John Leigh Dent
@johnleighdent

I see life as an adventure. My adventure includes being a stand-up poet, acting, writing, being a gardener, Buddhism, hitch hiking around europe, living in a rusty old caravan in a wood, shamanism, astrology, yoga and rites of passage work with teenage boys. Right now, which is always the most important time in life, my greatest adventure is being a hands-on, available dad to my teenage son. 

Many years ago, I became involved with a personal growth community in both Ireland and South America. Here I experienced the power of authenticity, speaking one’s truth and allowing all feelings. I discovered that not only does core centred expression lead to a richer, liberated sense of self and connection to others, but also it prevents feelings from coming out in a distorted way (somatic issues, low self-esteem, passive aggression, anxiety etc) This simple, yet profound insight inspired me to train in various therapies. I began training at the purely physical end of body-therapy spectrum starting with massage courses, but I kept wanting to go deeper. I then studied transcultural counselling, and psychodrama and eventually Deep-body work with The Entelia Institute (Adv Dip) and Embodied Relational Therapy (Adv Dip) with Nick Totton, both neo-reichian forms of body psychotherapy. Most recently I also trained in Wild Therapy also with Nick Totton, an approach to working therapeutically outdoors in nature. I have always been drawn to ways of working that allow the whole self into the space, this means allowing expression through not only words but also sound, touch, creativity and movement. Certain stages of development cannot be reached through words alone such as preverbal states. Words can also take us away from our feelings and more into our heads which is not always where we need to be, though of course I do not underestimate the power of words and they are an essential part of how I work. I love this kind of work because it’s a creative approach that encourages the whole person into the space.