What is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic Therapy is a form of body-centered therapy that emphasizes the connection between the brain, mind, and body. It utilizes body awareness as a therapeutic tool to explore and resolve the somatic (physical) symptoms of psychological issues. This approach helps individuals recognize and release the physical tension that remains in the body due to past trauma and stress.
What to Expect
In somatic therapy sessions, expect to engage in exercises that increase your awareness of bodily sensations. Techniques such as grounding, mindful movement, and deep breathing are used to help you identify and release stored tension and traumas that are carried in the body. These practices encourage a deeper connection with the body, allowing you to experience your physical sensations as a pathway to healing.
Key Somatic Therapy Techniques
- Grounding: The core of body-based psychotherapy, grounding involves becoming fully present in one’s body. Grounding involves sensing the body, feeling the earth under one’s feet, and using these sensations to calm the nervous system.
- Cultivating Somatic Awareness: Focuses on increasing awareness of bodily sensations that are usually below conscious awareness, such as breath constriction and tension. Recognizing these sensations can lead to meaningful changes in emotional and physical health.
- Staying Descriptive: Modern somatic therapy emphasizes observing and describing bodily experiences without judgment. Describing physical sensations using terms like hot, cold, or tingly helps clients engage more deeply with their somatic experiences.
- Deepening Awareness: Once a sensation or tension pattern is identified, we deepen the experience by gently amplifying the sensations in a controlled manner to better understand and process them, enhancing the therapeutic experience without overwhelming the individual.
- Resourcing: This technique involves helping the individual develop internal and external resources to enhance their sense of safety and stability. Clients identify supportive elements in their environment and relationships that contribute to a feeling of security.
- Titration: Focusing on processing trauma, titration involves exposing the individual to small amounts of distress to prevent overwhelm. This controlled exposure helps to gradually reduce the tension associated with traumatic memories, facilitated by oscillating attention between distressing sensations and feelings of safety.
Benefits of Somatic Therapy
- Release of Physical Tension: Helps alleviate built-up tension that often accompanies psychological stress.
- Improved Emotional Regulation: By understanding and addressing bodily sensations associated with emotions, clients achieve better control over their responses.
- Enhanced Body Awareness: Clients learn to recognize and interpret the body’s signals, promoting overall well-being.
- Reduction in Trauma Symptoms: Effective in treating trauma by helping the body process and release traumatic material stored in the body.
Our Approach to Somatic Therapy
At Touchstone, somatic therapy involves a variety of body-awareness exercises that focus on the interaction between the body and mind. Therapists guide clients through processes that help identify tension patterns and explore their sources, enhancing healing from trauma and stress. The approach is holistic, integrating insights from bioenergetics and mindfulness to support comprehensive healing.
