What Can You Expect in a Session of the Pantarei Approach?
Many clients come to a session not knowing what to expect, which is normal. It is also difficult to be clear about exactly what you could expect as each session, just like each client, is totally unique. There are a few constants though so here’s an overview to give you a sense of just what a Pantarei Approach session might be like.
Contacting a practitioner
If you already have a practitioner in mind, you might want to skip this paragraph already and go on to the next one. Deciding to come to a session is already a meaningful step forward. The Pantarei Approach session is based on a partnership that is created between the practitioner and the client – both act together toward your desired goals, and therefore your choice to contact a practitioner is already the beginning of your journey.
The room the session will take place in
Each practitioner works independently and therefore the room might be designed according to your practitioner’s taste. However in every working room of the Pantarei Approach, you will find a massage table, chairs, and some blankets. The sensation you are supposed to feel
in that room is of safety and basic comfort.
The beginning of the session – let’s talk
Your practitioner will invite you to sit with them next to the massage table and discuss what you are there to do together. At the beginning you will be asked to give some general information about your life, so your practitioner will have some understanding about who it is that they are talking with.
Later they will ask you about the topics you wish to address. Those topics might be a difficulty you have in your life, an unwanted pattern of behavior you feel you want to change, a challenge you want some support in handling, or simply a certain interest or curiosity you have, in how this process can contribute to your life.
Your practitioner will listen to you, and not only hear the details of what you tell them, but also look for how your story shows your uniqueness – the complexity of your qualities, abilities, passions, history and dreams. Those things that, if you only knew how to use them for good in your life, would allow you to have a more fulfilling way of being.
Before physical contact is made
Your practitioner knows that the knowledge of your life lies within you. There is nobody else that knows better than you how you should live your life, what choices you should make and what are the next steps you should take in your life, than you.
A great deal of the job of the practitioner when they listen to you is to hear you; to hear you beyond the words you say, beyond the current difficulty or struggle, beyond the here and now. When your practitioner listens to you, they will look for what makes you be the unique person you are. The complexity of your qualities, your life-experiences, ways you perceive situations in your life, your past, your current life situation and your desires for the future. The practitioner will listen to your words, but also to your body and the incredible wisdom it expresses.
Your practitioner knows that in certain situations in your life, you use your abilities in the best way possible, while in other moments you wish you handled things differently. What guides the practitioner is that rather than changing your skin, together you will learn to enjoy who you are and use your qualities in the best ways, for yourself and others around you.
The hands-on part of the session
When you and your practitioner have chosen and are clear about the direction the session will go, they will place their hands on your body and let their hands listen to your body. Sometimes the touch will be very gentle, sometimes it will require a touch with more depth. In some sessions it will be with quick movements, while in other sessions it might be very slow. The kind of touch will always depend on your goals, your current experience, and your body and what it needs.
Your conversation with your practitioner will continue while they place their hands on your body. Just in order to give an example, imagine a person placing their hands in the middle of your chest and asking you to breathe. And now imagine the same experience, while the practitioner asks you to remember somebody you love. Would your experience in that moment change?
In our experience the combination of touch and conversation allows the practitioner to follow the client’s body and also allows the client to make connections between their body’s experiences and their own life experiences.
You will be asked to take an active role in the session, just as in the demonstration. This can be expressed by asking you to breathe into certain areas, by asking you how you feel, by asking you to push to a certain area, or by noticing together with you, sensations your body experiences, such as shivering, heat or cold.
Sessions usually take place on the massage table while you lie on your back, or on your belly. They can also take place when you sit on a chair or stand and move in the space next to the table.
Some time alone in the room
In most sessions the practitioner will cover you and leave the room for a few minutes at the end of the session. This time can be used for resting, and for experiencing your own being without anybody else touching you or interrupting your experience.
Just before you leave
You practitioner will come back to the room, to check with you how you feel and to briefly summarize the session with you. Depending on your goals and on the results of the session, you will decide together when and if you will meet again for a continuation of your process.
If you have any questions about Pantarei Approach, you are welcome to attend one of our workshops or events. We also have regular introductory meetings. You can contact us directly for a chat via email to info@learnpantarei or by phone to +49 (0)30 44 04 85 26.