In somatic therapy, we understand that symptoms of stress and trauma often appear when the body gets “stuck” in survival states such as fight-or-flight, freeze, or dissociation. When this happens, it can feel as though we are carrying trauma in our bodies. How this shows up varies for each person and can depend on when the experience happened and whether it is still affecting your life in some way.

The goal of somatic therapy is to help your body move out of survival mode and return to greater ease, connection, and possibility. We begin by gently reconnecting you with your sensory experiences—the physical sensations, impulses, and cues that reflect how your nervous system is responding. Sensations are the body’s natural language, while thoughts, meanings, and stories are the language of the mind. By slowing down and listening to this inner experience with support, you create space for your body to show you what needs attention and what is ready to shift.

What Sessions May Look Like

During sessions, I may invite you to:

• Notice and describe sensations in your body

• Explore any images, impressions, or impulses that arise

• Pay attention to movements, gestures, or postures

• Experiment with facial expressions or grounding through the environment around you

These practices help us follow the nervous system’s natural pathway toward regulation and healing.

Moving at Your Own Pace

It’s completely normal if, at first, it feels difficult to notice or describe what’s happening in your body. This is part of the process, and we always move slowly and respectfully. Over time, you’ll build greater capacity to sense, feel, and respond. Along the way, we’ll work with tools that support settling, regulation, and healthy mobilization—drawing on the innate wisdom and resources your body already holds.

Lineage of Somatic Therapy

Like many somatic modalities, Somatic Experiencing™ is an approach to trauma healing that draws directly from wisdom that indigenous peoples have held about the ways our bodies and nervous systems heal from traumatic experiences long before the concept of somatic therapy was established. Additionally, most cultures throughout the world have unique practices that have been passed down for generations that support personal and collective nervous system regulation like singing, humming, dancing, and connecting with land. In somatic therapy, this ancient wisdom has been borrowed and re-packaged alongside more westernized understandings of the brain and nervous system. It is imperative that we honor the origins of these practices not as past but as presently held, continuous, lineages of wisdom that indigenous peoples and communities are the original tenders of. Entering this work from a place of truly orienting to its lineage is an important part of the healing process.