What is the point of self development?

What is the point of self development?
(Spoiler - despite the name - it’s all about the collective)

The context
Our very western personal development industry has individualism threaded all the way through it.

A great deal of it has us off in therapy rooms, away on retreats, behind closed doors in somewhat homogenic yoga studios, online in closed containers “doing the work”.

While stepping back from our routines and habits and being in deep reflection is a key part of the self awareness, self acceptance and self commitment that any kind of change requires - I would argue that these experiences are over individualised and miss a key part - the collective.

Naming the capitalism issue
In some part this is fuelled by the dominant capitalist model of business. Putting a boundary around the support offer makes it easier to define, market to a particular set of folks, set a price for, rinse and repeat. And yes, we all have bills to pay, we all have a tendency to do it this way - but it very much puts the emphasis on the individual inner world and less focus on the vital effect this has on the world around us.

Creating union
One of the key principles of most wellness work is a return to wholeness. You may have experienced or led people in experiences that orientate to a union of mind and body and soul, an exploration of the range of states available to you - calm and activated, a reclamation of abandoned parts, a remembering of who you are under all the conditioning, a reconciliation of authenticity and belonging, a fullness.

Within and Without
But if we broaden our sight we know this wholeness is actually part of a wider wholeness - and this requires us to bring the inner wholeness into the outer world. Into our families, our communities, our environment, our planet.

This invites the challenge of taking “what you have learned about yourself” - what I call the embodied ‘In and Down’ - into your life - the ‘Up and Out’.

This is the part that rubs against the capitalist model because this is where the hard / less popular / much messier / harder to market part kicks in.

This is where things like ‘No’, and surrender, and grief’ and conflict and boundaries and asking for what you need and being disappointed and receiving what you need and all the things that are harder than the ‘epiphanous realisation’ lives.

But as a practitioner, teacher and supervisor that is deeply committed to a better world, here’s what I have learned from over 25 years of doing and holding this work.

Anchoring into your own power, accessing your own unique frequency (the in and down) means nothing unless you learn to shepherd that through into the collective (the embodied up and out), over and over to forge an alternative to the systems that currently exist and that serve very few.

And the hardest way to do that is alone.

If you want to be part of a collective committed to this way of working get in touch.

Much love, Cat x

Photo by Alexandra Fuller on Unsplash

Press bio

Cat Moyle | Somatic Therapist + Teacher | Founder of The Treehouse

Cat is a Somatic Therapist and Teacher supporting + inspiring wellness professionals to do the work these times need.

She has worked somatically since 2001 and her seasoned experience holds a solid and loving space.

In 2026 she launched 🌳 The Treehouse | A Supervision and Support Community for wellness professionals.

The Treehouse sits within a wider vision of eco-system funding and wise counsel for those in wellness - a callback to when communities used to hold their medicine keepers - so the vital role of returning us all to the whole (inner and outer) can be played by well rounded, well resourced, well rested folks responding to their deepest calling.

⭕️ We hold them, they hold us, we remember how to be held, we remember how to hold. Full circle.

Her view of wellness is that it must always be rooted in community and she brings that unshakeable commitment to her offerings.

Based in the UK and Online you can read more about Cat here https://catmoyle.com

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SHORT SHORT BIO

Cat Moyle | Somatic Therapist + Teacher | Founder of The Treehouse

Supporting and inspiring wellness professionals to do the work these times need.
‍
Through supervision, somatic support and community.
‍
She works via one to one sessions (in person and online), small group training (with Laura Oseland) and potent online community (on The Portal)
‍
Her view of wellness is that it must always be rooted in community and she brings that unshakeable commitment to her offerings.

Join The Treehouse to be part of the vision.

MY TEACHERS / GUIDES

I am fiercely supported and inspired by a network of teachers, mentors, peers and friends. I wholeheartedly understand that part of my work is to share what I learn from them. Here are the ones who currently inspire, support and teach me, speak in ways that makes me stop and listen and generally shine a light in dark corners.

Naomi Absalom - thecollectiveenergies.com/ 

Read more at catmoyle.com/treehouse

Laura Oseland - lauraoseland.co.uk/ 

Michelle Bartolo - michellebartoloyoga.com/ 

Eric Lipin - amanaeeurope.com/

Tad Hargrave - marketingforhippies.com/

My Mum and Family

Everyone I've ever worked with

The Late, Great Barefoot Doctor - RIP, D.