About Somatic Counselling
"Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence."
Peter Levine, PhD
The word somatic is derived from the Greek word “soma” which means living body. Somatic therapy is a holistic therapy that studies the relationship between the mind, body and spirit.
Somatic therapy is designed to support individuals in processing trauma in a titrated and tolerable way. If our past trauma (big or small) is unresolved in our bodies it will cause issues in our relationships, health, bodies and overall life. Somatic therapy helps clients transitions their bodies from a state of survival to a state of freedom thriving.
Working with intuition along with the physiology of the body this framework offers you an opportunity to understand when you unconsciously enter into fight, flight or freeze. These healing processes help resolve these fixated physiological states.
Somatic therapy operates off the idea that what happens to you in your life is stored not only in your mind but also in your body. By focusing on both the physical sensations in your body and the discussion of your problems, it is a comprehensive approach to therapy. Somatic therapy techniques include:
- Developing more awareness of your body and its sensations
- Calling upon emotional resources
- Grounding
- Encouraging detailed descriptions
- Movement, including acting out of physical feelings
- Learning tools to calm oneself
- Alternating focus between something stressful and something not stressful to help release tension
- Replaying past situations with new physical tools
- Emotional release
- Strengthening boundaries
Anyone can try somatic therapy as an alternative to conventional talk therapy. It is used for a variety of mental and physical health issues.Mental health issues that somatic therapy is used for include:
- PTSD
- Anxiety
- Addiction
- Grief
- Depression
- Stress
Through somatic healing clients will begin to bring regulation to the nervous system, this supports a sense of personal efficacy and empowerment; controlling the internal experiences so that we are not a the whim of external circumstances.
It would be an honour to walk alongside you on your journey back to your innate state of love.