Somatic Therapy examines your mind, body, spirit and emotions
Past traumas can become trapped in your body … especially those experienced during your earliest childhood. Somatic Therapy explores how those traumas manifest themselves in your facial expressions, posture, muscular pain, nervous tics and other forms of body language.
Also known as body psychotherapy, this holistic practice examines your whole being: body, mind, thinking, feeling and sensing. At times, the focus will be on your experience in the moment, rather than reflecting on past traumas or stressors.
Somatic Therapy integrates current research in neuroscience, body awareness practices from both Eastern and Western cultures and aspects of several other therapeutic practices.
Do I need somatic therapy?
That’s a question for you and your therapist to explore together.
Somatic Therapy is a powerful technique when used alongside traditional talk therapy. It is particularly helpful when working with:
- anxiety
- depression
- grief
- self-esteem
- trauma
- relationship concerns
- emotional balance issues
How does Somatic Therapy work?
According to Robin Levick, one of our somatic therapists in California:
“I incorporate these types of techniques carefully and judiciously, with your permission, in the context of longer term relational psychotherapy. Often, somatic strategies arise organically from the material you are working with, rather than being something that I prescribe or impose.
They are often simple, yet can be quite powerful. Exploring these aspects of your experience often serves to help you increase your self-awareness, enhance your capacity to regulate your nervous system, or help you shape a new relationship to yourself and/or others.”
