What is Somatic Psychotherapy?

Somatic Psychotherapy… sounds fancy, no? What exactly is Somatic Psychotherapy?

This is often one of the first questions I get when I tell someone what I do for a living, whether that is a new colleague, a new client, or someone I’ve met on vacation.

So, let’s break it down. Somatic means “of the body” and so in a way this is therapy of the body. Now, maybe you’re thinking, “Wait a minute. I thought psychotherapy was only about the mind! What gives?” And while you are partially correct, let’s take a bit of a deeper dive.

Body Psychotherapy has been around for much longer than we likely realize. However, about 30 years ago it was still being considered somewhat “radical.” I’m going to go out on a limb here and propose that this is more likely due to ways in which research has (or has not been) conducted and a fear (on part of the psychology field) of including the body in therapy… but the latter is a topic for another day. 

The way I explain this is, we cannot feel our feelings without sensing something happening in our bodies. We don’t simply think “Oh, I’m excited” and POOF excitement. There is something we are sensing or feeling within our bodies that we then call an emotion. Sure, thoughts are often a big part of our emotional experiences, however to only focus on those during psychotherapy misses the whole picture. And, maybe even more importantly, we are missing a huge potential resource when we are not including our body in our awareness.

What does it mean to “include the body” in psychotherapy? Rather simply put, it means that we will take some time to focus on what your body is doing/communicating/sensing, while we are talking. It might not necessarily even look that differently than other forms of talk therapy; however, the inquiry and curiosity is slightly shifted at moments. Questions like “what are you sensing as you say___?” and “What do you notice in your body as you recall that?” are common within some somatic psychotherapies. Just like other parts of our experience, our bodies work to communicate and give us information about our particular experience at any given moment. We just have to learn to slow down and listen. When we can begin to uncouple the fear from our body we get to develop a new relationship with ourselves. 

If you were to come into my office, you might see all kinds of things that help people sense into their bodies, including, but not limited to a table. And while this particular table does look exactly like a massage table, I’m here to burst a bubble really quickly… it’s not. I am not trained in massage therapy, chiropractic, or any other “bodywork,” but I am trained in Somatic Experiencing and Somatic Touch. And so, this table is a place where co-regulation can happen by utilizing gentle, non-manipulative, present-focused, therapeutic touch.

Much like how babies learn to regulate their new nervous systems through the regulation of their caregivers, we, as mammals, continue to learn through this process as well. Through nervous system to nervous system communication, we can learn skills of regulation. If this sounds a bit “out there” for you, I ask you to consider this scenario- you have had a particularly good morning and decide to grab lunch with a friend, who hasn’t. She tells you all about what is going on in her life right now and is quite clearly anxious and overwhelmed. You spend much of the lunch talking about her struggles and offering her support. You leave lunch, get home and feel all kinds of stirred up. And think, “what gives? I was having a good day. What’s going on?” Well, we pick up on other people’s activation or emotions. They say anxiety can be “contagious.” And while I believe this is true, we can also sort of pick up on other people’s “calm” or regulation as well. 

Keeping the above in mind, somatic psychotherapy is a therapy of inquiry, curiosity, and compassion. Practicing somatic psychotherapy requires awareness of and inquisition into the body. It normalizes our own experiences through a non-judgmental standpoint. As we all have bodies, it is a more holistic view of our own lives and experiences. And remember, it might not look that differently than other therapies; however it can make a world of difference, specifically for those individuals who have experienced trauma in their lives. 

Our previous experiences can sometimes get “stored” in our bodies. By curiously calling attention to some of our sensations, we can begin to heal from these experiences in more holistic ways. Somatic psychotherapy can help us restore our relationship with our bodies and get to feel more at home in them. 

Please feel free to reach out if you would like to discuss any of this further.

With warmth + gratitude,

Tesa