For high achievers, deep feelers, and those learning to slow down.

What Is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic comes from the root word “Soma” which directly translates to “body”  in the Greek language. Somatic therapy is a holistic and body-oriented therapy focused on integrating the Soma or whole body into an individuals awareness to move towards healing. It emphasizes mind-body connection and encompasses a wide range of techniques such as grounding, breathwork, and movement. This article will discuss key principles of the work, explore common themes and real life examples that come up in sessions, and answer frequently asked questions about somatic therapy.

• What is the goal of somatic therapy?
• What does somatic therapy help with?
• What are the key principles of somatic therapy?
• What does a somatic therapy session look like?

The goal of somatic therapy is to help individuals build awareness of their internal world  including ways that the body relates to emotions and lived experiences. Through guided practices of exploration and nervous system regulation, somatic therapists support individuals in releasing physical tension, stress, and trauma that gets stored in the body. 

Somatic Therapy Helps With:

• Functional freeze / burnout
• Difficulty resting or relaxing
• Chronic overthinking or people-pleasing
• Reconnecting with your desires, voice, and boundaries
• Making space for joy and self-trust

Somatic therapy supports emotional healing by gently tuning into bodily sensations, breath, movement, and nervous system patterns. Rather than focusing only on thoughts, somatic therapy invites you to listen to what your body is trying to tell you—especially when it comes to stress, overwhelm, and old survival strategies.

Seven Body Wisdom Principles

Somatic therapy helps you reconnect with your body as a source of wisdom, not just something to manage or control. Somatic psychotherapist, Manuela Mischke-Reeds, beautifully frames somatic work through the Seven Body Wisdom Principles:

1. The body responds to its direct environment.
2. The body learns and remembers.
3. The body is flexible and changing.
4. The body experiences are transient.
5. The body has innate capacity for repair and healing.
6. The body wisdom comes forth in a climate of kindness and compassion.
7. The body is an important place for healing and transformation.

A Typical Session Might Include:

• Check-in: We begin with a few minutes of talking about how you’re arriving—emotionally, mentally, and physically.
• Grounding Practice: This might include breathwork, orienting (looking around the room), or feeling your feet on the floor to help settle your nervous system.
• Body Awareness: You’ll be invited to notice sensations (tightness, heaviness, restlessness, etc.) and reflect on what they may be connected to emotionally or experientially.
• Somatic Interventions: Depending on your comfort and capacity, we may explore:
• Breathwork
• Gentle movement
• Self-touch (like hand over heart or belly)
• Tracking nervous system responses
• Imagery or resourcing practices (drawing on safe, supportive memories or images)
• Reflection & Integration: We’ll process what came up, and identify how you might practice this awareness or regulation outside of session.

Personalized & Consent-Driven

• Explaining exactly what to expect in a somatic therapy session can be challenging because there's no one size fits all approach.
• Somatic therapy is experiential and tailored moment to moment to each individual's unique nervous system.
• Where other modalities might offer a linear roadmap of what to do and when to do it, somatic work flows differently. And for some, that idea of slowing down can feel abstract or even threatening.
• In somatic therapy we move at your pace and only explore what feels safe and doable in the moment.
  

A Real-Life Example

You might come into session feeling anxious and overextended. As we slow down together, you're prompted to explore where anxiety and overextension exists in the body. You then begin to notice a tightness in your chest and a clenching in your jaw. We pause to breathe and allow the body to move and adjust in whatever ways feel supportive.

Next, we explore what those sensation might be trying to communicate. We may engage in dialogue directly with those sensations via verbal communication, letter writing, visualization, or even a creative art exercise. Perhaps we reflect on areas of your life where these sensations are most and least present.

Overtime you realize your feelings are connected to the pressure you feel to always “be on.” We might explore where this pressure stems from and what it would feel like to give yourself permission to rest. We won't just talk about rest but we'll bring in regulation tools that support that shift. We actually practice cultivating rest in real time so your body gets familiar with viewing rest as resourceful.

Common Themes in Somatic Work

While understanding barriers to rest is a common theme in somatic therapy it's not the only one. Some people find somatic therapy helpful in letting go of control, amplifying your voice, building meaningful connection or setting healthy boundaries.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in survival mode, feeling activated, or disconnected from your own needs and wants, somatic therapy offers a pathway to rebuild that connection from the inside out.

RELATIONAL AND SOMATIC THERAPIST IN LA

Reconnect with Your Body. Rediscover Your Power.

You are not too much. Your body is not a problem to fix. It’s a story that deserves to be heard, with compassion and care. If you're curious about how this work might support you, I invite you to schedule a free introductory call. Let’s explore what slowing down and coming home to yourself could look like.