Because the Body really does Keep the Score
Welcome to my site
Here you’ll find resources for increasing clarity, vitality, ease and play, and lessening pain, tension, stress & strain.
You’ll find articles and case studies
as well as links to my podcast 'In Flow & On Form: The Psychophysiology of Somatic Practice'
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You can find free Yoga Resources at 'The Alexis Dennehy' YouTube channel
and purchase my Meditations and Publications for download.
Benefits to a lifestyle which incorporates Somatic Practices include:
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Attunement to your own bio-rhythms, natural appetite and intrinsic motivation
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Capacity for working with feelings, both wanted and unwanted
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Connection with the primal body, ability to relate through body language and other non-verbal means
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Increased capacity for securing and deepening attachment and intimacy
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Making sense of experiences of fear, anger and grief.
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Meaningful living with a sense of the sacred, and with rapture for the human mind-body.
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Engaging in Somatic discovery is a rich and deeply rewarding experience, which you can expect it to go something like this…..
Maybe you’ve been searching or seeing Somatics on your feeds
​Perhaps you've been recently triggered by an event which has prompted you to take the first real step toward your own somatic healing.
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During your Initial Consultation we will together identify your personal memories, associated trigger points and sensations.
Following this, you may be offered a place in a Private 12-week Somatic-Embodiment Course.
This is a weekly commitment, by direct debit, for learning the primary practices of Anchoring, Regulating, Pendulating, Expanding Capacity-to-Sensation, Re-Parenting and Active Imagining.
The goal of this 12-weeks is to reset your neural mode-of-operating to respond in ways which resolve the unresolved and make sense of the previously-incomprehensible.
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On completion of the Private 12-week Somatic-Embodiment Course, you'll be offered a place in our weekly and monthly practice groups for shared costs and learning from each other.
The combination of private therapy and group practice has been refined over the past 25 years as the most cost-effective, reliable & sustainable way to stay well. There are options for those preferring ONLY Private Therapy and discounts for intensive periods, or in chronic cases. ​​
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As far as I know I am the first trauma-informed Somatic practitioner in Australia receiving regular and ongoing supervision from General Practitioners and Psychologists. Having completed my Masters of Public Health in the area of trauma and women's health in 2019, I have received referrals from Psychologists and Psychiatrists since. I am presently undertaking my own personal psychoanalysis, the first of a 4-year process to become a Jungian Analyst.
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Practicing privately, and located inside of the medical model, has been a corrective experience for many of my patient-clients. As one of my dear regulars said recently “Well, that was by far the nicest thing I’ve ever come to a doctor surgery for!"
I am passionate about truly Integrative Health Care, which recognises consumer-led choices for Complementary & Alternative Medicines, with equal-respect, within mainstream settings. In my professional experience, this is the ONLY way to offer truly safe & truly-integrative health care.
It is my greatest honour to witness your coming home to your body.
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Yours somatically,
Previous Projects
Case Studies
Hayley approached me for private yoga because she was experiencing stiffness, tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing and anxiety. We started a home yoga practice and she felt the benefits immediately.
The stress however had got into her nervous system and she experienced a facial paralysis within the first few weeks of working together.
Hayley knew she had to make some major life changes. H. took to her yoga practice, and attended one of our retreats where she learned Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
She managed to move through significant life change with a grounding in her body, coupled with the philosophy of change. She is now successfully living the life of her choosing.
These are some of Hayley's powerful postures, and you can click on the pic for a link to her testimonial.
Justin was a senior General Practitioner and entrepreneur who presented with symptoms of burnout, including heightened sensitivity, overwhelm and pain.
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He was actively using meditation alongside nutrition and self-massage techniques.
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Over the course of several months of combined trauma-informed somatic and jungian-inspired therapy, Justin was able to stay present with bodily sensation, including meeting his needs for comfort and companionship while recalling painful past memories.
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Justin took significant steps over the course of 12 months to cultivated a more regulated experience of sensitivity.
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This increased confidence translated to his work in which he saw improvements in differentiating from patients symptoms and sustaining a stronger self-connection during consulting.
Simone and Peter came to see me when their teenage daughter was experiencing a life-threatening condition. They both knew their relationship was an underlying issue.
Simone took to the practice of yoga like a duck to water and met her goal of looking and feeling her best at her 50th birthday.
