Feel at home in your body.
Somatic Therapy
In Denver & online across CO and TX
Do you hold your stress & anxiety in your body?
maybe you…
Know you don’t need to be anxious in your logical brain but your body refuses to believe it
Have tried other types of therapy but still feel stuck in the same patterns
Have heard that “the body keeps the score” and want to learn more
Struggle to feel present in your body, through both the good and the bad moments in life
It doesn’t have to stay like this. Somatic therapy can help.
Questions? Send me a message today!
Somatic therapy can help you release trauma stuck in your body and help you find long-lasting relief.
We can't talk ourselves out of trauma we've experienced. Somatic therapy uses the body's wisdom to help you find true relief from trauma.
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Somatic therapy helps us go beneath the surface by studying what’s happening in your body alongside your thoughts and emotions. Traditional talk therapy tends to focus more on our thoughts or emotions about an experience. Somatic therapy acknowledges that the human experience is made up of so much more than that, including our body sensations, movements, and five senses.
Incorporating the full experience into therapy allows us to holistically address trauma in your past and get to the root of your symptoms so you can move forward in life.
Throughout all of this, it helps you build skills for grounding yourself, managing your emotions, and keeping you in the present moment.
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As we talk about your experiences, we’ll explore how they physically feel. A question I’ll commonly ask is: “where do you feel that in your body?” If the idea of feeling physical sensations sounds scary or overwhelming, don’t worry - we’ll take things very slowly to ease you into feeling more comfortable. And if you can’t connect to what you’re feeling, I’ll help you figure it out.
As you become more aware of your inner sensations and movements, we’ll explore where trauma is stored inside of you. I’ll guide you through the process of releasing it. This usually involves focusing on a sensation until your body naturally lets it go, or completing an action your body wanted to do but wasn’t able to do in the moment, such as protect yourself or push someone away.
We’ll also incorporate your thoughts, emotions, and five senses into the process so that your entire self can feel the changes. After processing trauma in the body, people often feel a sense of relief or like they let go of a burden, and may feel tired or drained as well.
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Somatic therapy can be very helpful for releasing burdens and patterns from the past, as well as helping you control your emotional and physical responses when something difficult comes up.
It’s especially useful for situations you’ve tried to address with talk therapy and haven’t been able to make the progress you’ve been looking for.
You will also build awareness of your physical sensations and how they are intertwined with your emotions and thoughts, helping you learn to take care of your body in difficult moments.
Is somatic therapy right for you?
Somatic therapy may be a good fit if you…
Experienced trauma or neglect, whether ongoing or a single incident
Struggle to feel connected and present in your body
Notice patterns in your relationships that you can’t seem to shake no matter what you try
Feel stuck, even though you’ve talked through the issues you’re experiencing in therapy before
Feel like you constantly hold tension in your body
Knowing something in your head is one thing.
Feeling it in your body is another.
Somatic therapy can help you get there.
What we’ll work on
With somatic therapy, you can…
Connect with the sensations in your body, and understand how they connect to your emotions
Learn how to calm your body and nervous system
Break out of patterns you’ve been stuck in
Release tension you carry throughout the day
You can feel at peace.
It’s time to come home to your body.
Questions?
FAQs
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Somatic therapy can be useful in most situations because our body is such an integral part of our everyday experience. It can be especially helpful for people who have experienced trauma, whether that trauma is a one-time event like a car accident or assault or an ongoing traumatic or abusive experience.
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Somatic therapy still involves talking, but instead of talking about our cognitive experience of what happened to us, we’ll also talk about the sensations in your body that come up when you bring up something traumatic. Since trauma occurs in deeper levels of our brain than our “thinking” brain, we can’t simply talk our way through healing trauma - we have to get onto trauma’s level to really feel better.
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Similar to in-person therapy, as you gain awareness of sensations in your body, we’ll focus on those rather than the narrative of your story. I’ll point out changes I notice in your body, and might ask you questions about other parts of your body that are off-screen.
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Somatic therapy still involves talking, but instead of talking about our cognitive experience of what happened to us, we’ll also talk about the sensations in your body that come up when you bring up something traumatic. Since trauma occurs in deeper levels of our brain than our “thinking” brain, we can’t simply talk our way through healing trauma - we have to get onto trauma’s level to really feel better.
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You are absolutely not alone. For many people who have experienced trauma, feeling sensations is scary. That’s why we’ll take things very slowly, and collaborate on each and every step of the process so that you feel comfortable. We’ll also work together to find ways to keep you grounded and in the present moment as you gently allow yourself to notice what’s happening in your body.
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Trauma is our response to difficult events or circumstances. There’s a common misconception that trauma is only “big events” like experiencing assault or a natural disaster. The truth is, trauma far more common than most people think - nearly all of us have experienced some type of trauma in our life. It’s also important to know that what one person experiences as traumatic might not be considered traumatic by someone else.
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We’ll start with a quick 15-minute consultation where I’ll answer any questions you have and we’ll both make sure we’re a good fit for working together. I can share more about somatic therapy and help you understand the process. From there, if you’d like to move forward, we can schedule our first appointment - I try to offer times within a week of our consultation so you can start getting the relief you need. Reach out today.