Why
Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy represents an important shift in therapeutic practice…
…by recognising the profound interconnection between mind and body, and acknowledging the natural healing tendencies of our bodies. Somatic therapy addresses the root causes of psychological distress and physical symptoms, rather than only treating surface-level symptoms, by delving into the realm of bodily sensations, movements, and expressions to facilitate healing. It acknowledges that our bodies often hold the imprints of past experiences, traumas, and emotions (as evidenced through developments in neuroscience and the trauma field) and by tapping into these sensations, clients can access deeper layers of understanding and transformation.
Through various techniques…
…such as mindfulness of body sensations, internal experience and aspects of self, and working with breath, movement and grounding and centring techniques, somatic therapy is a safe, nurturing space for clients to explore and release tension, process unresolved emotions, access exiled or dissociated aspects of self, and access the source of negative, limiting core beliefs. By cultivating a greater sense of embodiment and self-awareness, we support clients in reclaiming a sense of agency, safety, wholeness, resilience and a deep trust in self, and in developing lifelong skills for self-regulation, stress reduction, and emotional resilience, enhancing their overall well-being and quality of life. As we continue to recognize the profound impact of what is held implicitly within our BodyMind on mental health, integrating somatic therapy into therapeutic practice is becoming increasingly essential for fostering deep and lasting healing.
My Journey to Somatic Work
Like most of us, I grew up in a society that valued thinking and problem solving over emotion and connection, and arrived in adulthood unaware of how disconnected I was from my experience of my life, my emotions and my body. When I (accidently!) came across somatic work, which talked about our bodies ‘holding’ our traumas and emotions, I admit I was sceptical and even dismissive; “Surely if this was true, as a psychologist, I would have known about it!”.
It took only one experience of being supported to tune in to the field of my body for my scepticism to be shattered. In one 40 minute session, I accessed a deep, core belief, understood it’s traumatic roots, and released the tightly held emotions associated with it, which I previously had no idea had been shaping my life, behaviour and relationships. Of course the standard training courses hadn’t considered the body and what it holds – psychology too had developed in a disconnected, thinking-focussed society!
Since that time, I have leaned in to my own somatic healing journey, and explored different MindBody theories and techniques, and I bring these experiences to the trainings offered here. I have seen great shifts in clients that were previously ‘stuck’, and have been touched by the healing power and wisdom of our bodies. With this new trust in client’s systems to move towards healing, my need to effort and ‘fix’ has fallen away, so that burnout is no longer a threat.
Weaving somatic work with our usual psychological approaches and interventions has made my work more holistic, in recognition of the multi dimensional aspects of us humans, and this makes intuitive sense to me.
This work is fascinating, inspiring, life-affirming and beautifully surprising and I am so grateful to have found it, and honoured to be able to share it with you.