Supporting Clients to Stay with Sensation and Emotion
A clinical training for therapists, coaches and facilitators
Starts 6th October 2026
You ask, “What do you notice in your body right now?” They pause, look thoughtful, and say, “I’m not sure.” You can see them thinking rather than feeling. They’re searching for an answer instead of noticing what is actually there.
With some, the issue is language. They feel something, you can sense that, but they can’t put words to it. You can see them working hard. They don’t have the language. You can feel their frustration.
Or perhaps you are working with someone who wants to be in their body but anytime you go there with them, you are met with overwhelm and what appears to be avoidance.
This training is for practitioners who grow frustrated, with themselves and with their client, in the moments when the client appears unable to notice, name or stay with sensation and emotion. The capacity is in the client. The work is to meet this together, you and them, attending to their nervous system and to the contact between you, so what’s already there has room to come forward.
Core Areas of Practice
Working Collaboratively
Collaboration is the ground of the relationship, and the relationship is the ground of what you do together.
When you’re trying to get a client somewhere, you’re working alone, and the client feels it. The client is being worked on without being let in on what the work is.
You’ll learn to name what you’re doing and why, and the client’s role in it. To invite their agreement, not their compliance. To notice when you’re working harder than your client, or when you’ve drifted out of collaboration. And how to find your way back to attunement.
Developing Skill
Most clients have never been shown how to be with sensation and emotion. They lack the interoceptive skill to notice what’s happening in their body, and the affect tolerance to stay with it once they do. You’ll learn how to develop this with your client – what sensation is, what emotion is, how to track it as it moves – so the capacity grows in them, session by session.
Being Here, Together
The work happens in the present moment, in contact with sensation, with emotion, and with another person. Most of us spend most of our lives in cognition – thinking about the past, planning for the future, narrating the present rather than living it. You’ll learn how to support the client to arrive in the here and now, with what they are feeling and with you, so the conditions for the work are in place.
Slowing Down
The nervous system needs time. Sensation, emotion, and activation move at a pace that cognition tends to outrun. Sessions often move faster than the client’s system can metabolise, leaving material unprocessed and the client either overwhelmed or numb. You’ll learn how to slow the pace, how to titrate what’s arising into doses the client’s system can actually work with, so what comes up has time to be felt and to settle.
Training Structure
- The training is experiential. You learn the skills by practising them.
- Six live sessions over three months, every other week.
- Teaching, demonstrations, and small group practice in each session.
- In the alternating weeks, a peer practice and study group meets for ninety minutes.
- You try out the skills together and speak about what you notice.
- One to two hours of self-directed practice each week, with prompts and resources on The Awareness Lab.
Is this for You?
You might recognise yourself here:
When I invite someone into their body, they don’t go there.
I don’t feel confident introducing body and nervous system work into my sessions.
My clients get overwhelmed when we go to emotion or sensation.
I’m working way harder than my client.
No matter what I do, my client won’t stay with feeling.
Payment and Practicalities
DATES
Six live sessions, 1.00–4.00pm UK and Ireland time:
Tuesday 6 & 20 October
Tuesday 3 & 24 November
Tuesday 6 & 22 December
Six peer practice and study groups, 1.00–2.30pm UK and Ireland time:
Tuesday 13 & 27 October
Tuesday 10 & 17 November
Tuesday 1 & 15 December
GROUP SIZE
PAYMENT
- One full payment of £375
- Three monthly instalments of £125
- Five monthly instalments of £75
The group is small and continuity matters. We ask that you attend all live sessions and practice groups.
FAQ
Some grounding in body and nervous system work is needed, but you don’t need training in any specific modality.
Is this a personal therapy space?
This is a professional training. You and others will likely be activated at times. We don’t work with that material here – it belongs in your own therapy.
How much weekly time should I allow?
Three to four hours per week, between live sessions, practice groups, and self-directed practice.
What if I miss a session?
We ask for around 90 percent attendance, which means no more than one live session and one practice group missed. Recordings of teaching are available on The Awareness Lab if you need them.
Will the sessions be recorded?
Teaching and demonstrations are recorded and available on The Awareness Lab. Small group work and live practice are not recorded, to protect confidentiality.
How will I access the sessions and materials?
Everything is on The Awareness Lab – Zoom links, calendar invitations, materials, and recordings.
Will this count toward CPD?
A letter of attendance can be provided for your CPD records.
Joining the Training
Register using one of the payment options.
Once payment is received, your place in the cohort is confirmed.