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24 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k s e p t e m b e r / o c t o b e r 2 0 2 0 CLASSROOM TO CLIENT education Surfacing Hidden Suffering How to Respond to Client Emotions By Cindy Williams COVID-19. Social distancing. Quarantine isolation. Quarantine suffocation. Sickness. Death. Loss of work. Loss of income. Racial injustice. Protests. Violence. Politics. Division. All are challenging experiences that are very real in our world right now. Add all of them together, and the resulting emotions of grief, anxiety, sadness, and fear are left to be navigated. Suffering and overwhelm are given fertile ground to cultivate and grow, sometimes unconsciously. We are all affected on some level; some clients realize it, while others do not. As clients return to your table, the possibility of emotions rising to the surface as you come into contact with the neuromuscular and fascial structures that hold them is inevitable. How, then, can you support your clients when these emotions arise? If you are a new therapist, you might find yourself on uneasy ground or feel unequipped. You are not a psychotherapist, after all. You do, however, possess a special opportunity to shift the tide toward release and healing by using a few simple, appropriate approaches.