How photography and pain source release are similar
There’s a stillness in photography and pain source release (PSR). A kind of listening, without speech or sound, that demands focus and calm. Both require trust in the process, even when you can’t see where it’s leading. This journal is a space to reflect how these two practices have challenged me in ways that are deeply personal, even when I didn’t realise it at first. It’s about loving what I do more than what I fear. This will be a help; not just to me, but maybe to you too.
It's 2025, and I’ve been working with PSR since 2001. It’s not massage, and it’s not your typical therapy. I learned that feeling the body’s subtle movements was my strength. PSR relies on intuition, patience and following with no force. It’s about connecting, sensing change and staying present. I have autism which has given me heightened senses and when working with either PSR or photography I can allow them to come to the surface. Then I feel like I am being totally authentic. Helping others heal while finding out who I am.
For over 20 years PSR has been my life’s work. I discovered this way of working when I had a stall at Honeysuckle markets where I was giving short seated massages to people in the open and fully clothed. It was there that I realised that I was feeling movement that was coming from the client – the more I concentrated on it, the more I could follow it. I could use pressure without pain in the right place. Then it got its name when I did a course called pain source release and the way the teacher worked matched what I was already doing, so the name just clicked.
My journey hasn’t been easy – autism has had its challenges and life’s hardships have shaped me. But those same challenges gave me patience, intuition and a way to connect with others. This work gave me a focus when I needed one. I probably have some form of PTSD that I need to work on still, but I use can my autistic traits to calm it, and challenge my thinking when I go out on a photographic journey.
PSR helped me in my healing journey first – photography came later. COVID. It seemed that I would have to stop working and it made me think – what would I do if I couldn’t do PSR. I was able to work again after the Government changed the rules and made me an essential worker, but it did make me think about having more of a work/life balance. That’s when I started to think about photography.
Now I am using photography to push myself. I like to walk, so I put my camera in my backpack and catch a bus to whatever suburb I am going to walk around on the day. Just doing that simple thing really helps me. After about 20 minutes of walking and feeling the atmosphere and seeing what I can visualise in the camera I start to feel more relaxed and grounded. I have started using social media – Facebook and Instagram and have this website for both pain source release and San’s Snaps. I am not sure where that is going to go yet, but it is a way of being seen (which I have always avoided), getting out of my comfort zone and gives me another reason to go out and photograph the suburbs.