Therapeutic Approach
Somatic & Body-Based Therapy
Trauma does not live only in your memories — it lives in your body. Somatic therapy helps you tune into physical sensations, release stored tension, and restore a felt sense of safety from the inside out. Healing that talk therapy alone cannot always reach.
The body keeps the score
When we experience trauma, the nervous system activates a survival response — fight, flight, or freeze. If that response is never fully completed, the energy gets stuck in the body. This is why trauma survivors often experience chronic tension, pain, numbness, or a persistent sense of threat even when they are objectively safe.
Somatic therapy works directly with these physical patterns. Rather than only talking about what happened, you learn to notice what is happening in your body right now — and to work with those sensations to complete the interrupted survival responses and restore regulation.
This approach draws from Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and Polyvagal Theory — all of which recognize the body as a central partner in healing, not just a container for the mind.
Somatic therapy can help with
Somatic techniques used in sessions
Body scanning
Gently bringing awareness to physical sensations — tension, warmth, tightness, ease — to understand what your body is holding and where.
Grounding exercises
Techniques that anchor you in the present moment through your senses, helping regulate the nervous system when it is activated.
Titration
Working with trauma in small, manageable doses so the nervous system can process without becoming overwhelmed — the opposite of flooding.
Pendulation
Moving attention between areas of distress and areas of relative ease in the body, building the capacity to tolerate difficult sensations.
Resourcing
Identifying and strengthening internal and external resources — memories, images, sensations — that support a felt sense of safety and regulation.
Movement and breath
Using intentional movement and breathing patterns to discharge stored tension and restore the body's natural rhythm of activation and rest.
Heal From Within
Your body has been trying to tell you something. Somatic therapy is available in-person in Phoenix and via telehealth in AZ, MN, OH, and LA.
Frequently asked questions
Will I have to do anything physical in sessions?
No. Somatic work in therapy is gentle and non-invasive. It might involve noticing where you feel tension, taking a slow breath, or making a small intentional movement — always at your own pace and comfort level.
Can somatic therapy help if I feel disconnected from my body?
Yes — in fact, dissociation and disconnection from the body are exactly what somatic therapy is designed to address. We start slowly, building a sense of safety and curiosity about your body's signals before going deeper.
How does somatic therapy work with EMDR?
EMDR and somatic approaches are highly complementary. EMDR reprocesses traumatic memories while somatic work addresses the physical patterns those memories created. Many clients benefit from both.
Is somatic therapy the same as somatic experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is one specific somatic modality developed by Peter Levine. Somatic therapy is a broader term that includes SE, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and other body-based approaches. Sessions may draw from multiple frameworks depending on your needs.
Is somatic therapy available via telehealth?
Yes. Somatic approaches adapt well to telehealth. Sessions are available via secure video for clients in Arizona, Minnesota, Ohio, and Louisiana.
Related therapeutic approaches & services
Ready to Heal?
Healing happens in the body, not just the mind. Schedule a free consultation to explore whether somatic therapy is right for you.