
The room was in fact full of beautiful things. The symbolism came then to her, she was noticing how many wonderful ideas and skills she had gathered. The room represented the years of things she has collected, but not yet having had the resources to pursue.
She might need help with reorganising things.
Her body relaxed. Noticing this, she said “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” This was a big change from the procrastination and overwhelm feeling, unable to start on anything.
She left curious about this space and wanting to get to know it better.
Marta’s follow up session, presenting the visual
We re-met just a week later and Marta was fidgeting with anticipation. She noted how profound this process was already feeling, she said, “it did something to me after the call. There’s things I can do. Projects around the house.” Something was shifting, her body felt open and stretched and, “with an invitation to take in what’s there”.
When she was ready to receive the image, I brought it up on our shared screen.
“Arms in the air, that’s how I felt it coming into me!”
The room represented a step forward in her process. Beforehand she didn’t know how to structure or order the mess, it was overwhelm. Now it’s like ‘Moses and the red sea’. It was parting with hope and trust. “This corresponds to how I feel about the room today.”
Through tears she said, “I know where everything is, I know, I can see this and feel this.”
There was a sense that she was preparing herself, gathering things and once she was ready she would use them.
Then Marta turned to the window. It was symbolic of ‘capacity to have action’. It represented agency and she could feel it resonated in her heart region. She recalled a quote attributed to Rumi, “If all you can see is darkness, look again, you may be the light.” Marta was taking strength from this ‘view in’ from the window. It was a way out, back to the real world.
Marta enjoyed the woman’s hands on her back, a pose she uses whilst she walks her city. Strolling and taking things in. She’s good in this space, owning it even. A sense of dignity and peacefulness.
She was finding the image very resourcing, and a feeling of being ‘heard’. She left the session with inspiration, hope and intimacy.
Finding Resources are invaluable in the process of improving your embodied self-awareness. Resources can be things like going to nature, speaking with a good friend, dancing, breathing, carving alone time, journaling. Resources can also be internal felt senses that are resourceful for you (we can gather these when we do more somatic activities and healing).
These images can also become Resources. As was true for Marta.
Marta’s Integration
“The magnificence of having an actual image. To have the image in front of me was almost tapping into a dream and being able to confront it with a sharp and clear image of what was in it.”
Marta was grateful for this glimpse into her inner world which she can constantly return to. Something more tangible which helped awaken her senses. Like for Pam and Molly, the Somatic Integration Visual had become a tangible time stamp. Something Marta could hold on to, a physical form of where she is on her journey of creative expression.
She also felt like it was “coming home”, the art on the walls as an expression of her creativity gathered over years now had a space within her. Like a filing compartment she could dip into and see what she needs. Another demonstration of how the visual has served as a Resource for her. Which is an important stage of growing embodied self-awareness, being well resourced.
In a more practical way, the order this created in her subconscious meant that she has space in her day to day to make to-do lists and focus more readily. She was feeling less of the overwhelm that she first came to coaching with. It gave her more structure.
“I can admit to the messiness and chaos in myself but also having absolute space to navigate through it to choose what wants my attention.”
Marta also started to think about the next step, of opening the window, of leaving the space, of a ‘coming out’. Come into more visibility which is a theme she has been exploring recently in her life.
Marta had moved from a sense of overwhelm and chaos. Not knowing what to do next. To realising she held years’ worth of creative talents and skills. It was all ready for her to sort through and use at her pleasure.
"Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle." – Christian D. Larson
And that’s a wrap!
As a coach I strive to create a safe container for my clients so that they might express themselves vulnerably. To unblock. To experiment. To transform. As you’ve seen happen in these case studies.
"The therapist's task is not to eliminate suffering but to give a voice to it, to find a form in which it can be expressed. Expression is itself transformation; this is the message that art brings. The therapist then is an artist of sorts, creating an atmosphere in which suffering can be heard." Irvin D. Yalom
I am honoured to have journeyed with my clients through their visual landscapes and the brave work they did to integrate their new learnings. I am also grateful for their participation in this project so that I could share this work with you.
Ultimately, I hope that my clients’ courage in self-discovery can inspire your own.
Part 1: Visual thinking during self-discovery
Part 2: Somatic visuals as an integration tool
Part 3: Case study 1 — Reframing Time
Part 4: Case study 2— Earth Goddess
Part 5: Case study 3— Swarming Flies
Part 6: Case study 4— At a Crossroads
Part 7: Case study 5— The Artist’s Store Room
What do you think?
What stood out to you as you read this series?
What do you want to know more about?
How did this series affect you?
How might you use visual metaphor in your self-discovery?
Please reach out, use the comments, private message me or let’s set up a call to connect, I very much want to hear what you got from this series.
If you are interested in having a somatic coaching session and exploring a Somatic Integration Visual of your own, please book in a call here: So you want to get somatic?
I have been invited to showcase the Somatic Integration Visuals, and their related case studies, at the upcoming DAR Fest exhibition in Brussels from 1–25 Feb 2024 at the Octopus Heart Center.
Happen to be in Belgium? Come check it out! Event details are here. You can catch me doing a live Q&A on 17 Feb at 5.30pm.
Acknowledgments
This series would not be out in the world anywhere near as comprehensively without the invaluable feedback of my fellow somatic coaches Tessy, Rosa and Diana. And my Write of Passage community, in particular Harrison, Rebecca, Lavina, Miche, Priya and Rohan. And, as always, eternal gratitude to my biggest champion, my partner Charlotte Grysolle.
Somatic Integration Visuals - Glossary
Block: Refers to the ‘issue’ (or area of the client’s life or specific problem) that the client is stuck on. Something the client can’t seem to move past, no matter what they try.
Bodymind: We are integrated neuro-psycho-biological beings! in somatic modalities we don’t treat the conceptual thinky mind as separate from the embodied experience of life. We invite our clients to show up as an integrated whole.
Embodied Self-awareness: The holistic understanding of yourself through physical sensations and experiences of the body. Being conscious of your body's movements, feelings, and presence in space, and recognising how these physical sensations relate to your emotions, thoughts, and overall sense of self.
Focussing: A body-oriented coaching tool the client is invited to focus on any internal sensations that arise. The client names these ‘felt senses’, without meaning making. The aim is to understand how these sensations are connected to their emotional state or life situation. We dig to find the story behind the story which can be told by these subtle clues in sensations in the body. By naming the sensations this helps the client ‘disidentify’ with them. The client listens to the data held in their body and this can lead to insights in how they view their situation, or even resolutions to problems.
Integration: intentional incorporation of new insights into your lived experience. It isn’t necessarily an action-based process. It’s more about incorporating, merging with, activating, embedding, unifying and even empowering something you are newly learning about yourself. In a holistic and intentional way. It’s ‘being with’ this new understanding and letting it, on an embodied level, sink into your being.
Resource: These are invaluable in the process of improving your embodied self-awareness. Resources can be things like going to nature, speaking with a good friend, dancing, breathing, carving alone time, journaling. Resources can also be internal felt senses that are resourceful for you (we can gather these when we do more somatic activities and healing).