Our Services
Holarchy of Subtle Needs
We call this S8. Sensitive eight, sensitive ATE. Some of us are experiencing many things all at once in our sensory processing. The custodian and care provider for subtle self, @x, discovered that sensory sensitive humans do not seem to follow the theories of human development as they were taught. @x studied family and human development and one of the theories presented was Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. @x could see how this made sense in some ways but did not relate to it themself. @x also learned that this theory was taken by Maslow from people indigenous to the land we now call the United States and colonized in a way that has been harmful for all. As @x continued to work with sensory sensitive populations, they discovered that a more useful theory seemed to be starting with transcendent needs rather than working one’s way up to them. @x progressively understood the importance of sensory sensitive bodies meeting these eight general needs happening all at once starting with transcendence and slowly distilling and deciding and disappointing down to physiological needs. Rather than a hierarchy moving upwards, it was a manifestation downwards into the sharpness of the physiological that comes from the subtle transcendent. For many with a subtle self, so much pain and confusion and illness comes from trying to fit into ways of being that are not their natural ways of being. Understanding how someone with a subtle self works then allows a more functional process of meeting needs. Anyone who does not meet their needs will be sick, and some with so much subtlety have been adapting to a world that does not see them in order to strive to live. Understanding and working with the Holarchy of Subtle Needs as a new model allows for life to work for you as a subtle being rather than you working for life simply to not be left behind by a style of being that will never support you. This is exhausting, burnout is inevitable. And, it takes time to adjust one’s whole frame of life. The Holarchy of Subtle Needs is the theory and frame that is utilized throughout all subtle self work. @x developed cards called Elements of Sensitivity that contain practices to work with the Holarchy of Subtle Needs in a specific and daily way. These cards can be a great way to get to know more about your subtle needs and practice working with them. To see more about all of this, click here.
Psychedelic Integration
We call this S7. Sensitive seven, sensitive HEAVEN. As a particular addition to on-going processing, we offer asynchronous entheogenic support from the comfort of your home. You can come together virtually to prepare, experience, process, and integrate psychedelic experiences. In the continued spirit of trusting you to know what you know and having support in holding that space, we work with a framework of 7 months together from the space of your choosing virtually so that you can focus on being with yourself primarily during the process yet also supported. We first go through introduction where you can explore your intentions, history, understanding, curiosity, fears, needs, and more related to psychedelics and the process you are in. Next we move into setting clear intentions and plans for your first psychedelic experience. Then we plan your first psychedelic experience from your home or in-office in upstate NY that is timed with on-call support in mind from the care provider. Following this experience and continuing throughout the time together, there is space to process and integrate how your experience was for you and meaningful, intentional applications of the experience. Ongoing planned psychedelic experiences continue from your home or in-office, again timed for on-call support. More integration will accompany the following days and weeks. We find that planning on at least three psychedelic experiences allows for each one to be a part of a process of support that helps you to decide better how you want to shape the next experience and to not put more pressure than needed on the initial experience or each experience as it is happening. Depending on your needs, the substance being worked with, and what is agreed upon together there could be many more psychedelic experiences together. The final month includes overall reflection, processing, and planning related to integrating these experiences into your coming year and life. You can set up a consultation here to get started and find out more about this care philosophy related to psychedelics and subtle self.
True Stories
We call this S6. Sensitive six, sensitive SICKS. If we don’t see our stories represented in media around us, that contributes to our sense of not existing and not being able to exist. You are real. Your life is real. You are here, and so is your story. For many—if not all—of us, the experience of our life getting better started with hearing a story. It was a different story than we were used to, a new story. A story that we felt ourselves in. It gave us a new sense of hope or possibility, or at least the sense that there was something more than what we currently had access to. Another current running somewhere nearby, maybe closer to our reach than we realized if only we had some kind of guidance to get there. For @x, there were many stories, and one that stands out as a first dramatic shift was by Virginia Woolf called Professions for Women about killing the angel in the house. @x is pretty sure Virginia would have identified with having a subtle self. There are so many stories that have hurt us and saved us. S6 is where your story can be told. It is where you can hear others’ stories and find yourself in them. They can be opportunities and options to see how others are living like you and may create new visions of what you might like to try next. Consider how you might like to dive into these subtle worlds now, and consider sharing your own. Coming soon…
Week-Long Intensives
We call this S5. Sensitive five, sensitive LIVE. This is a personalized intensive or retreat. You will work with @x one-on-one to craft and collaborate on creating the space you need that will most support you. @x will use their expertise to guide in offering suggestions and recommendations and you can notice what it is that feels most supportive to your needs. It can be in-person in upstate New York, or it can be virtual via live video and/or phone. @x can work with you to find local accommodations and transportation in or near Spencertown, NY or work out a virtual schedule to meet from wherever you may be. It can be 3 to 5 days long, working together for 2 to 3 hours per day with the option to take a day in between as a break. There is no one right way to do it and it is absolutely important to listen to oneself and all needs, limits, and resources available to work with at any given time. For those who are able and ready to have a significant reset in the way they do things, this work is invaluable. For those who have insurance coverage, claims can be submitted for this work. For those who are paying out-of-pocket, payment plans are available. All agreements can be worked out and completed prior to confirming your meaningful time to deeply focus on you, together. To set up a consultation, the first step of the process of joining a week-long intensive, click here.
