My friend @emilyhallam wrote recently about how symptoms can be a way the body enforces boundaries. I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
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Lately I’ve been noticing what’s being arising in my body and how to respond to discomfort by listening to the underlying message rather than be frustrated by the hindrance on my life, plans for the day, or expectations of myself.
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Sometimes I feel that the more I don’t listen to the messages of my body, the louder it calls out. Symptoms worsen. Emily writes “Our bodies set boundaries for us when we neglect to set them for ourselves”
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How might we be able to respond to symptoms rather than suppress them? So we can end this fight between the mind and body and see how these aspects are interconnected, codependent, and inseparable.
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What if instead of trying to control our bodies with our minds, we approached discomfort as a messenger. Approached pain with compassion. Knowing that the sensation arises from a place of love. That this signal is the body’s inclination to protect us.
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Image via @healingmuseum
In my practice, I am curious about the way the body is understood and perceived and how this translates to how we experience our body. From how we interpret sensation, to the language we use to describe it, we create a narrative about the body. I am interested in the role this narrative plays in how we experience ourselves, others and the greater environment.
As someone who believes that the body is environment, lately I have been thinking about the ways my own chronic health conditions are enmeshed with a chronically ill world, from both an ecological and socio-political perspective.
Lately, I am taking my pain less personally. I am practicing modes of healing that occur outside of body. I am learning from the traditions of which this notion is fundamental to the healing process.
From this perspective, as a clinician, most of my self-healing work is tied to my professional work, through participating in the health of others. It is an ongoing exploration. But the moments when I experience mutual healing feel like a quiet revolution.
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Image: 'Transfiguration' by Robert Gilgorov, 2013
Link in bio for the full essay
I have been reflecting on how I want to show up in 2026. Expect more writing, new offerings and collaborations. Looking forward to sharing more but in a way that feels thoughtful and aligned to my work
From the archives. An interview I did with @soft.centre back in 2021. I love reflecting on why I practice. Still so grateful for this work and for this medicine
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Link to the full interview is in my bio
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Photo by @theabebe
@shopshannonmalone interviewed me back in 2023 about my life and practice. Speaking of the past reaching out toward the future: I remember asking mum if she was ok with these words and she told me that she loved them. Impossibly, I still feel her courage within me every day 💞
Musings on water for an upcoming workshop with @tiana.demetriou at @tender_place_ where we will be deep diving into the element of water, its relationship to our kidney system, the emotion of fear, the force of our will power and how our bodies innately connect us to our ancestors
Exploring fluidity and how water manifests within our bodies through embodied practice, creativity, imagination and the therapeutic application of shiatsu and acupuncture
Running this weekend. There are still some tickets left ~ Link in bio to book
The Body As A Two Way Mirror presents their next workshop series: WATER.
This season, Chloe Sobejko (Natuopath and shiatsu therapist) and Tiana Demetriou (Acupuncturist and Chinese Medicine Practitioner) will be exploring the water element, and its relationship to winter: a time of introspection, and the kidneys: the holders of our deep resources, ancestral wisdom and intrinsic nature
Emotionally, the kidney system is connected to our experience of fear, trust, and willpower
We will be exploring these expressions as well as the ways they are interconnected. Exploring the source of our will, the way our fear protects us, and why we feel drawn to face something, even when it scares us
Inspired by the way that body mirrors nature, and how nature mirrors the body, these workshops intend to provide a space to connect with this eternal feedback
You can expect:
- Somatic Practices
- Shiatsu Therapy
- Acupuncture
- Space for introspection
Spaces are limited due to the intimate nature of the events. We will be running the workshop twice across the weekend
When:
Saturday 31/05/25 2PM-5:30PM
Sunday 01/06/25 10AM-1:30PM
Where:
Tender, 535 Sydney Road, Brunswick. Access via laneway.
Purchase your ticket via the link in our bios
In the past couple of months I’ve been planning new creative projects for the year and archiving old ones.
As I archive, I wanted to share some old work
Navigation One (2016)
In collaboration with @paulstillen and curated by @caledoniaconnor & @casualsurrender
In this work Paul gave me my first and only tattoos – on the soles of my feet. Painful, yet impermanent. At the time, I was exploring how sensation can ground us in the moment, how discomfort can become a tool for navigation.
Over the following year, I recorded and traced the fading lines, creating a timeline of their disappearance. These marks charted my movements— time spent on my feet, the distance I walked and how I held myself with it.
This project remains a favourite—a meditation on impermanence and the way sensation transforms through memory.
Musing on fire for an upcoming event with @tiana.demetriou where we will be deep diving into the element of fire and its relationship to our heart & cardiovascular system. Thinking about love, joy, desire, illumination, warmth & transformational energy
Using embodied practice, creativity, imagination & therapeutic applications of acupuncture and shiatsu we look forward to exploring our hearts together @greenmondaystudios
It’s going to be HOT ❤️🔥
Book via link in bio
The Body As A Two Way Mirror: FIRE
We are semi-permeable, expansive, an extension of our environments. Empathy for this body is empathy for the environment.
Sunday, 10th November
2PM-5PM
$60-$80
73 Grattan St, Carlton
@greenmondaystudios
Join us as we collaboratively explore how the fire that exists in the natural world, relates to the fire that exists within our bodies.
🔥Link in bio to book🔥
Musings on metal for an upcoming workshop with @tiana.demetriou where we will be exploring this element from a Chinese Medicine Perspective and through a nutritional lens. Contemplating the minerals which sustain and become our bodies. Using embodied practice, creativity and imagination. All with the intention of deepening our connection to the environment and to ourselves 🌀
