Somatic Therapy

Somatic therapy is built around a specific observation: stress and trauma don't only live in your thoughts. They live in your nervous system, showing up as chronic tension, a racing heart, shallow breathing, or a body that feels either shut down or on permanent high alert. Talking about a difficult experience can help, but if the nervous system itself hasn't settled, insight alone often isn't enough to change how your body responds.

In session, this looks like paying direct attention to physical sensation: noticing where tension lives, tracking what happens in your body as you approach a difficult topic, learning to recognize the early signs that you're moving outside your “window of tolerance” (the zone where you can stay present and think clearly, rather than shutting down or flooding with anxiety). Grounding techniques, breathwork, and gentle movement are common tools.

A common misconception worth clearing up directly: somatic therapy, as practiced in a licensed psychotherapy context, is verbal and observational. It does not involve a therapist touching you. It's about building your own awareness of and relationship to bodily sensation, not hands-on bodywork.