Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lorna Clansey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lorna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I had trained as life coach back in 2004 and loved the potential that work held, but I felt that there was a piece missing, and that was the physical body. I felt that there was so much held in the body that couldn’t be accessed by talking. I had an idea that I wanted to train in a discipline that had roots in both Eastern and Western philosophy, and I tried out many avenues and did a lot of research, but hadn’t found anything that felt right. I was about to leave my corporate role in Publishing and pursue a role as a coach for a young person’s charity and had a trip to Sri Lanka booked to celebrate my 30th birthday. And that trip changed the trajectory of my life as I met an Amatsu Practitioner there, who was also on holiday. After spending some time with her, I knew that this was the modality that I was looking for and it has been the centre of my professional offerings ever since.
I guess the lessons from this for me was that I had never heard of Amatsu when I found it, but I was on an earnest search for something and I was quite clear about the attributes I was looking for. I think this supported me in energetically being drawn to the right place to find it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Over the years my work has evolved. My main work is still with Amatsu, a Japanese therapy derived from martial arts principles of movement. Thousands of years ago, martial artists discovered a way to support the recovery of injury using a hands-on method of movement, pressure and release that looked to actually ‘unwind’ the impact of the blow out of the limb or body part. The central understanding in Amatsu is that everything in the body is connected, so pain in one specific part may originate from somewhere else entirely. This is not referred pain, but rather the understanding that injury/postural habits etc quite literally cause our body to change shape and this can lead to pain – anywhere.

I tend to work with people in pain who have tried many other approaches first and still not found sustained relief. I only work with those people who I feel I can help, and who are as committed to their recovery as I am to supporting that. For that reason, I speak to every person before I see them and do not offer one-off sessions.

Over the course of my 14 years in practice, I have also trained in energywork and during the pandemic, I started offering my work remotely. I began by experimenting with my husband on a Zoom call, him in one room and me in another. I wanted to test his body physically and then try to ‘give him a treatment’, moving as I would if I had my hands on his physical body, and then come back an re-test. I was delighted to see that I could create change, even from another room. I asked clients to volunteer and offered free sessions in return for feedback and all of them felt a change in their physical body.

This work helped me enormously in developing my skills of working with energy and I now offer my services to people from all over the world who feel stuck in some way, either physically or in their life generally. These are often people who have had some sort of talking therapy and tried many different approaches, but are still feeling ‘held back’ in some way.

I guess the thing that I’d like potential clients to know is that one of the things I am most proud of is how many people describe feeling ‘safe’ when they work with me.

My greatest joy in my work is supporting people in their growth, but in a realistic and sustainable way. I understand that it is exciting and interesting to work with energy and have big experiences, but it’s how we integrate them into our lives and bring about the changes that we wish to make that can be the most challenging. I support that process and encourage my clients to grow within the context of their life as it is now.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

My business grew slowly over many years. I think having a corporate role (that I gradually reduced the hours in) allowed me to learn and evolve at a reasonable pace without burnout and I didn’t have to struggle financially, even though I had to be mindful of my outgoings.

I had the freedom to be discerning in the type of clients I took on, and have integrity in my work. After the first couple of years in practice, working with many different people, I knew the type of person I wanted to work with and I could take only these people on – and then make a real difference to their life. This helped me to get many clients through word of mouth.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I suffered from severe post-natal anxiety and depression after the birth of my son, but I continued to be able to work throughout that episode. My work provided a space for me to continue to be ‘expert’ where the rest of my life, I felt totally out of my depth. It became a sanctuary for me, a thread of familiarity and continuity as I struggled with my mental health. Although it caused immense distress to me and my family, I also know that I have learnt a huge amount from that time in my life that has deepened my capacity for empathy and compassion. It has spurred me to research more deeply and complete online training with Gabor Maté so that I can better support my clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lornaclansey.com
• Instagram: lorna.clansey
• Facebook: Lorna Clansey Amatsu and Wellbeing

Image Credits

Anders Gramer