An alternative to talk therapy in Lisbon and Silver Coast — body-based somatic sessions in English
An alternative to classic therapy
You've talked it through. You understand where it comes from. And the emotional experience is still here.
That's not a failure of insight. Some things don't live in your thoughts or in the mind, and understanding and describing them is not always the solution — they live in your body, and that's where they can be directly worked with. In Lisbon, I offer one-on-one bodywork sessions in English for expats and internationals who want to make a change in something that talking couldn’t reach for them. The work is called the Grinberg Method, and it is a learning through the body and by the body, of how to make the change.
Why understanding it isn't the same as changing it
Talk can name a pattern and explain where it all began and the details of how it works and why it happens. But knowing why you do something, and being able to stop it at will, are two very different things. If the same anxiety, the same reaction, or the same shutting-down keeps returning again and again, and you actually pay the price in your daily life — regardless of how much you've worked it out in your head — it's because it was never living in your head. You might need a more direct tool. In the body, understanding the experience is not the point. It’s not about knowing why or anticipating the next step. It’s about allowing things to be felt, so they can finally transform. It’s about learning to work with your body in a different way when emotions come up. In the sessions, we learn how to do this by experiencing it together in a safe environment with my support and guidance.
What "working through the body" actually means
We work directly with what you feel — through touch, breath, and your own attention — rather than only talking about it. You stay fully present and involved the whole time. It’s important to note that nothing is done to you; you're learning to feel and to change something in real time, in your own body, which is already there just waiting for the opportunity to be felt and changed.
What happens in a somatic bodywork session
Each session begins with a reading of your feet, which shows how stress, fear, anger and old patterns are held in your body. It shows the connection between the emotional pattern and the physical pattern (to me they are both the same, both something that the body does), and it gives us a clear place to start and a clear aim for your process. From there we work with touch and breath under my guidance. You don't need to relive a specific past event or to understand it in order to change the pattern that is imprinted in you — the change happens in the present, in the body, regardless of the past. A successful process is when you have learned how to do something differently by stopping that past automatic pattern. Then, outcomes change too, together with how you feel and your ability to bring your true potential forward.
What people come with
Anger or rage. Anxiety. Fear. A pattern that keeps repeating no matter what, both as an emotional experience that bothers them, or as an act or outcome which they don’t want anymore. Relationship struggles. Shame, or the sense of being not enough. Feeling stuck in your own life with no way out - it’s a profound feeling that impacts your whole life situation and how you go through your day. In fact you don't need the right words for it — if something keeps returning in your feeling, in your behavior or in your life — and you're tired of it, that's enough to start and work towards a profound change that sets you free.
Where and in which languages is it available
Sessions are given in person, one-to-one, in English, at my clinic in Lisbon or in the Silver Coast (Reguengo Grande near Obidos). Once in a few months I give sessions in Amsterdam. I do give sessions in Hebrew as well, and a bit of Portuguese as I’m still learning.
However this is somatic, body-based work — not talk therapy, and not massage. We talk a bit, but the real thing is what is felt.
Ready to start your somatic process?
The simplest first step is a short intro call, or just messaging me with a short description of your issue — no commitment, just a talk on eye level to see what’s possible to do together. From there if we are a good fit we will schedule your first session with feet assessment and begin the process towards your freedom.
Is it suitable for working with trauma and PTSD?
Yes. Trauma isn't the event that happened — it's what the body keeps holding afterwards. It's the emotional experience that was too intense or frightening to be fully allowed, which could never come to completion. From that perspective it’s in the body. We see that long after the mind has understood the trauma response, the bracing and the disconnection are still there: the held breath, the guard that never comes down, the waiting, the rushing mind, the immediate shift of attention. You don't have to go back through the event in order to exit this loop, but some emotions there will need to be felt — and that's exactly the closure of the trauma loop. We meet it where it actually lives — in the body — and let what's been held for so long begin to move in a new way, with safe guidance and support, step by step, until the body is freed from it.
It's worth mentioning, that trauma doesn't need to be linked to any extreme event. Trauma happens when we don't allow an emotion to complete, and to certain extents it has happened to most of us as kids or as adults. If today it is blocking you from fulfilling your potential or being free, we work with it so that you can move on.
FAQ
Is this therapy?
No. It's a body-based learning process, aimed to achieve change. Not psychotherapy, and not a substitute for medical or psychiatric care. Many people use it alongside other support, and many times this is the tool that breaks through the glass ceiling.
Do I have to talk about my past?
No. You don't need to relive or even explain a past event in order to change the pattern it has left with you. Although sometimes we might get curious and talk about the moment when you have invented that pattern, this is not required for a successful completion of your process.
Is it like a massage?
No. In a massage you receive; here you're active and present, and you participate in the session. Actually the whole session is built around teaching you how to participate in reality by choice, with your attention as the main tool. Learning to feel and change something in your own body is done by becoming responsible for your own experience — very different than allowing something to be “done to you" without your participation.
Do you work in English?
Yes — sessions are in English, with expats, nomads, and internationals in and around Lisbon. Of course I work sometimes in Portuguese too, but as I’m still learning the language I prefer that we work in English when possible. I also work in Hebrew if that’s your preference.
Where are you based?
Sessions of Grinberg Method Portugal are available in Lisbon (Avenida da Liberdade) and in the Silver Coast (near Obidos and Caldas da Rainha). I do give sessions in Amsterdam regularly every few months as well.
How many sessions will I need?
It depends on what you're bringing. Some things ease in a session or two; a pattern that's been with you for a lifetime might need a process — a series of sessions, each building on the last. You don't have to commit up front. We begin with one session which includes the assessment and gives a lot of clarity, and from there each step is a profound learning and a profound experience. Most people enjoy it so much that they are waiting for their weekly sessions regardless. You are an active participant in the process and you'll feel fairly quickly whether this is for you.