Somatic Therapy

You can understand something completely and still feel it in your body.

You can know that a difficult conversation needs to happen and feel your throat tighten every time you try to begin it. You can know you're allowed to disappoint someone and still feel a wave of anxiety when you do. You can finally have time to rest and discover that your body has no idea how to settle. Sometimes our minds have moved forward while our nervous systems are still responding to experiences and patterns that began years ago.

Somatic Therapy brings the body into the therapeutic process. Along with talking about what's happening in your life, we pay attention to what happens inside you as you talk about it. The tightness in your chest when you think about work. The knot in your stomach when a particular person's name appears on your phone. The tension in your shoulders that has been there for years. The sudden urge to leave, shut down, get busy, or make everything okay.

Our bodies are constantly giving us information, and many of us have become very good at overriding it. We push through exhaustion, talk ourselves out of discomfort, stay busy when we're overwhelmed, and convince ourselves that something shouldn't bother us because we can explain it logically. Over time, it can become difficult to recognize what your body is asking for until it's practically shouting.

In our work together, we'll slow things down enough to notice these signals with curiosity. We might explore what happens in your body when you imagine setting a boundary, asking for something you need, having a difficult conversation, or making a change you've been considering. We'll also use practical somatic tools to help your nervous system settle when you're anxious, come back online when you've shut down, and develop more capacity to stay present when something feels uncomfortable.

Somatic Therapy isn't about being calm all the time. A healthy nervous system can move through many different states. You can feel anxious before an important conversation, angry when something isn't okay, energized when you need to take action, and deeply relaxed when it's time to rest. The work is about developing greater flexibility so you don't remain stuck in a state of activation, overwhelm, or shutdown long after the moment has passed.

Over time, you begin to recognize your body's signals earlier. You notice the tightening before the resentment. You recognize when you're reaching your limit before you're completely depleted. You become more familiar with what safety, discomfort, anger, excitement, and a genuine sense of “this isn't right for me” actually feel like in your body.

Your body has been part of the conversation all along. Somatic Therapy helps you learn how to listen to it.