Alexander Technique Interweave for DBR | Trauma Therapy in Burlington & Ontario

Providing psychotherapy using the Alexander Technique Interweave for Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR-AT) for trauma, PTSD, and nervous system healing — in person in Burlington and virtually across Ontario.

Your Nervous System Has Been Trying to Protect You. It May Be Time to Let It Rest.

You have done everything you thought you were supposed to do. You have gone to therapy. You have built your coping strategies. You may have even made real progress — and yet there is something that has not shifted. A tightness that never fully leaves. A sense of bracing, of waiting for the next difficult thing. A body that still feels, at some level, like it is on guard.

What if that guardedness is not a character flaw or a failure of willpower? What if it is something your nervous system learned — at a level far deeper than thought or memory — and has been maintaining ever since?

The Alexander Technique Interweave for Deep Brain Reorienting works precisely at that level. It is a somatic approach to trauma therapy that addresses not just what you remember, but what your body has been holding — in the muscles of your neck, at the base of your skull, in the way you carry your head — as a residue of experiences that overwhelmed your system long before you had words for them.

The tensions we hold in the head and neck are not merely muscular — they are neurological. And when they release, the nervous system registers something profoundly different: safety.

What Is the Alexander Technique Interweave for DBR (DBR-AT)?

DBR-AT is a somatic interweave component developed through over 11 years of collaboration between two leading practitioners in body-based healing:

Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), developed by Dr. Frank Corrigan, is a body-based trauma therapy that works at the brainstem — the most ancient, evolutionarily primitive part of the nervous system. Rather than beginning with memories or emotions, DBR works with the pre-verbal, pre-cognitive shock responses that your brainstem registered at the moment of overwhelming experience.

The Alexander Technique, developed by F.M. Alexander in the late 19th century, is a practice of somatic re-education that releases deeply habitual patterns of tension — particularly in the head, neck, and spine — restoring what Alexander called the “primary control”: the coordinated, dynamic relationship between the head and the rest of the body.

What Martin Warner and Dr. Corrigan recognized through their collaboration is that these two approaches are not merely compatible — they are neurologically complementary. The suboccipital muscles at the base of the skull sit directly adjacent to the brainstem and are among the most densely innervated in the human body. Chronic tension in this region does not just create physical discomfort. It maintains a low-grade state of nervous system activation — a background hum of threat — that can persist long after the original danger has passed.

The DBR-AT interweave brings Alexander Technique’s embodied precision into the DBR session, allowing the therapist to work with both the neurological sequence of deep brain processing and the somatic pattern of tension that has been holding that sequence in place. The result is a more complete pathway to resolution — one that is felt in the body, not just understood in the mind.

THE NEUROSCIENCE

Why the Base of the Skull Matters in Trauma

The suboccipital region — the muscles and tissue at the base of the skull — sits in direct anatomical proximity to the brainstem structures involved in threat detection and survival response, including the superior colliculus and the periaqueductal grey (PAG). These structures initiate the orienting response: the reflexive shift of attention that occurs before conscious thought is possible.

When we are chronically braced — holding the head forward, collapsing the chest, tightening the throat — we are not simply maintaining poor posture. We are sustaining activation of the very neural circuits involved in survival response. The body is still, in a very real neurological sense, bracing for impact or pain.

Releasing this held tension — gently, precisely, and within the context of a trauma-informed therapeutic relationship — is not a postural adjustment. It is a neurological one. When the holding releases, the nervous system can register something it may not have registered for a very long time: that the threat has passed.

Who Benefits from DBR-AT Therapy?

DBR-AT is particularly well suited for people who:
- Have worked in therapy before but feel like something important has not yet shifted
- Experience chronic tension, pain, or tightness in the neck, shoulders, chest, or jaw that has not responded to physical treatment alone
- Feel a persistent sense of bracing, guardedness, or hypervigilance that seems to have no clear present-day cause
- Find that emotions feel overwhelming or unmanageable, even when they understand cognitively where they come from
- Have experienced early, developmental, or attachment trauma that is difficult to access through talk-based approaches
- Are ready to work at the level of the body, not just the mind
DBR-AT therapy can help you find relief and resolution from:
- Trauma and PTSD — including complex and developmental trauma
- Chronic anxiety, hypervigilance, and the sense of always waiting for something to go wrong
- Dissociation, emotional shutdown, and disconnection from the body
- Chronic physical tension, pain, or somatic symptoms with an emotional root
- Shame, self-criticism, and the deep sense of not being safe in one’s own body
- Relationship and attachment difficulties rooted in early experience

Please Note

There are situations where intensive trauma work may not be the right starting point. These include instances of severe or untreated mental illness, active substance use, or an absence of basic stabilisation and grounding resources. If you are unsure whether DBR-AT therapy is appropriate for you right now, please book a free 15-minute consultation and we can discuss together what kind of support would be most helpful.

Please see our Resources Page for local and provincial supports if you need additional services.

What to Expect in a DBR-AT Session

DBR-AT sessions are gentle, paced, and attentive. You will not be asked to relive your trauma in detail, to describe distressing events at length, or to tolerate flooding emotion. The work is slow by design — because slow is what allows the nervous system to process, rather than simply react.

