Modalities

 Emotions, grief, and trauma live in our bodies, but we often try to intellectualize our way through them instead. When we brace against those physical sensations associated with the emotions, trying to stuff them down, they brace back just as hard. Our attempts to "move on" are actually what makes those feelings more intense. The goal of somatic therapy is to befriend and support these sensations and these emotions. Somatic therapy expands our nervous system and increases our capacity to handle triggers, grief, and emotions in general.

 When our brain takes in information about the world around us, it has a lot of systems in place to figure out if a situation is dangerous or not. However, for a lot of people with anxiety disorders, these systems can be glitchy and we compensate by using different methods of avoidance. Exposure therapy trains your brain to sit with the anxiety without any avoidance until your brain realizes it’s safe and able to handle the situation. Exposure therapy teaches you that you are capable of tolerating the anxiety