Touch Therapy

Psychosensory Techniques: Reducing Anxiety Through Mind-Body Connection

by John Nolan
30th April 2025

Psychosensory techniques reduce anxiety by utilising sensory input to influence brain activity, particularly in areas related to emotion regulation. These methods work on the mind-body connection to downregulate the stress response and promote calmness. Havening Techniques® are a specific type of psychosensory therapy that uses gentle touch applied to the face, arms, and palms to alleviate anxiety linked to distressing memories. Havening practitioners guide clients through a process involving the application of this touch, often combined with distraction techniques like counting or visualisation. This is believed to work by generating delta waves in the brain, helping to depotentiate traumatic memories in the amygdala, activating the parasympathetic nervous system, and fostering neuroplasticity, leading to a reduction in anxiety levels. Clients are often taught Self-Havening to manage anxiety independently.

Psychosensory Therapy: Brain Activity and Havening Techniques

by John Nolan
8th April 2025

Psychosensory therapy is a therapeutic approach that uses sensory input to create changes in the brain, offering an alternative to traditional talk therapy and medication. Havening Techniques, a type of psychosensory therapy, uses gentle touch, often combined with distraction, to address distressing memories and emotions. It is theorised that Havening works by generating delta brain waves and promoting depotentiation in the amygdala, the brain region involved in processing emotions and trauma. A Havening practitioner guides clients through the process, which can involve recalling distressing experiences or focusing on emotions while applying specific touch protocols. Havening can be facilitated by the practitioner or self-applied by the client, and can even be effective without the client needing to disclose the specific details of a traumatic event. Havening is considered a rapid, gentle, and neuroscientifically grounded approach to healing and personal growth that can be integrated with other therapeutic methods.

The Role of a Havening Techniques Practitioner4th May 2025
A Havening Techniques practitioner is a guide who uses specific touch and language-based techniques to help clients process distressing emotional memories and create positive change. Working within their professional scope, they adopt a client-centred, positive, and resource-focused approach. They gather client history, identify key concerns, and apply various Havening methods, such as Event Havening for specific traumas or Affirmational Havening for building positive states. A key feature is the ability to work content-free, respecting client privacy while still achieving results. Practitioners often integrate Havening with other therapeutic tools and report significant benefits for clients, including healing trauma, reducing anxiety and stress, building resilience, and enhancing wellbeing. Many practitioners find Havening transforms their own practise and promotes self-care, strongly recommending others learn and use the techniques.
A Comprehensive Understanding of Anxiety Treatment Options3rd May 2025
Anxiety treatment encompasses a range of self-help strategies and professional therapeutic approaches aimed at helping individuals manage and reduce the impact of excessive worry and fear. Self-help options include breathing techniques, mindfulness, lifestyle changes, setting boundaries, examining unhelpful thoughts, and engaging in valued activities. Professional help is recommended for more significant anxiety and involves working with a trained practitioner who can provide understanding, identify unhelpful patterns like avoidance, teach specific skills, and offer support. Different professional approaches to anxiety treatment include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), exposure-based methods, Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), neuroscience-informed approaches, and techniques from NLP. Choosing the right approach depends on the severity and impact of anxiety, the success of previous efforts, the specific type of anxiety, and finding a professional with relevant experience and a good connection. Anxiety treatment is a journey that requires patience and commitment, ultimately aiming to help individuals live a more meaningful life less controlled by fear.
Benefiting from Anxiety Counselling2nd May 2025
Anxiety counselling provides individuals with professional support to understand, manage, and navigate the challenges of excessive worry and fear. Counsellors help clients identify unhelpful coping patterns like avoidance, teach evidence-based skills such as mindfulness, acceptance, and exposure, and assist in clarifying personal values to guide action. This support empowers individuals to change their relationship with anxiety, reduce its impact, and work towards living a more meaningful life, even when anxiety is present.
Navigating Workplace Stress and Anxiety1st May 2025
Workplace stress and anxiety are common, arising from factors like workload, relationships, uncertainty, and limiting beliefs. Symptoms can range from physical discomfort to avoidance and reduced productivity. Effective management involves awareness, assertiveness, boundary setting, problem-solving, mindfulness, exposure, emotional and thought management, self-care, and improved communication, aimed at transforming potentially destabilizing anxiety into energy that supports productive work and well-being.
Psychosensory Techniques: Reducing Anxiety Through Mind-Body Connection30th April 2025
Psychosensory techniques reduce anxiety by utilising sensory input to influence brain activity, particularly in areas related to emotion regulation. These methods work on the mind-body connection to downregulate the stress response and promote calmness. Havening Techniques® are a specific type of psychosensory therapy that uses gentle touch applied to the face, arms, and palms to alleviate anxiety linked to distressing memories. Havening practitioners guide clients through a process involving the application of this touch, often combined with distraction techniques like counting or visualisation. This is believed to work by generating delta waves in the brain, helping to depotentiate traumatic memories in the amygdala, activating the parasympathetic nervous system, and fostering neuroplasticity, leading to a reduction in anxiety levels. Clients are often taught Self-Havening to manage anxiety independently.