A typical session moves through the following stages:

Settling	We begin by orienting to the present moment and the space — what DBR calls the ‘Where Self.’ This is not just a warm-up. It is the foundation from which the deeper work becomes possible.
Activation	A stimulus — a memory, a sensation, a pattern — is gently introduced. We are not looking for the story. We are looking for what the body registers as the threat – the “oh oh moment”.
Orienting Tension	Together we identify the subtle tension in the forehead, around the eyes, or at the base of the skull that indicates your brainstem is beginning to engage. This is the entry point for the interweave.
Somatic Interweave	Using Alexander Technique principles, your therapist works with the quality and location of the holding — the suboccipital tension, the bracing, the guarding — to invite a release that the nervous system is ready for. This is not done to you. It is facilitated with you, at your pace, guided always by what is present.
Affect Integration	As safety allows, the emotional layer beneath the shock can surface — not as flooding, but as a natural unfolding that the body can manage and integrate.
Closure	Sessions close with careful attention to resourcing and grounding, ensuring you leave with a sense of settledness rather than activation.

Sessions typically run 50 to 90 minutes. As with DBR, research suggests that a course of 8 weekly sessions produces meaningful and lasting change — though many clients continue beyond this as the work deepens.

What Makes This Different from Standard DBR?

DBR alone is already a deeply effective, neuroscientifically grounded trauma therapy. The Alexander Technique Interweave adds a layer of embodied precision that extends DBR’s reach — specifically into the somatic patterns of holding that can maintain nervous system activation even after significant therapeutic work.

Standard DBR	DBR with AT Interweave
Tracks orienting tension and brainstem shock	Tracks orienting tension and brainstem shock AND works with the somatic holding pattern simultaneously
Works neurologically from the bottom up	Works neurologically from the bottom up AND somatically at the level of muscular and postural holding
Invites the nervous system to complete interrupted responses	Invites completion while also releasing the physical structures that have been sustaining incomplete responses
Therapist guides through verbal and relational attunement	Therapist guides through verbal attunement AND embodied, somatic assessment of the client’s present-moment conditions

Christina Janiga: Training, Credentials & Lineage

Christina Janiga is a Registered Psychotherapist, Certified EMDR Therapist & Approved EMDR Consultant, and DBR Therapist (Levels 1, 2 & 3) based in Burlington, Ontario. She is one of only a small number of therapists in Ontario formally trained in the Alexander Technique Interweave for DBR, and is listed on Martin Warner’s official AT Interweave practitioner directory.

Her DBR-AT training was completed through a 5-day immersive and experiential intensive with Martin Warner — the co-developer of the approach — working directly in the tradition that Martin developed alongside Dr. Frank Corrigan over more than a decade of clinical collaboration.

Training Lineage

Martin Warner — Alexander Teacher, 40+ years experience, trained by Don Weed in the lineage of master teacher Marjorie Barstow, who trained directly with F.M. Alexander

Dr. Frank Corrigan — MD, FRCPsych, NHS Consultant Psychiatrist, originator of Deep Brain Reorienting, researcher in the neurobiology of trauma

Christina Janiga — Registered Psychotherapist, DBR Levels 1, 2 & 3, Certified EMDR Therapist & Consultant, AT Interweave training completed 2026

Read Christina’s blog post about her experience at the training →

Research & Evidence

DBR is an emerging, research-supported therapy with a growing body of peer-reviewed evidence. The Alexander Technique Interweave builds on this foundation by adding somatic precision — it is not a departure from the evidence base, but a clinically grounded extension of it.

THE NEUROSCIENCE

What the Research Shows

A randomized controlled trial (Kearney et al., 2023) demonstrated statistically significant reductions in PTSD symptoms after 8 weekly DBR sessions, with gains maintained at 3-month follow-up.

Research by Dr. Ruth Lanius — one of Canada’s leading trauma neuroscientists — supports DBR’s theoretical model and has contributed to its clinical development.

Contemporary trauma neuroscience — from Bessel van der Kolk’s work on the body keeping the score, to Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, to Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing — consistently points toward the same conclusion: lasting trauma recovery requires working with the body and the subcortical brain, not cognitive reprocessing alone. DBR-AT is firmly within this tradition.

Ready to Experience Deep Brain Healing?

Book a free 15-minute consultation with Christina.

We will talk about where you are and whether DBR-AT therapy is a good fit for you. No obligation — just a conversation.

Invest in your healing.

Investing in yourself is an important step towards finding the lasting change you deserve. By working with a trained trauma therapist, you can reach the root of what has been keeping you stuck — and find a path forward that is authentic, embodied, and sustainable.

First Intake Session

During this initial 90-minute session, you will meet with Christina to establish the therapeutic relationship and discuss informed consent. Christina will gather information about your history and current situation, and together you will set the goals for your work going forward.

View Fees →

Fees vary between therapists.

Ongoing Therapy

Research supports a course of 8 weekly 50-90 minute sessions as a meaningful treatment period. DBR-AT is a slower-paced, gentle therapy — consistency matters, and each session builds on the last. In person (Burlington) and virtual sessions are available across Ontario.

View Fees →

Fees vary between therapists.

More about Christina Janiga Psychotherapy

Our team of registered psychotherapists, certified EMDR therapists, and trauma focused therapists offer a range of evidence-based approaches including EMDR therapy, Deep Brain Reorienting, Brainspotting, and Internal Family Systems (IFS). All of our work is trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming, and grounded in current research on how the brain and nervous system heal.

We offer in-person sessions at our Burlington, Ontario office and virtual sessions across Ontario and select other Canadian provinces.

Related Services & Resources

External Resources

Christina Janiga is a Registered Psychotherapist, Certified EMDR Therapist & Consultant, and DBR Therapist (Levels 1, 2 & 3) based in Burlington, Ontario. She provides in-person and virtual psychotherapy across Ontario, and is one of only a small number of therapists in Ontario formally trained in the Alexander Technique Interweave for DBR.