What Is Somatic Therapy?

This is a question I receive quite often in my practice. Potential clients either find me via Google or are referred to me directly. Regardless, all want to know just what somatic therapy is, and what it entails. It’s an excellent question, as “somatic therapy” is relatively new to many people, even those who have been in therapy for years.

Firstly, my perspective comes from my background: I have been a Registered Massage Therapist for over 25 years. Therefore, I am a bodyworker not a Psychotherapist. Which is important because a Psychotherapist might have a different perspective or experience in providing Somatic Therapy to clients. Somatic Therapy in this context is hands off … meaning, the therapist does not touch the client. When I provide Somatic Therapy to clients, it is largely via bodywork: hands on, to the body directly.

It's All About The Body

Somatic means “relating to the body”, or you might say “experienced in the body”. Therefore, Somatic Therapy is a therapeutic process that involves experiencing the body directly, and its responses in the moment. These responses relate to language of the body. This language being any of our five senses (touch/sensation, smell, taste, sight, hearing), movements of the body, and emotions.

Somatic Therapy is experienced … we feel, notice, stay with, and allow what arises in the body, which provides us key information about our responses to certain topics, body positions and memories. All our experiences live in the body. Consider that our body takes an imprint, or photograph, of different moments in time. When we are engaging in somatic therapy, we are touching upon these imprints, and allowing our body to process what occurred.

We cannot talk about Somatic Therapy and not mention the nervous system! Honestly, this topic is hot right now and everyone is talking about it. How to regulate it, what it is, and there are so many terms being thrown around right now. It’s a great thing at the end of the day, and this awareness is key to understanding just how to approach Somatic Therapy.

The Nervous System

I do a lot of education about the nervous system in my practice. I think engaging clients in this language is helpful in the healing process, especially for Somatic Therapy.

Many clients often come to me saying that they have been in talk therapy for years, and fully understand on a cognitive level all that has happened to them throughout their lives. But they still feel like something is “stuck” in their body. They either feel something needs to “come out” or that their body hasn’t caught up to the mind. This is very true in my opinion.

It’s important that clients are encouraged to trust themselves. On some level, they know exactly what is happening, and what needs to happen. This comes from the body and nervous system directly.

From The Depths

The body represents the unconscious (and subconscious) parts of us, while our mind is the conscious part. When I say a client knows on some level what is true for them, this communication is bubbling up from the unconscious part of them. What we are doing in Somatic Therapy is encouraging them to listen, as we listen and witness as well.

Resolution and closure in any healing process is largely due to the emergence of the unconscious material to the conscious mind. When done right and with great safety and care, Somatic Therapy can do just this. Carl Jung said this: Until you make the unconscious conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate.

Clients report to me all the time that they feel their body is out of control, and they can’t manage their responses to people, places and/or things. This is their body and nervous system responding from a template that was most likely set in place many years before. The body and nervous system provide a template of our life’s responses.

I often refer to the nervous system as a state we are in at any given time. This can change and fluctuate, given our environment, who is around us, what is happening, etc., and it can shift on a dime.

Consider how you feel around certain people … with some you may feel at ease and connected, and others you may feel shut down and disconnected. This is your nervous system in all its brilliance, keeping you safe moment to moment. You might call it your template of safety, a gauge that lets you know when you can move towards relaxation and when you need to be on guard.

It’s Complicated … Slow Down!

We are most definitely living in an age of speed and instant gratification. Information comes to us rapidly and constantly. We can have almost anything we want quite quickly. But unfortunately, when it comes to healing our nervous system, it is the opposite of fast.

We are complex beings. Therefore, our systems are complex too. Some clients say they never feel safe in their bodies, which given their history makes complete sense. This is why Somatic Therapy needs to be slow. It is called bottom up therapy for a reason. We are exploring the literal underground and foundation of a client’s history and neurological development. This takes time and care.

They say trauma happens when something is too much too fast (like a car accident) OR too little too late (like neglect or lack of care). Gabor Mate adds that it happens when we feel alone in something, and we lose connection to our true self. Yes to all of these.

What is also true, is that every person is different, and they have a different nervous system. Gently teasing apart the nuances in Somatic Therapy needs to be delicate, titrated (bit by bit), and witnessed. As someone who has been exploring and experiencing the world of somatic healing for many years now, it is worth the effort.

Somatic Therapy is and should be any and all of the following: gentle, slow, titrated, held, witnessed, allowed, honoured, shared, welcomed, safe, explored, curious, and in the moment. If you feel the call from your body towards this modality, follow it. Your body is wise and knows.

"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy." — Friedrich Nietzsche

**Note from Author: All articles are written by Jodie Cara Lindley and NOT AI. The material here represents my experience, opinion and training that I have had over the last 25 + years. These articles are written in my own words.