Somatic Therapy and the Embodiment of Pleasure: A Blog in Honour of Pride Month
As Pride Month comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting deeply on the meaning of pride—not just as a celebration, but as a lived, embodied experience.
I work with many clients from the LGBTQ+ community, and they have been some of my greatest teachers in what it means to live with presence, creativity, and authenticity. Their courage to feel, to question, and to fully be in their bodies has transformed the way I understand healing.
This month, I encountered the work of Adrienne Maree Brown and her revolutionary approach to pleasure activism. I also watched the Pee-Wee Herman documentary—an unexpected but powerful reminder of how imagination, outrageousness, and creativity can be tools of liberation. Like my clients, these figures model how prioritizing joy and play can be acts of resistance.
In somatic therapy, we explore what it means to feel “right” in your body—but not just right. We invite the possibility of feeling really good. That includes joy, sensuality, sexuality, play, and fun. So often, therapy is framed around pain and dysfunction. But what if the work is also about learning how to feel more alive?
I didn’t attend the Pride parade this year, but I celebrated in my own way—by reflecting, listening, and honouring what I’ve learned from those I walk alongside in the healing journey. I’m especially aware of how important space and place are in creating a sense of safety and belonging. The design of New Pathways has been shaped, in part, by the queer community—by people who dared to imagine spaces where creativity and difference are celebrated.
This month, inspired by Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, I decided to reimagine our waiting area. I want it to be more than a neutral zone—it should be an experience. A space of curiosity and co-creation. A place that invites you to leave behind the everyday and step into something more playful, more imaginative, more you.
Therapy at New Pathways isn’t about passively receiving treatment. It’s a collaboration. A cocreation. A brave space where you can explore who you are becoming. There is room for your grief, your rage, your history of being excluded or misunderstood. And just as importantly, there is room for your joy, your laughter, and your desire to play.
To my queer and trans clients, especially the elders and mentors who have paved the way for the younger generations—thank you. Your work, your wisdom, and your pleasure are changing lives. You are changing me.
As Adrienne Maree Brown reminds us:
“Pleasure is the measure of our liberation.”
You are showing all of us how to be more free.