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Text (615) 601-0647 to schedule a 15 minute consultation. Expect a response during office hours.

Margaret Brittingham-LPC-MHSP

Holistic Counseling

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    • Embodied Meditation
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  • About
    • About Me
    • Rates & Insurance
  • My Method
    • Embodied Meditation
    • Somatic Therapy
    • Trauma Sensitive Yoga
    • Brainspotting
  • Services
    • Individual Therapy
    • Coaching
    • Groups & Workshops
    • Nature Therapy
  • Resources
    • Anxiety and stress
    • Meditations
    • Sleep and Relaxation
    • Trauma
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About Me
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  • Contact
You are here: Home / My Method / Embodied Meditation

Embodied Meditation

“When you make friends with the present moment, you feel at home no matter where you are. When you don’t feel at home in the Now, no matter where you go you will carry unease with you”

— Eckhart Tolle

Meditation

I have had a meditation practice since I was in high school, and have explored many different styles of meditation that have called to me at different parts of my life, providing me with needed nutrients for where I was. I have done mantra meditation, qi gong, yoga, loving compassion meditation, mindfulness meditation and shamanic journeying. I appreciate how different meditative practices can help you open in different parts of your being, thereby unwinding outdated protective patterns and increasing the depth of experience in your life.  In 2020, I discovered the Realization Process, a series of gentle but precise interoceptive movements and attunements for realizing your own nature as unitive consciousness and releasing trauma-based constrictions from the bodymind, and this is what I must often integrate in my work with clients.

A fundamental difference between the Realization Process and typical mindfulness meditation is that we are not just observing what is happening within ourselves, we are actually there. We are not observing our hands from somewhere above ourselves, we experience ourselves as the internal space of our hands.  When applied to psychological healing, this is transformational. 

How our past limits us

As Judith Blackstone, who developed the Realization Process, says: 

 “Our fixed grasp on ourselves and the world is not just mental but also somatic. There are rigid holding patterns throughout the whole body, limiting our capacity for cognition, emotional responsiveness and physical sensation. We created these constrictions in childhood in response to painful or overwhelming events in our environment… Also, the memories, childhood mentality, and emotional charge that are bound in our somatic holding patterns continue to exert their influence on our present day awareness. For example, a fearful cringe held in our body, along with the memory of danger, will keep promoting a sense that the world is dangerous, no matter how much we try to open our mind, or divorce ourselves from our childhood “story.” 

Embodied Meditation and Therapy

The exercises of the Realization Process can both help us directly unwind these rigid holding patterns that obscure our deepest connection with ourselves and others, and that also keep relationships locked in rigid patterns. They also can help us uncover at deeper and deeper levels a sense of  power, love, understanding, sexuality and authentic expression that seems to already be within us. They can help us experience a ground of our being that has never been harmed. In this ground of our being, we experience that which we have been seeking outside of ourselves as our own true nature, there to be uncovered. Practically speaking, it becomes very hard to think of yourself as a bad person when you actually experience love emanating from your chest. Or to think of yourself as powerless when you feel the unchanging ground of your innate power. Or to think of yourself as stupid when you feel your own understanding and intelligence. 

Also, this uncovering of a ground of your being that is already free and has never been harmed becomes a deep inner resource that makes it possible to approach frozen experiences that would otherwise seem overwhelming so that you can release them, and become free of their continued influence over your present day experience. 

 

Mindfulness and Meditation

 

Experience a Richer and More Satisfying Life

This is an incredibly rich practice. Gradually, you find yourself more and more able to stay present to parts of your experience that would have overwhelmed you in the past. Times when you would have shut down. Or lashed out. Or turned to food or substances. Life becomes increasingly rich, complex, and satisfying, and you feel a sense of homecoming, of returning to yourself in ways that are hard to put into words. You become more real, and as you become more real, the whole world and everybody around you also becomes more real, more alive.

“A warrior knows that the ends do not justify the means. Because there are no ends, there are only means…”

— Paulo Coelho, Warrior of the Light

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Testimonials

able to move through serious trauma

“I had the incredible privilege of working with Margaret this past summer during an hour long brainspotting session. Immediately, I felt at ease and thanks to Margaret’s calm and guiding nature, and years of expertise, I was able to move through some serious trauma that had been holding me back. Healing is a never ending journey, or so I’ve come to discover, but what’s amazing about this experience – and every experience I’ve had with Margaret – is the ability to face your fears and suppressed memories in the comfort of a safe and judgment-free space. Nothing is more important to me than peace of mind these days, and Margaret’s techniques and wisdom have served me a great deal in this area of my life. To this day, I continue to be grateful for the work she promotes and for the healing she has provided me in the process. Looking forward to my next session!”

Brainspotting client

Margaret is an excellent guide through the tough times

“Margaret is an excellent guide through the tough times that I’ve been facing. She is a wonderful listener and I never felt judged with her in any ways, which is what I was most worried about in speaking to a therapist.“

- Client

Made me feel understood and valued

“The shared experience of being mothers made me feel understood and valued. (Margaret) has a calmness and gentleness that really put me at ease. I learned a lot during our sessions. I identified a lot of underlying belief systems that were causing some of my discomfort and showing themselves after having a baby.”

- Client

She’s offered new ideas and approaches

“Margaret has been a major help to me for dealing with anxiety and depression. She’s offered new ideas and approaches that I had never even thought of”

- Client

Margaret was very down to earth

“Margaret was very down to earth, met me where I was, and led me where I wanted to go.”

- Client

Like talking to a very informed friend

“(Working with Margaret) felt like talking to a very informed friend or colleague vs being talked down to. I really appreciated how informed she was at all times”.

- individual therapy client

I continue to benefit from the work we did

“(Brainspotting with Margaret) helped me to process the trauma in a different, more direct and healing way than I had previously. I continue to benefit from the work we did.”

- Brainspotting client

I feel so much better having someone there…working in my favor

“Highly recommend. Margaret is such a good listener, very understanding and insightful. She helped me find different perspectives and solutions to get over mental health hurdles, without being judgmental or harsh. I feel so much better having someone there that understands me and is working in my favor.”

- Client

Clients have a wonderful experience with Margaret

Not only is Margaret a wonderful, skilled therapist, but she continues to explore and learn new ways of showing up with her clients. She is always a student, and that’s the kind of therapist I would want for myself! Clients have a wonderful experience with Margaret and know she is really present with them in the room. Her presence is very gentle, and the clients I have referred have experienced wonderful healing and insight in their work with Margaret.I love her whole body approach to healing and use of Brainspotting in her practice, as well as how she incorporates mindfulness and yoga which is wonderful for clients who already connect to these practice or are integrating it into their process for the first time. I would refer clients to Margaret anytime.

Melanie Reese, LMFT

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Contact

Margaret Brittingham, MEd, LPC-MHSP
2200 21st Ave S, Ste 405
Nashville, TN, 37212
Phone: 615.601.0647
Margaret@mindbodytherapynashville.com

Office Hours

2200 21st Ave S, ste 405: Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays

South Nashville: Wednesdays, Thursdays

Mondays: 9 AM- 330 PM, last session starts at 230PM

Tuesdays: 9AM-330 PM, last session starts at 230PM

Wednesdays: 9AM-330PM, last session starts at 230PM

Thursdays: Occasional availability

Saturdays: Occasional availability

**I respond to emails and texts during office hours Monday-Wednesday**

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