Peter came to see me later, mostly for remedial massage but through open-mindedness experienced the embodied symbolism of yoga.
Over the course of about 12 months, Simone and Peter felt they were at their end points. Both were pushed to practice the art of letting go, just to survive such an immensely stressful period.
Gradually, Simone found solace in symbolism and finally a trust and openness returned. Peter also started noticing the beautiful moments they shared.
The lightness and humour that they’d shared as young lovers was breaking through again. The last time I saw them they were sitting opposite each other at the local Korean, smiling. A felt love was deeply apparent.
Emma was a GP who'd had several surgeries to remove endometrial tissue by the time she decided to start a practice in yoga for managing her symptoms.​
After about a month of refining her personal practice for maximum circulation and clearance of pelvic inflammation, Anna started to feel she had some control over her experience.
At six months , Anna was able to fine-tune her practice using only breath-control and awareness.
By the time we shared 12 months together, she could manage her pain completely with her daily practice.
I've since successfully treated pelvic pain of reproductive and digestive origin thanks to Emma's collaborative yoga journey way back in 2007.
Anna was referred by her psychologist for somatic therapy.
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She was experiencing daily anxiety, panic attacks and chronic pelvic pain.
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She learned to relax her neck and shoulders and found gradually she could start to access sensations of her pelvis.
Anna had a profound shift in experiencing ease in her pelvis again when we located a trigger point with a dry needle which stimulated strong whole-body sensations.
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Anna continues to come weekly for counselling and bodywork and rarely experiences either anxiety or pelvic pain.
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Susan was incredibly well-read, had seen many highly-regarded practitioners and unsure much more could be done for her digestive bloating and pain.
She was very open about her past and had a knack for making connections.
We traced her digestive pain back to the weeks after her first child had been born. She was able to locate the trigger point she felt had not recovered fully. A single dry needle to this point resolved her digestive pain almost immediately and completely, and she reported only very minor symptoms the following week, and zero symptoms the week after. She was able to address the remaining bloating by narrowing it down to a medication which worked, and replacing it with a more gentle nutraceutical for regulating her gastric secretions. The combination of reflection and embodiment changed Susans total experience of her body.
When Gloria sought me out, she was nailing many aspects of her life….business, family, investments, parenting…but she was struggling with her physicality.
Raised with a no-pain, no-gain attitude to exercise, now in mid-life, she was getting injuries with her personal training. She knew she needed a gentle approach to her body and so she committed to the practice for as long as it took.
Through the asana, pranayama and meditation, Gloria started to “get” the practice of kindness toward herself. At the end of each session she would have a big grin on her phase, sometimes followed by a great big laugh. She didn’t have to say much. It was obvious she was really getting it.
After a couple of years practicing together, Gloria took up running It was clear by the way she described her practice that she was applying yogic principles.
As far as I know, Gloria has had no further issues with injuries and is was looking fine, fit and glowing.
Peta Jane, aged 26, found me online and came to learn yoga and understand more about running a business as a female creative entrepreneur. Born and raised in a buddhist country, she had a deep understanding of buddhism and wanted to incorporate this into her own business.
We discussed her longings and agreed she would complete a 12-Week Private Yoga Intensive, supported by somatic therapy and business coaching.
During one of her Somatic Treatments, Peta had a profound acknowledgement of a deep trauma she had completely forgotten. She said it shifted something deep inside her in relation to her brother.
Peta Jane’s Business moved along very quickly after this, and she was able to creatively develop her signature program within a few weeks. PJ has since successfully integrated her cultural heritage and kick started her business endevours and we look forward to seeing what comes of her unique experience and perspective.
Xavier was an engineer and academic who was referred by his physio for Remedial Massage.
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He was experiencing persistent sciatica and a hinderance of the bulk of muscle around the base of his neck.
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Xavier has continued with a combination of assisted stretching and yoga therapy over 6 years during which time he developed a regular home practice.
Xavier is now able to manage his sciatica himself, and happily improving his overall flexibility, balance and fine-motor co-ordination.
He is very happy with the range of motion in his shoulders and has successfully applied meditation techniques for maintaining self-connection and proactive mindset through two periods of life crisis.
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Having learned the felt senses of trust and surrender, Xaviers practice is now a refined state of flow, during which time memories arise spontaneously an indication of trauma-release due to the felt experience of safety.
