ABOUT

Susan Henning

I have been fortunate to study with a number of extraordinary people, whose guidance led me on a path I would otherwise not have known existed.  The deep pursuit of a self awareness that links one with all is a demanding spiritual practice and it relies on the living, physiological organism which is me.  

My first Sensing workshop with Charlotte Selver and Charles Brooks was in 1970 on the magical island of Monhegan, off the coast of Maine.  That summer, as I turned 19 I felt it was the true beginning of my life – my embodied life. At that time, I was an art student at university.  My experience of the Work called “Sensory Awareness” transformed my perception of the world. I had imagined life to be a straight and narrow path. Being present in the moment revealed life’s infinite possibilities.

And so followed the next 20 years. I immersed myself in spiritual practices while exploring worldly occupations. The profession of physical therapy presented itself as a way to serve others, that could help relieve pain and improve physical function, but even more powerfully, could offer to people in bodily distress the potential of a new, sensed experience of self and embodiment.

In 1987 I re-entered deeply into the practice of Sensory Awareness. Through this work I met my husband, Hans, and later gave birth to our son, Max.  Hans and I had the extraordinary opportunity of living with Charlotte for 3 years following Charles’ passing. We relocated to North Carolina but continued to re-unite with Charlotte for summers on Monhegan Island until her death in 2003.

My profession, my marriage, the birth of my son and my private physical therapy practice – all this I attributed to the transformative power of Sensing.

In my professional life, I explored multiple physical therapy methodologies seeking ways to help people in pain and out of balance find pain-free equilibrium. When in 2002, I was introduced to the revolutionary framework of Postural Restoration formulated by Ron Hruska, MPA, PT, the world of physical therapy also expanded exponentially for me. This understanding of 3-dimensional, asymmetrical, biomechanical function recognizes the respiratory and neurological drivers of our experience of being bodies. In Postural Restoration, Sensing, breath and position are foundational components of effective treatment for pain and biomechanical dysfunction. At last, the link between Sensing and physical therapy became clear.

Over the years in treating hundreds of patients I have seen the power of acknowledging our asymmetrical nature, of recognizing the intricate inter-connectedness of our biological systems and our biomechanical movement, and of appreciating our inextricable inter-connectedness with the living world we inhabit. 

Early in 2020, I resumed giving Sensing classes — both for my own centering and to share with others.