What is Somatic Therapy?

Whether we are experiencing stress, joy, anxiety, or safety, it’s an experience that lives not just in our minds, but in our bodies as well! The word “soma” refers to the body, which often gets left out in traditional therapy. When you feel stressed, for example, how do you know you feel stressed? Does your neck get tight? Do your shoulders rise up? Does your stomach tighten or your jaw clench? What about when you feel joy? Does your belly relax? Does your heart feel light or warm? Are there places in your body that release tension?

When we experience trauma, the body responds as well. Dr. Gabor Maté, a physician known for his work on childhood development, trauma, and addiction, put it well when he said, “Trauma is not what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you.” Somatic therapy helps us build safety inside of ourselves so our bodies can naturally unwind the ways it responded to past trauma.

Somatic therapy shows us how we are not broken humans needing to be fixed, but rather mammals with intelligent bodies, nervous systems, and survival instincts that brought us to where we are today. The various tensions and sensations in our bodies tell a story about what we have lived through. If we come across a bent tree in the forest, for example, we can deduce that it was hit with some force, whether wind or lightening or maybe even a rock slide. If the tree survives this impact, it continues to grow, and the irregular growth pattern is a testament to it’s resilience. Coping patterns such as pain, tension, depression, anxiety, etc. are similar in that they are responses to earlier impacts that we have survived. They are a testament to our resilience, and symptoms that we can heal.

More on Somatic Therapy

Whether we are experiencing stress, joy, anxiety, or safety, it’s an experience that lives not just in our minds, but in our bodies as well! The word “soma” refers to the body, which often gets left out in traditional therapy. When you feel stressed, for example, how do you know you feel stressed? Does your neck get tight? Do your shoulders rise up? Does your stomach tighten or your jaw clench? What about when you feel joy? Does your belly relax? Does your heart feel light or warm? Are there places in your body that release tension?

When we experience trauma, the body responds as well. Dr. Gabor Maté, a physician known for his work on childhood development, trauma, and addiction, put it well when he said, “Trauma is not what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you.” Somatic therapy helps us build safety inside of ourselves so our bodies can naturally unwind the ways it responded to past trauma.

Somatic therapy shows us how we are not broken humans needing to be fixed, but rather mammals with intelligent bodies, nervous systems, and survival instincts that brought us to where we are today. The various tensions and sensations in our bodies tell a story about what we have lived through. If we come across a bent tree in the forest, for example, we can deduce that it was hit with some force, whether wind or lightening or maybe even a rock slide. If the tree survives this impact, it continues to grow, and the irregular growth pattern is a testament to it’s resilience. Coping patterns such as pain, tension, depression, anxiety, etc. are similar in that they are responses to earlier impacts that we have survived. They are a testament to our resilience, and symptoms that we can heal.

There is a common saying in somatic therapy, “You can’t heal what you don’t feel.” When we disconnect from our feelings, they don’t just go away. In fact, many studies show the correlation between stress, trauma and long term negative physical health outcomes, including early death. One study that clearly shows this correlation is the ACE Studies (Adverse Childhood Experiences), which Nadine Burke Harris speaks about in a Ted Talk I have linked below.

Childhood trauma isn’t the only factor that contributes to physical and mental health. Other factors include, but are not limited to:

• White body supremacy

• Genocide and war

• Misogyny and patriarchal systems

• Capitalism

• Poverty

• Climate change

• Inter-generational trauma

The stress that results from these various factors contributes to depression, anxiety, chronic pain, inflammation, addictions, heart disease, auto-immune diseases, IBS, etc.

Trauma also impacts our DNA expression, which gets passed onto our children, and these changes can be traced through at least 14 generations. Many of our symptoms might even be inherited from the struggles and hardships of our relatives that continue to persist within our bodies.

I first became a therapist because I wanted to help people. What I found when I began working in community mental health is that us humans make perfect sense- our depression, anxiety, chronic pain, obsessive tendencies, addictions, inability to sustain relationships, etc. has everything to do with reacting to and coping with systems that are rooted in oppression. Because of this, a lot of my focus when I work with people is to help them understand that their symptoms are messengers and allies, and that listening to them and building a relationship to them is how we can heal them.

You could take a moment now if you choose. What do you notice in your body? Do you feel any tension? Where do you feel it? What sensations do you notice in your belly? Your jaw? What are some of the qualities in your breath? Can you feel your heartrate? What parts of you do you notice connected to the ground or your seat? Do you feel safe, unsafe, or somewhere in between? If you took time to slow down with different sensations, what messages might they have for you about what is happening now, or about what might have happened in the past?

Over the long term when we embody ourselves more, we not only notice places of tension, stress, dis-ease, and pain, but also aliveness, wisdom, and resources that live within us. This includes the parts of us that already know how to heal.

Healing is both individual and communal. I offer one-on-one counseling sessions at my office in Easthampton, MA.  I look forward to answering any of your questions or inquiries via email, text, or telephone.