Why We Start at the Gentlest Level

Starting at the gentlest setting means a first session is run at the shortest duration and the smallest number of sensor placements the equipment allows. It is an operating rule at this practice, applied to everyone, regardless of how eager or experienced a person is.

The rule is written down rather than left to the mood of the day, because rules that live only in someone's judgement quietly drift.

What does the gentlest setting actually mean here?

It means the shortest session the equipment supports, the fewest placement points, and a single pass rather than several. In practice a first visit involves less active time than a second one, and considerably less than a fifth.

It also means more talking. The first session includes a longer explanation, more pauses, and more checking in than later sessions do, which is why the appointment slot is not shorter even though the active part is.

None of this is a watered down version of a real session. It is the same equipment doing the same thing for less time.

Why not start where the person wants to start?

Because nobody, including us, can predict how a given person responds to their first session. Responses vary widely, and the variation is not correlated with how motivated somebody is or how much they have read.

If a first session is gentle and you notice nothing at all, we have learned something useful and lost forty minutes. If a first session is long and you feel unpleasantly wrung out that evening, we have learned the same thing at a much higher cost to you.

That asymmetry is the whole argument. The downside of starting too gently is boredom. The downside of starting too heavily is a bad evening and a person who does not come back.

What kinds of after-effects are we being careful about?

The commonly reported ones are tiredness, a heavy-limbed feeling, mild lightheadedness on standing, and occasionally a dull headache the same evening. These are ordinary and they pass, but they are more likely after a longer first session than a short one.

A smaller number of people report the opposite, a wired feeling that makes an early night harder. That is also more likely when a first session is pushed long.

We tell people about both directions before the session rather than afterwards. Being warned that you might feel tired is very different from feeling tired and wondering whether something has gone wrong.

How does a session get less gentle over time?

Slowly, and only in response to what you report. After each session the practitioner notes duration, placement, and what you said afterwards. The next session moves one variable, not three.

Moving one variable at a time is the only way to know which change mattered. If duration, placement, and frequency all change at once and your week goes differently, the record tells you nothing.

This is also why we ask for a plain answer about the hours after a session rather than a rating out of ten. A sentence about what your evening was like is more useful than a number without context.

Does starting gently mean paying for a session that does less?

You pay the same for a first session as for any other, and that is worth stating plainly because it looks unfair on paper.

What you are paying for is the appointment, the room, the practitioner's time, and the record that makes the next visit better informed. The first visit carries the longest conversation and the most careful setup, which is where the time goes.

If that trade does not appeal, book a consultation first instead. A consultation is a shorter conversation with no session attached, and it exists precisely so nobody feels pushed into paying to find out what the room looks like.

What would make us not run a session at all?

A few practical situations. If you arrived unwell, if you have not slept at all, if you are in the middle of an acute crisis, or if you tell us you feel pressured into being there by someone else, we will use the appointment as a conversation and reschedule the session.

We also stop mid-session on request without discussion. The sensors come off, the equipment goes back in the case, and the rest of the slot is yours to talk or to leave.

Any question about whether sessions are suitable alongside care you already receive belongs with your own clinician. We can describe what the equipment does. We cannot advise you about your health, and we will say so rather than guess.

Is this rule ever waived for someone experienced?

Not at this practice, including for people who have had many sessions elsewhere. A record from another provider tells us about their equipment and their conventions, not ours.

It also means a returning client after a long gap starts gently again. Six months away is enough that the last record is a historical document rather than a current one.

The rule survives contact with impatience because the cost of following it is small and visible, while the cost of breaking it lands on somebody else's evening.

What does a practitioner do when someone asks to skip ahead?

They explain the reasoning and then say no. People do ask, usually because they have read something or because a first session felt like nothing much happened, and both are understandable reasons.

The answer is that a setting you have not sat through yet is not information, it is a guess. Skipping the first steps removes the only baseline available, and if something feels unpleasant later there is then no earlier state to compare it against.

What we will do is talk through the schedule so the pace is visible rather than mysterious. Knowing that the next few visits follow a stated sequence takes most of the frustration out of a slow start.