Somatic Therapy
What is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy is the use of emotion-focused and body-centred methods for the purpose of healing and growth.
In somatic therapy sessions, I help my clients get in touch with themselves using role-plays, empty chair practices, by giving them unfinished sentences that they complete spontaneously, and by allowing them to express themselves freely in a truly respectful, safe, and supportive environment.
How is Somatic Therapy different from Regular Therapy?
In talk therapy the emphasis is on the narrative of your life. In somatic therapy we explore how you feel about yourself, your relationships, and your life.
The body is a very direct door into our core. The body knows what we really need and want much more clearly than our mind does.
As you learn to connect with the wisdom of your body and emotions (without getting lost in them) you become more deeply connected to your core self, to your unique essence and precious humanity.
What are the Benefits of Somatic Therapy?
Deep healing of old wounds and traumas
Connection with your voice and power
Embodiment of natural bigness and dignity
Connection with your vitality and courage
Embodiment your healthy innocence and joy
Being more in touch with your heart
Finding what really matters to you
Learning to honor your deepest needs
Enjoying a quiet mind and inner peace
Embodiment of your sense of wholeness
The Role of Emotions in Somatic Therapy
Most of us are not really in touch with our emotions even when we feel angry, depressed, or chronically anxious.
Getting in touch with our feeling core, with every one of our emotions is a life-giving adventure in which we encounter not only buried hurt and pain, but also disowned power, frozen dignity and self-worth, as well as our healthy innocence and deep joy that we’ve had to disconnect from in childhood.
Emotional intimacy deepens our capacity for relational intimacy. As we make space for and connect with how we feel, we can better relate to those around us and especially with those closest to us.
Embodying Wholeness and Healthy Relationships
Somatic therapy (especially when combined with healthy spirituality) helps us connect with everything that we are: The high and the low, the light and the dark, as well as the dying and the undying.
The result of such a full connection with ourselves is wholeness. Wholeness is your birthright.
We get in touch with the truth of “there is nothing wrong with me.” This allows a great compassion towards our shortcomings, failures, and mistakes. Such tenderness becomes the way we relate to our humanity.
As this new way of being gets more established in our lives, we begin to show up in our closest relationships from this sense of wholeness within. Relationally, this is a revolution - the birth of a kind of love that only deepens with time.
Experiencing and sharing such love is the birthright of every human being.
Somatic Therapy Grounds Us
As we get in touch with the body, we begin to soften. This softening expands us energetically and dissolves our mind’s fixation on repetitive thoughts and scenarios.
Through emotional awareness, we begin to inhabit our bodies more fully. We begin to enjoy presence, wakefulness, a peaceful sense of being here and showing up fully to our lives.
We begin to make more space for whatever is arising in us regardless of how uncomfortable or unpleasant. Eventually, this capacity of ours expands so much that we can stay sturdy and grounded no matter what is happening in our lives. The result of this is a deep faith in life’s inherent goodness and in our own capacity to deal with difficult situations.
This is peace.
For more on somatic therapy, check out my page here.