Somatic Therapies

What Is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy focuses on the connection between the mind and body, recognizing that stress, trauma, and emotions are often stored physically in the nervous system and our physical body, not just the mind.

Rather than relying solely on talk therapy and cognitive processing, somatic therapy gently integrates body awareness, cultivating focus on bodily sensations, movement, breath, and nervous system responses. This approach supports regulation, safety, and healing by helping the body complete responses that may have been interrupted during stressful or overwhelming experiences.

Somatic therapy is especially helpful for clients who feel “stuck,” disconnected from their bodies, or overwhelmed by emotions that do not seem to respond to cognitive processes alone.

Many experiences—especially overwhelming, stressful, lifechanging, or traumatic ones—are processed too quickly or intensely for the brain to fully integrate in the moment. When this happens, the body may hold onto protective responses such as tension, hypervigilance, numbness, or shutdown. Talk therapy alone can increase insight, but insight doesn’t always resolve these physical patterns.

Somatic therapy helps bridge that gap.

Why Somatic Therapy Matters

Trauma lives in the body

• • Throughout our lives, we are exposed to different types of trauma: 
    • Developmental & childhood – neglect, abuse, attachment wounds, chronic environmental stress
    • Chronic or complex (C-PTSD) – ongoing exposure to stress, abuse unsafe environment leads to long-term nervous system dysregulation
    • Trauma without clear memories – difficulty pinpoint a specific event but feeling “off”
    • Medical or physical trauma – surgeries, accidents, invasive procedures, chronic illness, childbirth can leave the nervous system stuck in a threat response

• Shock/single incident – accidents, natural disasters, sudden losses

• • High-functioning trauma – people who appear “fine,” are successful and high achieving but live with chronic tension, anxiety, emotional disconnection due to long-term survival mode

It supports nervous system regulation

• Teaches the nervous system how to shift out of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn 
• Generates a gentler, client-led, at-your-own-pace gateway to create safety within the body

It restores a sense of safety, connection, and resolves attachment wounds

• Rebuilds trust in body sensations

• Helps you feel more present, grounded, in control 

• Closes the gap of disconnection from the body

Healing without reliving the trauma or pain

• • No need to retell or re-experience painful events, memories, and experiences

• Focus is on what is happening in the body now

Creates long-lasting and sustainable change

• It works directly with the nervous system and creates deeper, longer lasting shifts

Somatic therapy works by:

• • Addressing implicit (nonverbal) memory

• Supporting nervous system regulation

• Completing interrupted survival responses
• Creating safety without overwhelm

It can be helpful with: 

• • Anxiety and panic states

• Chronic stress, overwhelm and burnout

• • Emotional numbness, disconnection, or overwhelm
  • Difficulty regulating emotions 
  • Feeling unsafe or on edge in the body

• Depression and low mood

• • Performance blocks (creative, professional, athletic)
  • Attachment wounds

• Chronic pain 

Why Somatic Therapies are So Beneficial

• • They do not rely on retelling or reliving traumatic or emotionally painful events or memories 
  • It helps the nervous system return to safety without re-exposure
  • Reduce hyperarousal & shutdown
  • Sessions are collaborative, paced, and centered on safety
  • You are always in control of the process. We move at a speed that feels supportive, not overwhelming, and adjust techniques based on your needs and comfort level

• It honors that healing is not about forcing change, but about creating the conditions where change can naturally occur

Somatic therapy can be a gentler, more accessible, more effective evidence-based technique to support the body and nervous system.

Whole-Body Somatic Approaches We Use

Brainspotting

• Rooted in neuroscience, attachment theory, and somatic awareness. Developed by Dr. David Grand

• A gentle (at your own pace!) yet powerful, brain-based approach that helps process emotional, energetic, and physical experiences stored deep within the nervous system. 
• Where we look affects how we feel—and that specific eye positions can access unprocessed experiences in the brain.
• Focusing on a brainspot with the guidance of your therapist allows you to connect with that stored memory, emotion, or physical experience and focusing on it allows the brain’s natural healing process to activate, leading to processing and integration of unresolved material. 
• There is no detailed storytelling or reliving traumatic events
• Most of the work happens beneath conscious awareness, guided by the body’s response and nervous system regulation

Brainspotting Works Because It:

• • Accesses subcortical brain areas where trauma and challenging emotions and experiences are stored
  • Supports nervous system regulation
  • Allows processing without forcing verbal recall

• Respects the body’s natural healing rhythms

What Sessions Are Like:

