10 Sessions of Embodied Psychotherapy in English

22 November 2024

Introductory Cycle: 10 Sessions of Embodied Psychotherapy in English both in-person & online – for clients residing outside Athens – (10th session is free as long as your participation is within the specified timeframe. The offer is valid from November 18, 2024 to February 7, 2025) 

With Christina Klissiouni

Body Psychotherapy – Gestalt – Trauma Therapy with Christina Klissiouni, Body Psychotherapist, supervisor, Trauma Therapist (NARM), Dance/Conscious Movement/Contact Improvisation teacher, Somatics educator and researcher with over 30 years of experience. 

 

Who is this for:

This program is designed for individuals or couples who are interested in starting the therapeutic process on an exploratory basis, before deciding to commit to the deeper journey of self-exploration through Embodied Psychotherapy. For adults and adolescents over 16 years old, in-person & online. Men and women of all ages and experiences who are determined to work through life issues consciously, engage emotionally, and commit to the self and the therapist on this journey of personal growth.

For those who wish to:

  • Better understand themselves and connect with their feelings and needs.
  • Cultivate awareness and mindfulness. Discover functional ways to manage stress, dysfunctional habits, and regulate their emotional states.
  • Develop communication with themselves and others.
  • Address issues that concern, relationships, work, personal life, and all aspects of health.

Requests for management and resolution that may bring you to the process of Embodied Psychotherapy: 

  • Connection with the self and its deeper needs
  • Self-awareness and self-expression
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Phobias
  • Self-esteem issues
  • Developmental Traumas
  • Depression
  • Narcissistic Disorders
  • Eating Disorders
  • Stress Management
  • Relationship Problems
  • Social Integration Difficulties

For Your Participation 

We recommend starting with an introductory cycle of 10 sessions over 2.5 months (one session per week). The 10th session is free, provided you adhere to the time frame above. After completing the initial cycle, there is the possibility to continue the therapeutic process, reassessing your goals and the focus of the work. Our aim is to introduce you to Embodied Psychotherapy and the therapist, Christina Klissiouni, and provide a supportive start for meaningful change.

 

The first sessions will establish the foundation of the therapeutic relationship, with a clear framework – a contract of mutual commitment to the work — analyzing the request(s) and goals that bring the individual to psychotherapy. During this time, we’ll focus on gathering personal history/background, connecting with the individual’s narrative, and their life story from its early stages. Sessions are scheduled by mutual agreement and payment is due at the end of each session

A Few Words About the Therapeutic Process 

What one gains from the journey of psychoanalysis and body psychotherapy is the deepening and understanding of the personal history that has shaped one’s perception and way of being, the relationship with oneself, and with the environment. By offering a therapeutic framework with safe boundaries, we create fertile ground for change, so that life begins to make sense in the present time. 

 

In the sessions, we work both verbally and through body awareness, engaging with both obvious and hidden emotions stored in the body. Trauma—whether developmental or resulting from later life events—can harden the psyche, preventing growth and healing. The goal of psychotherapy is to reconnect you with your inner resources and potential. 

 

In the sessions, we emphasize building the therapeutic relationship using mindfulness tools that create the ground for connection, trust in life, self-expression, and transformation of one’s trauma. Our aim is to release the hindered vital energy that is locked in the neuromuscular systems and it is reflected in one’s behavioral patterns. Through the therapeutic process we deepen on the survival mechanisms and the defenses to bring out self-awareness and change, thus we promote trust, connection and self-acceptance towards a more balanced attitude in life.

 

The psychotherapy process is for those who wish to connect with themselves through embodied experience and sensation. It focuses on how the body expresses internal conflicts, emotions, the difficulties and the avoidance mechanisms created as a result of traumatic events.

 

We aim towards a healthier development in one’s life where you rely and use your inner resources, your creative potential towards a more fulfilled relationship with the self and the environment.

 

The connection between body and mind through embodied experience reveals the truth of our emotions and provides the tools for managing them. The therapeutic process teaches us to listen to and interpret the signals our body sends out, often unconsciously. Within the psychotherapy framework, we can discover spaces of trust that allow us to renegotiate with safety, new ways of seeing, behaving, and relating to ourselves and others.

 

Awareness of embodied experience is key to creating and maintaining healthy relationships. The quality of the relationships — both with ourselves and others — is shaped by our primary relationships, the way we experienced love early in our life. 

 

Through the therapeutic relationship, where trust is built alongside a process of mirroring and healing of old and/or developmental traumas, we reconnect with our inner child and access the therapist within ourselves. Our bodies hold all the solutions to transforming dysfunctional patterns and painful experiences.

 

Adult consciousness is the path to liberation from unhealthy relationships that continue to shape the present. Expanding our awareness opens space for us to feel and express what lies within. Therapeutic work helps bring us closer to the present, where we can fulfill deeper needs and desires through self-knowledge, allowing ourselves to emotionally risk, change pre-established patterns and behaviors that block our path to wholeness.

Christina Klissiouni Biography
Body Psychotherapist and Supervisor 

Christina Klissiouni is a movement educator, movement researcher, performer, choreographer, and Body Psychotherapist, Shiatsu practitioner with over 40 years of experience both in Greece and internationally. Her goal is to cultivate mindfulness and self-awareness as pathways to personal growth. She utilizes improvisation techniques, particularly Contact Improvisation and Somatics, which she introduced to Greece in 1990-91 after returning from her dance studies in New York. As part of the second generation of Contact Improvisation teachers, she has maintained a steady presence in the international community.

Since 1986, Christina has been training both amateurs and professionals. Over the years, she has developed her own teaching methodology for dancers and performers, drawing on the deep knowledge she gained by studying with the founders of these practices.  Her experience is rooted not only in her work as a teacher but also in her interactions with dancers from diverse communities, approaches, and skill levels. Throughout her long career, she has led numerous intensive workshops at important venues and at major Contact Improvisation festivals across Europe and Asia, and has been acknowledged as a prominent CI educator by the international community.

Suprapto Suryodarmo (Indonesia) was, in particular, a very important mentor, collaborator, and spiritual teacher for Christina. From 1997 to 2019, she danced with him in various European cities and also taught and organized seminars and retreats in Greece. Her study of Contemplative Movement with Suprapto had a profound influence, opening new paths that allowed her to integrate improvisation, interpretation, and creative expression with the therapeutic aspects of dance.

Christina Klissiouni approaches individual development from both an artistic and therapeutic perspective. She combines her experience as a movement trainer and performer with the tools of Body Psychotherapy. Her goal is to facilitate personal growth through the therapeutic, experiential process of integrating movement and emotion, guiding individuals toward self-knowledge and healing from developmental trauma.

For the past 25 years, Christina has worked as a Body and Movement Psychotherapist. She is an active member of PESOPS and the European Association of Body Psychotherapists (EABP). She trained at the E.I.N.A. center, which follows the psychoanalytic approach of Wilhelm Reich. Christina also completed two 2-year Master’s courses with renowned trainers/therapists: Alberto Torre (Italy) and Barry Simmons (USA, specializing in Gestalt therapy). Additionally, she trained as a supervisor of Body Psychotherapy under Jenovino Ferri (Italy). Since 1994, she has worked as a Shiatsu therapist, a practice she creatively integrates into movement and therapy groups.

Recently, Christina completed advanced training in Trauma Therapy using Laurence Heller’s NARM approach (certified in April 2024). She has also trained in the first three levels of Cranio-Sacral Therapy at the Upledger Institute (2021–2023), underscoring her commitment to lifelong learning.

The thinking body,
the body that speaks