Somatic Therapy

The term "trauma" is used a lot these days, and it’s important to understand what it means. Trauma occurs as the result of any event or series of events—whether sudden or occurring over time—that threaten our safety or create a perceived threat. The effects of trauma can have a debilitating effect on our well-being; it can make us more sensitized to environmental factors,  make it more difficult to respond to life’s stressors, and negatively impact our self-perception and worldview.  

Somatic, or body-centered therapy is an integrative way to tap into a broader range of responses to life’s challenges. By enabling increased awareness of how our bodies respond, Somatic Experiencing can play a key role in healing deep-seated stress or trauma responses that keep us feeling stuck, disconnected, or unsafe in the world.

Incorporating somatic practices into therapy can access material at a different level than many traditional cognitive- or behavioral-based methods, helping to access and leverage underlying feelings and sensations that often go unnoticed. Through this process, we can rediscover a sense of safety and empowerment, allowing us to live more fully and authentically.

How Does Somatic Therapy Work?

Somatic therapy in general—and Somatic Experiencing in particular—focuses on addressing symptoms at the body–or nervous system–level. Rather than taking a top-down, “thinking mind” approach, Somatic Experiencing works from the bottom up, encouraging you to become more aware of your body’s autonomic responses to life.

In sessions, we might track subtle changes in muscle tone, heart rate, breath, movement patterns, voice, tissue around the face and eyes, and other somatic experiences like sensation. Working together, we will explore the unique ways your nervous system is organized to manage life events such as acute trauma from a single event or the cumulative result of stressors experienced as a threat, even subconsciously.

Somatic processing uses direct experience with awareness; it is a mind-body approach. As a Somatic Experiencing practitioner, I will help you build awareness of your body’s psychobiological response to the issues presenting themselves in your life. Understanding these often subtle cues can be a powerful access point to gaining more insight about yourself, allowing you to gain behavioral options rather than being stuck in entrenched, habituated responses, such as anger, emotional withdrawal, overwhelm, confusion, or lack of focus.

In Somatic Experiencing therapy sessions, you will:

• Receive psychoeducation about the function of the nervous system, including the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses and Polyvagal Theory;

• Expand your understanding of feelings and emotions from a body-centered, trauma-informed perspective;

• Build a vocabulary to communicate about your experience;

• Learn how to recognize the signs of trauma-related responses and make healthier choices;

• Utilize tools for increasing mindfulness, grounding, and embodiment; and

• Recognize how system imbalances impact day-to-day life, whether it's related to relationship behaviors, decision-making, addictive behaviors, anxiety, or depression.

Not only does somatic therapy promote stability in the short term, but it can also help you find new ways to navigate old patterns in the long term, encouraging trauma release and healing.

Who Can Benefit From Somatic Therapy?

As a therapist who combines relational, somatic, and evidence-based modalities, I offer a multi-faceted approach for couples and individuals to engage in healing. Including Somatic Experiencing in therapy can help those who suffer from anxiety, depression, or increased sensitization as a result of unresolved trauma or grief.

Because it works at the body level, Somatic Experiencing operates where trauma responses first occur and where they manifest. With a holistic approach that addresses both body and mind, somatic therapy integrates cognitive and behavioral elements along with a deep understanding of subcortical body processes.

Even therapists who favor Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, long the standard of Western-based mental health modalities, are adding somatic healing to their practice because research supports it’s a crucial component for working with trauma. Studies have shown that stress and trauma experienced in childhood can have a detrimental impact on development and long-term physical health. [1] Somatic psychology directly targets these physical manifestations, leading to faster and more integrated healing.

My Background In Somatic Therapy

I am a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) who graduated from one of only three universities nationwide that offered a Somatic Psychotherapy program. I have studied directly with some of the founders of somatic therapy, including  Marion Rosen, Ron Kurtz, Peter Levine, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Stanley Keleman, Emilie Conrad, Bill Bowen, and others.

What inspires me most about somatic therapy is how it incorporates a multitude of disciplines, including physiology, psychology, ethology, systems science, and neuroscience. Through experiential learning, clients can access more authentic and fully integrated ways of engaging with the world.

With an understanding of how the body is constantly communicating and guiding us, we can add to our classic orientation, perceiving the world largely through a linear, cognitive lens and supporting more creative, emotion-based, and sensory-oriented processes. Rather than solely focusing on thoughts, somatic therapy brings the body to bear, allowing for a bottom-up, integrated approach.

Emphasizing feeling in addition to  thinking gives you broader access to experience life from a full body sensibility. With greater embodiment, you will feel more capable of relating to others, understand your needs more clearly, and knowing how to meet those needs. When you fully engage in this process and set your intentions toward wellness, healing is a realistic outcome.

Find Out How Somatic Therapy Can Help You

Gaining more awareness of your embodied experience allows you to experience life more deeply. To find out more about somatic therapy or schedule a free 15-minute consultation with me, please visit my contact page. 

[1] https://www.traumainformedcare.chcs.org/resource/an-unhealthy-dose-of-stress-the-impact-of-adverse-childhood-experiences-and-toxic-stress-on-childhood-health-and-development/