A Stubborn Case of a Restless Leg

Tom was a young man in his early twenties when he came to see me. He had the restless leg syndrome, and had tried conventional and complementary therapies to address it, with no results. 

I started the first session with an embodied inquiry into the origin of the symptom. Memories surfaced of Tom as a school student, wanting to stand up and move around, but remaining seated to fit the school system’s policies. During the following body-mind coaching sessions Tom connected with his body’s wisdom, learned to listen to his body’s needs and to follow his body’s movement. Tom moved in ways his body had yearned to move but was not allowed, and uttered words he had yearned to say but held back, and brought closure to an unfinished business of an incomplete experience. 

During our work together, Tom revealed to me that even though he wasn’t a school student anymore, he still didn’t follow his need to move when he had to during family gatherings around the dinner table. Together we explored kind and effective ways to communicate to his family his need to move and practiced his assertive communication during our sessions.

The restless leg syndrome subsided and hasn’t returned.