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Foggy.
Flat.
Going through
the motions.

Shift what talking hasn’t, without saying a word about it.

Small group breathwork & bodywork · Preston, South Ribble & Chorley, Lancashire · and online

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Does any of this sound familiar?

In your head

  • You get everything done and feel nothing about any of it.
  • Small things overwhelm you now, and they never used to.
  • A simple decision takes all day.
  • You’re round the same cycle again, watching it happen.
  • You can’t remember when you last felt properly excited about anything.

In your body

  • You’re tired in a way that sleep doesn’t touch.
  • Your jaw is set before you have opened your eyes.
  • Your shoulders live somewhere near your ears.
  • Your breath never quite gets all the way down.
  • Wired at midnight, flat at nine in the morning.

In your life

  • On paper everything is fine, and you know it isn’t.
  • You’re burnt out, and people still need things from you.
  • You please everyone else and get no pleasure back.
  • You say you are fine because it’s shorter than explaining.
  • You have stopped making plans because you never feel up to them.

If more than one of these sounds like you, it doesn’t have to stay this way.

See what happens in the room

The progression

Burnout, and what comes after it.

Stress is pressure, and it lifts when the pressure does. Burnout is what stress becomes when it never lets up, and it doesn’t lift on its own.

Running on empty

Still coping and shattered. Short fuse. Sleep that doesn’t refill anything. You’ll sort it out once this month is over, and then another month turns up.

Burnt out

Coping has stopped working. The night before work has a feeling attached to it now. Everything, including the easy stuff, is an effort.

Frozen

Past caring. Still wired and scanning, or gone flat and far away. Plenty of people get both at once: accelerator flat down, handbrake fully on.

You don’t have to be at the end of that list to come. Most people in the room are somewhere in the middle, which is a considerably easier place to turn things round from.

The wall

Have you hit the wall?

It doesn’t get dramatic. There’s no breakdown, no single moment where someone steps in and says enough. Something happened, and your body decided it wasn’t getting caught out again. So it braced, and it never really stood down.

Walls aren’t built out of thoughts. They’re built out of what happened — and no amount of thinking takes them down.

So this work doesn’t go at your thoughts. It goes at the body that built the wall.

Why the wall goes up, and what it costs

What actually happens in the room

Here’s the process I actually follow to shift it.

Talk got it into words. It never got it out of your body. That’s the bit this is for.

  1. Breath opens the door

    Five stages, each doing a different job, at whatever pace is right for you. Usually the fog clears.

  2. You go toward it

    Hands, chest, jaw, rather than watching from behind your eyes. Then I ask you to let go of something, out loud, and mean it.

  3. Something may move

    Shaking, sound, tears, a long breath out that has been waiting years. Sometimes nothing moves, and that’s an ordinary session, not a failed one.

  4. Then we put something back

    You’re told, plainly, that you were never broken. Then music, warmth, and lying down with nothing asked of you.

The full session, start to finish

Afterwards

What people notice afterwards.

Nothing here is about fixing you. It’s about clearing enough of the noise that you can hear yourself again.

  • Your head quietens

    Most people find the noise thins out enough to think past the end of the week again.

  • Something loosens

    Whatever you have been gripping quietly lets go a little, and you never had to find words for it.

  • You feel your own body again

    Hands, chest, breath. If you have spent years living from the neck up, that on its own is worth the afternoon.

The honest bit

Most people sleep well that night. I don’t, so I’m not going to promise you will. Some people have a big experience, some a quiet one, some feel very little. None of it is guaranteed.

Trauma informed, consent led, start to finish

This work can only go as deep as safety allows.

That isn’t a caution. It’s the whole mechanism. I’m trained to work with what the body is holding, not to push past it. Everything here is an invitation and nothing is an instruction.

Everything is welcome

People cry, shout, laugh, or feel almost nothing. Nobody in the room is judging any of it, including me. If you cry, nobody rushes in to stop it.

You set the pace

Nobody pushes air into you or checks you are doing it hard enough. Stop when you want. Sit one out.

Boundaries are part of the work

Practising a boundary in a room where it will be respected isn’t the warm-up. It’s the thing itself.

Nobody will ask what brought you

Sharing is offered, never required. No hugging, no hand-holding, no eye contact unless you want it.

It stays at a level you can handle

I keep the intensity where you can meet it, and bring it down when it needs to come down. You get ways to ground yourself before we start, and we use them.

Touch is consent led, all the way through

Nothing hands-on happens without your yes, and you can withdraw it at any moment, without a word.

Nobody has to explain themselves at the door. To be clear, I’m not your therapist or your doctor: this isn’t a substitute for care you need. It’s somewhere to put it down for a few hours.

Coming up

Find your session.

New sessions appear here as soon as they’re listed, each with its own name, date and price. If there are none yet, leave your email and you’ll hear first.

Before you book.

The four questions nearly everyone asks first. The rest, with the full answers, are on the FAQ page.

I have never done this. Will I be out of my depth?
No. Most rooms have several first-timers and everything is explained from the start. It isn’t a cult. It’s a room in Lancashire with some mats in it.
What if I feel nothing?
It happens and it’s normal. Some people have a big experience, some a quiet one. Neither means anything about you.
Do I have to talk?
Not one word. There’s a chance to share afterwards if you want it, and nobody minds at all if you don’t. Everything is an invitation.
Is there anyone who shouldn’t do this?
Yes, and I’d rather tell you now than at the door. Some things are a no and some need a conversation first. Message me before you book. The full list is on the who shouldn’t do this page.
Nothing to believe in. Just breathe.

You don’t have to believe in a higher power, or belong to any faith. This isn’t faith based, and it works alongside whatever you do believe. Turn up, breathe, see what happens. Worst case, you have a lie down.

All the questions, answered
Richard Porter, who runs Unfrozen, sitting cross-legged on a mat in a park

I’m Richard

I’m not writing any of this from the outside.

A few years ago I was the one going through the motions. Foggy, isolated, coping well enough that nobody asked. This work is what got me out of it.

I’m a certified somatic bodywork facilitator, trained in trauma-informed, body-led work: 300 hours over eight months, a good deal longer than most practitioners in this field train for.

What I want from these sessions is simple. That you’re met with the same kindness and lack of judgement I would want if I were the one lying on the floor.

Something you would rather ask before booking? It comes to me, not to an inbox somebody else checks. — richard@unfrozen.co.uk

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Ready to feel human again?

No experience needed.

Small groups, consent led. Preston, South Ribble, Chorley and online.

Save my place