The body remembers: exploring somatic therapy approaches
Somatic therapy: the body remembers
Today I’m sharing some reflections about somatic approaches and what working with the body can look like. I reallyvalue the power of talk therapy and the insights psychology offers, but I also believe that for most of us, true change comes when we include the body as well as the mind. In the words of Babbette Rothschild, ‘the body remembers’.
If you’re new here, I’m Laura, a counsellor and therapist who’s trained in talk therapy and I also integrate somatics and nervous system exploration into my work. My path to supporting others started when I trained as a meditation teacher, long before I studied counselling. Mindfulness, meditation, and the ability to connect with our present-moment experience have always been at the heart of my work. I went on to train as a counsellor and therapist, in talk based therapeutic approaches but, more recently, I’ve expanded my training to include body based approaches, including training as a yoga teacher and studying and trauma from a somatic perspective. The deeper I explore body-based awareness and its connection to the nervous system, the more convinced I become that healing requires a holistic approach.
Somatic work in therapy involves exploring our bodily sensations in relation to trauma, mental health and other struggles, instead of just focussing on the narrative. A big part of my work with clients is about exploring practical tools and resources that support embodiment, resilience, and connection in everyday life. This might mean learning to notice subtle body signals, finding new ways to regulate the nervous system or practising being more fully present in the here and now. I’ve shared more below about somatic therapy, along with a simple somatic practice you can try for yourself.
Exploring our experience somatically, through the body
The term somatic means “of or relating to the living body”. Working somatically simply means exploring our internal experience consciously. This process can include movement, exploring the feelings and sensations in the body, bringing awareness to the breath, noticing patterns of tension or relaxation and gently reconnecting with the body’s natural rhythms. Our body responds to our implicit memories and learnings, which is the way our experience is stored in our subconscious.
Many of us are so disconnected from our bodies and we miss out on opportunities to be with and to process our emotional experiences if we only focus on the mind. In somatic work, we can explore techniques to start to be more in touch with these experiences, in an intentionally paced way that means we don’t get overwhelmed. Somatic techniques can help us to work through energy that is stuck in the body and complete survival responses, like our fight or flight response.
Working somatically can also be a way of teaching our systems that we can move towards a place where being present in the body can feel safe. In my somatic trauma work with clients, we explore the places in the body where we can connect to nutural or positive feelings, as well as working somatically to process the hard stuff.
Somatics and embodiment: how this approach can help and support you
Reflecting on my own healing journey, I really wish I’d understood the importance of working with my body a whole lot earlier! I’ve always been someone who has had a good ‘cognitive’ or thinking understanding of my own experience but knowing why we experience the things we experience doesn’t automatically help us to shift them. I’ve talked a bit about the nervous system and the role it plays in mental health here. Learning to work with my nervous system, as well as learning tools to work somatically with my body, has been a game changer for me. This is especially true as someone who’s neurodivergent. Our nervous systems are highly sensitive to outside stimulus and moving through the world can be overwhelming, whether or not you’ve experienced any trauma outside of your neurodivergent experience.
I’ve shared some more information about what somatic therapy looks like below but it feels important to say that there is such as thing as a one size fits all approach. When we come to therapy, we all bring different experiences and understandings of the world and this informs the therapy process. The following is an overview of some of the tools that you’ll find in a somatic approach and I integrate these with other ways of working, including psychodynamic therapy, gestalt therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), neuroscience-based approaches and mindfulness/meditation. I share a bit more about the way that these approaches blend together here. If you’d like to find out more about the process of trauma informed therapy, head here.
What somatic therapy can look like
My approach to somatic work is to weave it into almost every aspect of my approach. While I’m a counsellor that works with more traditional talk therapy approaches, like psychodynamic therapy, I also integrate approaches like gestalt therapy, ACT and mindfulness based approaches that all have a strong focus on our here-and-now experience. This works really well with a somatic approach. At its heart, somatic trauma therapy involves exploring the sensations that we experience in the body when we connect with difficult experiences. It takes the question ‘where do you feel that in the body’ and gives us tools to process the experience instead of feeling overwhelmed and/or stuck.
This is known as a bottom-up approach, where as more traditional talk therapy is known as a top-down approach. If you haven’t already, do check out this post which shares a bit more about how I integrate different therapy approaches. Some of the key approaches in somatic trauma therapy can include:
Resourcing: this can include finding and connecting with spaces in the body that feel positive or neutral, exploring aspects of your environment that feel pleasant to engage with, exploring nervous system regulation tools or exploring memories of safe places and experiences.
Grounding: using practices like connecting to the breath, offering compression to the body or connecting with sensations like our feet on the earth can help us to stay in the present moment
Pacing / tritiation: this is about how we expand our tolerance for distress without pushing too far. When exploring traumatic or distressing experiences, our aim is to expand our window of tolerance. We might need to step a little outside of our comfort zone to do this but going too far, too fast can lead to our systems shutting down. I’ll support you to make sure we work at a manageable pace and we pause the work, coming back to grounding and resourcing, when ever we need to.
Body awareness: we’ll explore what you’re experiencing in your body, including exploring coming into contact with feelings and sensations that connect to difficult experiences. Sometimes that will involve ‘siting with it’, while using resourcing to support you in the process. Again, I’m always monitoring and checking in to gauge how overwhelming this feels, so that we can pivot away and focus on resourcing where we need to.
A simple somatic movement practice for you to try
Working somatically doesn’t have to involve working with a therapist. Practices like yoga, dance and mindful movement can all help us to be more mindfully aware of our bodily experience. Here’s a simple exercise that you can explore. It can be done standing, seated, or lying down
Connect with your experience: start by taking a moment to ground yourself and become aware of your surroundings. Notice the chair, floor or bed beneath you. What colours or shapes can you see as you look around the room. Take as long as you need to feel grounded in the space.
Scan your body: slowly scan from the top of your head to your feet, noticing any areas of discomfort or tension as you go. Each time you move to a new area of the body, what do you notice?
Experiment with gentle touch: if you identify a tense area, what does it feel like to gently apply pressure with your hands? Or simply rest your hands on the area. If that feels too much, you could hover your hands lightly over the area. Notice how your body responds.
Listen to your body: pay attention to any changes in comfort. If the discomfort decreases, continue with the pressure; if it increases, explore other ways to nurture that part of your body. You could try hovering your hands just above the area.
Explore movement: Your body might need to tighten and release, stretch, or experience a gentle shake. Listen to what your body is telling you.
Notice what’s changed: take a moment at the end of your practice to see how you’re feeling. What’s changed, if anything?
Incorporating somatic practices into our daily lives can help us to explore our experience and reconnect with ourselves. For me, some gentle somatic movement really helps me to slow down and feel grounded. I passionately believe that the journey towards holistic healing involves recognising the interconnectedness of mind and body, even in a challenging world. If you’d like to explore your experience in counselling, through somatic therapy and other approaches, check out my counselling page or get in touch here.