On-Going Processing
We call this S4. Sensitive four, sensitive FOR. With the use of an app as your special virtual space together, and the ability to leave asynchronous messages in text or image or video or audio form, you can have this subtle self work with you all the time, anywhere. Individual one-on-one work as well carefully curated groups of 4 individuals are brought together based on need and desire to work through weekly prompts and process anything and everything together as it arises. A care provider will check in to provide prompts, guide processing, follow-up on questions, and hold space for individual and group processing. This style of work is convenient, integrates right into your life, and allows you to meet and work with people you might be missing right now. A common frustration expressed by the sensory sensitive folks @x has worked with is that they do not know how or where to meet other people who are living and working in similar ways. This is where and how. You have the opportunity to develop on-going relationships that can deepen with time, brought together by a similar desire for needs-based communication with a sense of shared power. Sometimes socializing feels pretty awful to sensory sensitive people when it is hierarchical and based on adapting to the rules of a system. This kind of social interaction through the app starts with the transcendent, and can go very deep or be very brief and direct. It can be adapted to whatever you have the space and need for. You can request particular needs or wishes related to the people you are partnered with. Communication guidelines will be presented to support shared power and needs-based communication, and the rest will be based on who you each are and how you shape your individual or group work together. Read more about this opportunity here.
Workshops + Practices
We call this S3. Sensitive three, sensitive FREE. These offerings are totally free resources meant to be simple and freely available to support you in experiencing sensitive freedom. Sometimes being very sensitive can seem only limiting. All of us at some time or another have wished we were not so sensitive. All of us. For some of us it may be gluten and food sensitivities causing challenges, for others it may be the weather or the full moon amping us up when we want to sleep or causing a headache and sleepiness when we want to be awake, and for most of us it is emotions—our own and others’—just running amok and confusing or overwhelming us. Let alone when there is a stimulation storm of many things happening all once that collides with being under-resourced—tired, hungry, triggered, or isolated. And some of us seem to be picking up on all of it in big ways all the time. We cannot fix or get rid of our sensitivity, we can learn to work with it though. And when we partner with it, things can be easier. Sometimes much easier than you might believe. Working against our sensitivity is often what makes being so sensitive so hard. It’s not even the sensitivity itself, it’s the ideas and habits and socialization we have about it. Simple practices can show you how it can be different. And when you use them over time and come back to them as needed, things can shift in pretty big ways. These recorded video workshops that walk you through practices are recommended and used throughout subtle self work, for free and always available to you as you need them. Please feel free to share them and work with them with others or on your own. The more we all know about this, the better it is for all—especially those of us who have been missed. To find these recordings and receive updates as new ones are added, click here.
Community
We call this S2. Sensitive two, sensitive TOO. We suspect that if you’re here reading this, you have been told you’re “too sensitive”… by yourself if not someone else. Sensitivity is how we are all alive. It is how we gather information. It is communication and interaction. It can definitely be a lot when you are feeling everything all the time very deeply. And when it is seen as pathology and treated as something that needs to be fixed, it creates a barrier to being a human and simply existing. This community is the space where we are all sensitive TOO. And that is great. It is also just who we are. And we are also more than sensitive, we have hobbies and interests and basic questions along with deep ones. It makes a world of difference when you can speak with someone else who is sensitive too and not have to get hung up on the sensitivity. When you can hold and make space for others to be all that they are and you can experience the same there is a kind of power and generosity that flows. When you can relate to each other’s fundamental experience of life then it can just be a part of your day rather than a huge barrier to your day. Join in with a community who discusses topics together in online forums, meets together independently and collectively through Zoom, and practices being sensitive too. Click here to join.
Blog + Newsletter
We call this S1. Sensitive one, sensitive WON. This is where we share insights, philosophy, research, and all that is up and coming with subtle self. We combine all of our systemic, therapeutic, psychological, physiological, philosophical, educational understandings and resources in a way that may be different than you have accessed elsewhere. We believe whole-heartedly in sensitive ones and that your existence is an indication that sensitive won, already. We are not trying to fight against sensitivity, we are learning to work with it. You can find blog archives of all writing, educational practices and resources, and automatically receive updates and posts right to your email inbox as they happen by clicking here to subscribe to this newsletter.
1-1 Therapy
Ane ‘ax’ Axford, LMFT meets for individual and relational therapy with a limited amount of people. You can see their profile here if you are interested to explore therapy together. We are also looking for therapists who are interested in this work to provide contracted therapy while receiving clinical supervision. If you are interested in having ax as a virtual practice supervisor and clinical supervisor, please reach out.
Additional Resources
There are so many wonderful resources, more than ever, to support your sensitive self and neurodiversity in all its forms. There are smart, caring, brave people doing all kinds of wonderful work to serve us all. There are books, tools, websites, and many things to explore. Here are some that we love, that we have tried. We are always interested to find out about and share more helpful resources, so please reach out if you think there’s something we should add to our list.