Somatic Healing 

Why Somatic Therapy?

 

We experience life with our five senses through our body. Our lived experiences or memories are carried in our bodies. We carry stress and hold tension in our bodies. Our bodies experience pain, injury, and illness in response to stress, tension and overwhelm. Our bodies are a vessel of our unexpressed and unprocessed emotions which can lead to feeling numb, shut down, and stuck OR conversely having difficulty sitting still, restlessness, and tension that can result in emotional eruptions. 

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Our bodies have an entire language for communicating with us if we know how to listen inward. Our bodies communicate our needs through sensations. Our bodies relax when we feel safe and contract when we feel scared. Our bodies light up or get turned on when we experience desire and pleasure. Our bodies close off and become guarded when we experience pain and shame. Our bodies hold so much information.

 

Somatic healing helps to bring forth what is stored unconsciously in the body so it can be processed, integrated, and healed. I will support you in a practice of compassionate self-study to learn the language of your body, tend to your needs, and heal from maladaptive patterns that keep you from the life you desire. Using this therapeutic modality offers healing at the ROOT for lasting change.​​

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What does a typical Somatic Therapy session look like?

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Every session is different but you are likely to hear me begin our sessions asking, "What do you need today?" Or "What kind of energy are you bringing into the session today". Our session will follow your specific needs and/or respond to your energy. 

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• If you're feeling frazzled, I might offer a grounding practices to help you feel more fully rooted in your ​body.

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• If you're experiencing confusion, I might offer a centering practice using breath and guided visualization to reconnect to what matters most to you. 

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• If you're carrying tension in your neck and jaw, I might invite you to bring your attention to those sensations with curiosity and notice what happens when you welcome and allow your authentic experience with our resistance. 

 

• If you describe feeling disconnected from your body, I might offer a body scan exercise with expressive arts to support your developing somatic (bodily) awareness.  

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These are a sampling of some of the many somatic practices I offer to support you in deepening your body-mind connection. Depending on what comes up through these sorts of practices and how you feel, I may suggest we move towards emotional processing, inner child healing, a self-soothing or grounding exercise, an expressive arts practice, guided visualization,  or something else from my expansive collection of tools and techniques.  

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In a session I may ask questions including: 

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• “Where do you feel that in your body?” 

• “What do you notice in your body right now?"

 

I may also make observations when I observe bodily changes in you as a way to draw your attention to subtle shifts for your observation, reflection,  and learning. 

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There is absolutely no template for how a session will unfold. Somatic healing moves slowly, engages your thinking mind in a new and indifferent way, supports regulation and deepens self-knowing. You will learn somatic (bodily) awareness, emotional literacy, tools for communicating how you feel and experience your world. You will become a better self-advocate.  

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Can Somatic Therapy be conducted virtually?

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Yes, absolutely! I find that virtual sessions are just as meaningful and transformative as those in person. My clients have said that virtual sessions offer a sense of security when engaging in this type of work as they have access to the things that bring them comfort (their furniture, throw blankets, pets, and their familiar surroundings). Additionally, the screen provides a natural boundary that can make trying something new and different feel more accessible than doing so in a shared physical space. ​