Boulder Sex Therapist's Workshop Helps Couples Release Stress to Deepen Intimacy

BOULDER, Colo., June 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The effect of stress on a relationship is a favorite topic of psychology magazines, websites, and the mainstream media. Everyone appears to agree that lowering stress improves relationships. Usually articles on this topic focus on lowering stress by addressing tensions such as how to equalize the burden of housework or how to deal with a partner who is out of work. By contrast, Boulder sex therapist Tara Galeano and professional coach and somatic counselor Chris Balsley are concerned with the stress that we carry in our bodies -- stress that may have nothing to do with our partners.

Galeano and Balsley will present a two-day Intimacy, Relationships and Tension Release workshop in Boulder July 14-15, 2012. Designed for those who have experienced couples counseling or marriage counseling, participants can expect the workshop to provide them with the chance to experience deep-core stress relief and a greater degree of intimacy with their partners.

Click here to register for this workshop: Intimacy, Relationships, and Tension Release

When stress and tension associated with trauma are not expressed, they tend to be stored in our bodies. Many people have had the experience of crying during a massage for no discernible reason. Galeano comments, "We don't understand why we are crying, because when traumatic stress is stored, only the energy is stored, not the explanation of the injury suffered. Although we may be unconscious or unaware of the stress we carry, it impacts every part of our lives." She adds that stored stress can originate from any sort of trauma, including a bodily injury, an unresolved crisis, a death, or any hurtful incident.

"Our relationship to our partners is very sensitive to the effect of stress, both present moment and buried, and regardless of its source," says Galeano. "Stress often acts as a barrier to intimacy, because the energy it takes for us to contain or control our reactions to the stress we carry is energy we can't use to connect with our partners."

Unlike what they may have experienced in traditional group therapy, those attending this workshop will have the chance to release deep-seated stress from the body's core psoas muscle, using tension-release exercises facilitated by Galeano and Balsley. Core stress release is often expressed as neurogenic tremors and is usually disconnected from specific memories, although participants may experience emotions and memories as release occurs.

Galeano continues, "When we encounter trauma in our lives, whether that trauma is mental, emotional, or physical, our bodies tend to shake. The phrases 'shaking with fear' or 'quivering with anger' express this bodily reaction to trauma. Neurogenic tremors is the term that describes shaking or quivering in response to extreme stress. They may occur at the time extreme stress is experienced, and they also occur when stored stress is released. They are the body's natural way of signaling and releasing stress and trauma."

Each release produces deeper levels of relaxation. When tension is freed, stress is lowered and the nervous system is softened and restored. In response, participants become more relaxed and open, and find themselves more able to connect to their partners. When somatic barriers created by stress dissolve, participants experience the ability to forge a deeper level of conversation with their partners. It is in this more relaxed and open context that effective therapeutic work can take place. As part of that work, Galeano and Balsley teach participants skills to support their ongoing psychological growth, such as those that reinforce the concept of differentiation, the state of being able to hold onto oneself despite conflict or extreme emotional intensity (whether pleasurable or painful).

This workshop is only one of many offered by Tara Galeano. To visit her website for more information about her practice, her workshops, and her free monthly talks, click here: http://www.BoulderSexTherapy.com.

About Tara Galeano

Tara Galeano holds a Master's degree in Psychology from Naropa University and has over a decade of experience in private practice. She worked for four years at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Counseling & Psychological Services and has taught at Naropa University, The University of Colorado at Boulder, and The Colorado School for Family Therapy. She is now a psychotherapist in private practice, where she also continues to serve her clients as an educator and a facilitator.

Ms. Galeano's work brings healing as she helps people understand what divides them by inviting them into dialogue. Her work incorporates individual, couples, and group therapy.

SOURCE Tara Galeano