Somatic Therapy
Mind-body therapy to help you heal from trauma and regulate your nervous system
In-person therapy in Philadelphia and online for residents of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware
What is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy is a therapeutic approach grounded in the belief that your body holds intuition, guidance, and innate wisdom on how to heal.
Are you someone that….
Spends a lot of time in your head overthinking?
Feels like there’s a disconnect between what you know and feel?
Has tried talk therapy before without much relief?
Struggles with chronic tension in your body?
Feels like even small stressors overwhelm you?
Has experienced trauma that feels “stuck” inside?
Somatic therapy can help.
How is Somatic Therapy Different than Traditional Talk Therapy?
Perhaps you’ve experienced that despite intellectually knowing something isn’t good for you, you can’t seem to stop doing it. Or that even if you know you don’t really believe something bad about yourself, it’s not always enough to change how you actually feel inside.
In traditional talk therapy, we tend to explore our issues from a top-down approach — essentially approaching them from the part of our brain where we have access to logic, reasoning, and self-awareness.
In somatic therapy, we use a bottom-up approach. Rather than inviting you to just think deeper about a particular problem, we turn to the body for information and guidance.
How Does Somatic Therapy Work?
Our bodies are always communicating with us. Somatic therapy teaches us how to gently tune-in to the vital information we often miss by bringing attention to signals and sensations in the body. For example, as we slow down, you might begin to notice a tightening in your throat. We may hang out there for a bit — does this feel familiar? Is there an emotion or a memory that comes up along with it?
Rather than shifting back to your analytical brain, thinking: “Well, I think I’m feeling sad because…” or “Yeah, I know this stems from the fact that…”, somatic therapy helps us access what’s underneath the places you can often get stuck.
Somatic Therapy for Trauma Healing
If you’ve experienced trauma, you may notice that your survival responses often kick into gear. You’re suddenly frozen, shut down, or ready to run when stressed. When your nervous system is this dysregulated, you actually can’t think and feel clearly. It can feel like your brain and body don’t match and you can never get relief from what’s constantly stirred up inside.
Somatic therapy teaches us how to rewire our brains and nervous systems, without having to talk about the trauma.
Somatic Therapy Uses Practices Like:
Mindfulness
Mindfulness helps to turn on the part of your brain that can access the here and now. When you’re able to pause, you have space to think and feel rather than react.
Resourcing
Together, we can build the practices to help you gently regulate your nervous system when you start to feel overwhelmed. This can often include using grounding, orienting, breathing, and visualization.
Titration
Working with the body doesn’t mean you suddenly have to feel everything all at once. Titration helps you learn to dip your toes in and out of what’s been distressing at a pace that is slow, safe, and trauma-informed.
Embodiment
Beyond just talking about a sense of safety, confidence, or permission to take up space, embodiment allows you to practice phsyically feeling and connecting to it inside.
Somatic Therapy Can Help With:
Reducing anxiety and overwhelm
Healing from trauma (physical, emotional, or ancestral)
Managing stress
Finding relief for chronic pain
Regulating your emotions
Cultivating safety in your body and in relationships