• • calm and quiet (sometimes with gentle background music), internally-focused, client-led with lots of resourcing 
  • there is no “right” experience because everyone’s nervous system processes in its own way

• you may notice sensations (warmth, tingling, pressure, tightness, release), subtle yet meaningful shifts, emotions and memories may come and go, images or shifting thoughts 

• • your therapist supports pacing, safety, and regulation throughout the process 
  • you do not need to make sense or analyze the experience – the brain organizes and integrates it naturally

• tends to feel like observing or allowing something to move through with a sense of safety and distance 

After the Session, clients report feeling deeply relaxed, lighter, more open, emotionally settled, reflective. Changes continue for days as the nervous system integrates the work

Polyvagal

• A nervous system centered approach developed by Dr. Stephen Porges 
• Helps you understand and gently shift how your body responds to stress, relationships, and emotional challenges 
• Helps to create a sense of safety, connection, and regulation
• Allows you to recognize and be more in tune to your nervous system as it shifts throughout different states (safety and connection, fight/flight, shutdown/collapse) and gently guide your nervous system back to establishing grounded safety

How Polyvagal Therapy Supports Healing

• Increasing nervous system awareness and resilience

• Reducing chronic anxiety, stress, and overwhelm

• Supporting recovery from trauma and attachment wounds
• Improving emotional regulation
• Strengthening capacity for connection and relationships
• Helping you feel more at home in your body

What Sessions Are Like:

• Collaborative, paced, focused on cultivating a sense of safety

• Tracking body sensations & emotional states

• Exploring your nervous system responses

• Gentle grounding & regulation practices

• Integration of body-based awareness

Focus on building capacity and compassionate regulation rather than forced change. 

By working with your nervous system—rather than against it—this approach supports healing that feels safer, more sustainable, and deeply respectful of your body’s wisdom.

Somatic-Based Hypnotherapy 

Hypnotherapy is a gentle, somatic-based therapeutic approach that works with the mind and body to support healing at the level of the nervous system.

Rather than focusing on conscious effort or analysis, hypnotherapy helps access deeper, subconscious patterns where stress, trauma, beliefs, and emotional responses are often held. In this state of focused awareness, the body and brain become more receptive to integration, regulation, and change.

Why Hypnotherapy Works

A state of focused awareness allows our nervous system to:

• Disengage from survival mode

• Process unresolved experiences at a subconscious level

• Reorganize patterns, thoughts, beliefs, actions that no longer serve you

• Create meaningful insight for long-lasting change

Somatic-Based Hypnotherapy Can Support:

• Anxiety, panic, overwhelm, chronic stress

• Trauma, Grief and Loss

• Emotional overwhelm or reactivity

• Sleep difficulties 

• Phobias and persistent fears

• Habitual patterns and unwanted behaviors

• Chronic pain, tension, psychosomatic symptoms

• Body image, self-esteem, confidence

What Sessions Are Like:

• You remain aware, present, and in control throughout the session

• Experience a state of deep relaxation and internal-focus

• Feeling calm, grounded, and present

• More connected and attuned to bodily sensations and fluid emotions and thoughts

• You may notice images, emotions, subtle shifts 

• The process unfolds naturally 

• Collaborative and paced with care: you can speak, move, stop at any time. You control what is explored, how deep the work goes, when to pause/stop. 

Trauma-Informed Yoga, Breathwork, & Movement Therapies

Unlike traditional yoga or exercise classes, trauma-informed yoga and movement is not about performance, flexibility, or pushing limits. Instead, it helps you reconnect with your body in a way that feels supportive, empowering, and respectful of your lived experience.

This approach recognizes that trauma, overwhelm, or ongoing stress can disrupt the body’s natural sense of safety. The aim is to restore that sense of safety through mindful body awareness and grounding, choice-based movement, and nervous system regulation.

It allows you to rebuild a sense of safety and control within the body, encouraging connection without overwhelm and reducing chronic stress, tension, and hypervigilance.

What Sessions Are Like:

• Gentle, accessible movement or posture exploration
• Breath awareness without forcing control
• Grounding and connecting, gentle practices
• Periods of stillness, rest, and intuitive flow
• Invitations to notice sensations, emotions, or shifts in energy
• No prior yoga or movement experience is required
• Reiki Energy Healing 
• Reflexology 
• Chiropractic care 
• Reconnect with your body’s wisdom. 
• Support your nervous system. 
• Release tension, restore balance, and feel fully alive. 

Schedule your somatic therapy session today.