Rebuilding our Foundations. A workshop using Pesso Boyden in Folkestone

Pesso Boyden all day Group workshop, Sunday May 11th

Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor (PBSP) Workshop

A unique and revolutionary method that, using a group approach, revisits – and then allows us to rewrite – past experiences in a supportive, gentle, and respectful space. This process helps us reshape deeply ingrained imprints from childhood, creating new memories and ways of feeling about the past that can profoundly impact how we experience the present and future.

These ‘new memories’ become part of a strong and positive inner framework, allowing us to see our childhood and past rooted in safety and love. This steady foundation enables us to re-emerge into our current lives feeling more confident, unrestrained, and joyful.

For Participant Booking – £40

Please book via Eventbrite.

For Client Booking (bringing your own issue)– £100

If you would like to attend as a client and have your own PBSP structure facilitated, please email your request to: hello@sashamaye.co.uk

Please note: There are limited Structure (client) spaces available, so book early to secure your place. Confirmation of your booking will be sent via email.

CPD: Psychotherapists can earn 7 hours of CPD for attending the workshop.

WHAT IS PESSO BOYDEN SYSTEM PSYCHOMOTOR (PBSP)?

PBSP is a pioneering therapy that allows us to return to key moments in our past and rewrite them in a way that feels safe, comfortable, and loving. By working with a group of people, each of whom might stand in for a family member or loved one, we can effectively stage-manage moments or situations from childhood that have had a deep impact on how we view and exist in the world today.

For example, someone who had a distant mother who never picked them up from school might use PBSP to imagine a warm and connected mother who longed to be there. A participant would play that part, enacting how this ideal mother might have shown up for their child. Being able to physically and emotionally return to these moments—while experiencing them differently—fundamentally changes how we feel about them.

As Bessel van der Kolk, acclaimed neuropsychologist and author of The Body Keeps the Score, explains:

"Protagonists became the directors of their own plays, creating around them the past they never had, and they clearly experienced profound physical and mental relief after these imaginary scenarios."

WHAT HAPPENS IN A PBSP SESSION?

PBSP sessions take place in a group setting, with participants supporting each other’s process. Each person takes a turn as the Issue Holder, exploring a personal challenge with the help of others who stand in as significant people or symbolic elements of their past.

The therapist gently guides the process, helping the Issue Holder track emotions and body sensations, making links between present struggles and past experiences. Through this, they are invited to reimagine how these memories could have played out in a way that provides safety, love, and belonging.

Even those who attend as participants, without working on their own history, often find the process deeply moving and insightful.

WHY DOES THIS WORK?

Talking therapies allow us to verbalize and understand our past, but they don’t always change how we feel about it. PBSP is different—it works directly with the body’s implicit memory, allowing us to physically and emotionally re-experience moments in a way that leads to deep and lasting change.

We live our lives through our bodies. When we feel triggered or emotionally activated, it is because our bodies are remembering and recreating past experiences, both physically and emotionally. While we can intellectually understand these reactions, we cannot simply think our way out of them.

As van der Kolk describes:

"It offers the possibility of forming virtual memories that live side by side with the painful realities of the past and provide sensory experiences of feeling seen, cradled, and supported that can serve as antidotes to memories of hurt and betrayal."

By rewriting these experiences in a structured and embodied way, PBSP helps us install imprints of safety and comfort where there was once fear and abandonment. This process provides a new internal foundation for being in the world—one where we live larger, freer, and more joyful lives.

FACILITATOR THERAPISTS

Sasha Maye is a member of the UKCP and has trained in Contemporary Psychotherapy, which was developed by Pamela Gawler-Wright of the BeeLeaf Institute in London. This training integrates approaches from a variety of therapies, including understanding from psychodynamic, Gestalt, existential, systemic NLP and advances in neuroscience. In addition to this training, Sasha has a background in coaching and leadership in digital organisations, and is a mental health first aider. Sasha facilitates Ecstatic Dance Folkestone and is a sound practitioner. Sasha is trained as a Pesso Boyden Therapist and has been part of the Pesso community in the UK since 2017 when she was introduced to the method in a London group.

Mick Sands is an experienced Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor therapist, and has a Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Contemporary Psychotherapy. Mick has a background in secondary and special education, professional theatre and music, and extensive experience in therapeutic communities, learning disability, social and palliative care. He has worked for the last three years in Number 42's Reduced Fee Service in London Bridge. In his therapy practice, Mick works with a broad range of life issues including relationships, self-esteem, anxiety, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, depression, loss, trauma, family history, and life fulfilment.

Contact for more information if you are not sure about booking

hello@sashamaye.co.uk

Quotes from previous workshops:

"It might just transform you from historical trauma"

"I got so much out of the workshop it’s hard to put it into word. I’m still very much digesting the experience but it has given me faith in humanity and the power to heal. The sense of community support was deeply nourishing and the boundaries put in place made it feel like a really safe space to let go."

"Have already recommended it to a couple of people who are doing talk therapy on family issues that aren't shifting. A great, safe way to do more embodied, communal practice that I think is really powerful."

"It's an opportunity to be real in a safe place with the good will of ordinary people"