Hello friends,

When I meet with clients for the first time, a frequent question is regarding the difference between online vs in-person sessions. 

The answer: not much. And I have found that it is a personal preference.

In both cases, the information is exactly the same. What I am teaching is the same. The mapping is the same. The homework is the same. It’s the movement application that is different.

IRL means that you come to visit me at my studio. IRL clients can touch and feel the skeleton, which for some helps with understanding. In some cases, IRL offers the opportunity to do a technique called compression - tactile feedback via light touch.

Some of the IRL movement is exactly like what is done online. But we also use equipment. This puts the movement on a larger scale (it can also be on a large scale online, but generally is not). The equipment also becomes a sort of teacher as well, providing feedback different from what I could otherwise give.

Online clients still apply mapping to a movement context, but the movement is generally done without equipment. It’s done on the floor, seated in a chair, and standing.

I have one client that lives very close to the studio and she prefers online. I have a client that lives on the other side of the world half the year and online provides a challenge for her. I had one online client come and spend a week with me and found that while she likes IRL, online means she has to take on more personal responsibility.

At the end of July I traveled to NYC and spent some time IRL with online clients. It is always a special experience to meet someone in the flesh & blood after you have developed a significant relationship with them online. Did I glean information about them that I didn’t glean from online? No, but it is 3D. A richer sensory experience.

Their experience was that it is “more.” More what? IMO, “more” is largely EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies). EMFs are what cell phones & laptops give off. Our hearts also give and receive EMFs with other humans. A parasympathetic person, basically, gives off parasympathetic vibes. Those vibes can then influence a fight-or-flight individual if said individual pays some kind of attention to the parasympathetic person. The experience isn’t about how they are suddenly calm or parasympathetic, in fact that may not be true at all, but that label-less, subjective, intangible sense of “more.”

Or maybe they meant "more" wrinkles? 🤔

Interested in reading more about the heart & sensory input beyond the basic 5? Awakening of the Child-Heart by Carla Hannaford, PhD is a great place to start.

Onwards, Amy