Somatic Therapy

Emotions, grief, and trauma live in our bodies. They cause physical sensations like muscle tension, breathing difficulties, sweating, nausea, numbness, and more. These physical, somatic sensations can feel annoying or inconvenient, but this is how your body communicates with you. You might notice that despite thinking through every possible angle, intellectualizing, and problem solving, you still feel a strong reaction to situations that have happened in the past. Oftentimes, that is because we are thinking our feelings instead of feeling our feelings. And it makes sense why we would try to resolve emotions intellectually! We live in a society that encourages an analytical, solution-oriented way of living. Why dwell on something if it won't practically change the situation?

The reason we benefit from somatic therapy is because those body sensations exist whether we give them the time of day or not. In fact, when we brace against those feelings or try to stuff them down, they brace back just as hard. Our attempts to "move on" are actually what makes those somatic sensations feel more intense. 

The goal of somatic therapy is to take a holistic approach to healing that integrates the mind and the body. The intention is to befriend and support these sensations and these emotions. We want to expand our nervous system and increase our capacity to handle triggers, grief, and emotions in general. We want to become responsive to the world around us instead of reactive.

Some benefits of creating a more flexible nervous system through somatic therapy include: 

• Better emotional regulation 
• Ability to ignore distractions 
• More resiliency to stress 
• More capacity to engage in friendship and connection 
• Easier to receive support from others 
• Greater sense of wellbeing 
• Self-compassion

The thought of starting somatic therapy can be daunting. Inviting emotions in can go against every system you've set in place to protect yourself. However, the same protective systems that helped you survive the past, can keep you from thriving in the present. 

In somatic therapy sessions, we will start slow. We'll honor your protective adaptations by letting your body choose the pace. So much of trauma comes from the lack of choice, and choice is something you'll always have in therapy. Through gentle body awareness, breathwork, and mindful movement, somatic therapy helps you connect with your body to process and release what words alone may not reach. If you've felt stuck in talk therapy and somatic therapy sounds like something you're interested in, check out the resources below or reach out here and we can chat more.