Is this sexual harassment?

i've had a counsellor put his hand on my back and side to try to get me to breathe properly - with a similar thing of asking, but no door locked. i found it uncomfortable because i don't like people touching me in those places. to me it doesn't seem like "sexual harassment" but if it felt uncomfortable then it wasn't good and it's probably not a great thing to carry on seeing him. for you it was inappropriate touching.

like, there could be reasonable explanations for the touching and locking the door, but if you were uncomfortable, it's not really fair to yourself to make yourself go back and keep telling yourself that your gut feeling was wrong.

I meant leave therapy with him in general. But you can definitely unlock a locked door unless someone is physically preventing you

It sounds to me that that's just the way he teaches. I had a violin teacher who used lots of touch that involved positioning and athletic coaches are known to do the same. I think locking the door could even be meant as a way to show you that you wouldn't be disturbed, to help you relax. On the other hand I didn't stay with the violin teacher and I absolutely would hate being touched by my therapist. He sounds like just a controlling personality. Personally I'd find a new therapist who used different techniques.

To be clear, I was taught diaphragmatic breathing with multiple voice instructors, and touching the stomach/abdomen was very common.

It's just not therapy, though. You don't HAVE to touch someone -- you can coach them through putting their own hand on their stomach.

I think it's really important to learn to speak up for yourself and articulate what you will and won't allow people to do, and what you do and do not want. Suspect this is an issue for you in real life and addressing this in therapy--whether you stick with this person or not--may really benefit you. In my experience, therapists are interchangeable in the sense that one therapist can be as good as the other. I don't subscribe to the soul mate theory of therapists or super specialization. I think it's better to just get to work on your stuff than try to figure out someone else's intentions, which is pretty difficult to do even on a good day.

Just want to add, OP— this personal boundary violation (or whatever you want to call it) is not your fault in any way. It’s very easy to submit to someone in authority whom we assume to be safe when we don’t really want to. Your t should never have put you in the position he did.