Stories

I’ve always been interested in how we function as human beings, especially emotionally. My early life experiences made me aware of this and it made me curious to understand why we feel good or bad, and how different things can trigger feelings. I wanted to study psychology, but I was discouraged by my school’s career advisors. The insisted it was a dead-end career because too many people were doing it. That convinced me to go in another direction and after leaving school, I ended up at a business school and eventually spent time working in marketing.

After spending 15 years working on beauty products and fashion, I felt so unfulfilled. I guess I’d never lost sight of the thing that makes me feel truly alive – my curiosity of what makes us tick as human beings.

By my early 30s, I was married with a small child, but my introverted and anxious nature was catching up with me. I always felt uneasy in social situations, at work, and in my personal life, and it was dragging me down and holding me back. I simply wasn’t living life how I wanted to. I was just conforming to things like I a computer programme does. I had to do something.

Then one day I heard about a body therapist who did great work helping people with these kinds of problems, so I decided to go and see her. This is when I discovered emotional regulation. (At that time I’d never heard of Luc Nicon or the Tipi Association – that would come much later on when I finally understood what I’d experienced during this session.) I was lying down with my eyes closed. She triggered some emotions in me and all of a sudden I felt lots of sensations in my body, moving in all different directions, some of them not very pleasant.

The session had taken place early in the morning, so I headed into work straight away. As soon as I arrived I saw the first impact of what had happened. I was walking along a corridor and passed by my manager’s office. Usually, I’d be uneasy and awkward in my boss’ presence and I would sneak past, trying not to be seen. That morning, to my surprise, I bounced in, said “Hi!”, sat down and started chatting to him. I couldn’t help myself. It was weird. And from then on, I always felt totally at ease with my boss and management – I could stand there as an equal. It transformed my professional life.

Several years later, I had come to a standstill professionally and I seized the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy. Without any hesitation I trained as a body therapist – that first session had stayed with me and now I had the chance to go back to my original passion and understand what had happened.