Being New to Somatic Therapy is the Norm
Clients specifically ordering “somatic therapy” are in the minority
If the phrase “somatic therapy” sparks doubt or at least a state of “not knowing”, you’re in the majority. Very few of my clients rock into their therapy work with me with clear directives like, “I’d like to body-based therapy” or “please let’s focus on nervous system regulation.” And yet, many of them are aware of why they react the way they do, but feel powerless or mystified as to do things differently. They still experience anxiety, shutdown, or overwhelm in the face of stress - whether they find the stress’ source logical or not.
I don’t want to minimize the importance of insight and understanding - understanding yourself is powerful. We do get moments in the therapy space where insight lands like a mighty aha! But insight alone doesn’t always reach the parts of us that are governed by the deeper impulses of our nervous system.
The therapist/client relationship holds the space for somatic therapy
Even when clients do start therapy and express desires to focus on the nervous system and to do somatic therapy, therapists and clients still have to establish their relationship, which happens through talking. That process might be short - for example, I’ve done therapy that primarily consisted of Brainspotting (a somatic therapy technique) and the agreement was that there would be little-to-no talk therapy beyond what was necessary to explain the process and support that client through it.
But even these sessions move in and out of talking into experiencing. Another way to say that might be they move into experiencing (away from conscious thought) and back toward conscious thought (away from experiencing). Conscious thought and talking helps us make meaning of what we’re experiencing, affirm the new perspectives we’re developing, and help us gain emotional clarity.
By touching into experiences that felt unknowable or even frightening for us, and doing so with the witnessing support of another person, supports our nervous systems in ways that thought and talking alone cannot.
How
Somatic Therapy Can Show Up Quietly
Due to the ever-increasing presence of yoga, meditation and mindfulness practices in western culture, we are witnessing an increased acceptance and interest in body-based therapy. I am delighted when clients specifically reach out for somatic therapy or ask for its integration in our therapy work.
However, even my “talkiest” clients experience the benefits of somatic therapy even if we haven’t explicitly named it as the primary lens for therapy. In session, that might sound like an invitation to sit with an emotion that’s clearly arising and to let it arise and move around, or when your therapist shares their observations on how the moment is showing up in your body.
I’ve shared with clients observations like, “have you noticed your left shoulder is hiking up toward your ear?”. Such a tiny observation can be a doorway into increased somatic awareness, where the client goes on to become aware of how reactivity shows up for them and thus gives them the choice to tone down their nervous system.
The clarity, relief or meaning that follows experiential learning in therapy is often enough to persuade someone, “OK - simply talking about the thing is not always enough to change my experience of the thing.”
When Somatic Therapy Is Especially Helpful
If you recognize any of these experiences in your own, you may want to consider integrating somatic therapy into your process…
You understand why you struggle with overwhelm or unhelpful patterns of reactivity and you still feel powerless to your nervous system’s responses
Anxiety lives in your body more than your thoughts - you might experience rumination or worrying, but there are times where your mind is almost blank with anxiety
You experience shutdown, numbness, or chronic tension and there’s no amount of exercise or distraction that eases it
You’ve done years of talk therapy and feel something is missing, even if you deeply appreciate your therapist and value the work you’ve done together
Somatic Work Integrates Insight
Many of the clients I’ve worked with who end up doing a significant amount of somatic therapy didn’t start off that way. Even when we progressed into mostly somatic work together - sessions that were much “quieter” or worked in meditative states - we would still have sessions where there was more talking. Sometimes that was to reflect on and integrate takeaways from other sessions or between-session work, sometimes it was because they specifically wanted to talk something through, or we were wrapping up one area and setting up the framework for the next.
That’s what I love about having a diverse somatic therapy toolkit I can draw from - including Brainspotting, yoga nidra, yoga, mindfulness, somatic awareness, nervous system language, etc. It allows me to do adaptive work with clients so we fit the therapy to their needs.
Reach out if you’re curious about somatic therapy
When we include your body in therapy - and we don’t just relegate it to a status of “transportation for your brain” - we can shift your experience in meaningful ways. If you’d like to find out more about how our therapists integrate somatic work into therapy and whether their approach to nervous system regulation suits you, reach out to schedule a free consultation with our admin. They’ll help match you with the right therapist for your needs!
