Somatic Psychotherapy
At Embody + Mind Collective, we offer many different services to guide people through their therapeutic journey. Being body-inclusive, clinicians at Embody + Mind Collective offer somatic psychotherapy. We receive continual training on the most up-to-date research regarding the connection between the mind and body.
Body Psychotherapy has been around for much longer than we likely realize. However, about 30 years ago it was still being considered somewhat “radical” and as such, we at Embody + Mind Psychotherapy understand that these two words (body & psychotherapy) might seem strange when partnered together. And yet, it is through this incredible relationship, between mind and body, that true and lasting healing can happen.
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 into our awareness.
What does it mean to “include the body” in psychotherapy? Rather simply put, it means that your clinician at Embody + Mind Collective will take some time to focus on what your body is doing, communicating, and sensing, while you are talking. It might not necessarily even look much 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 worlds, 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, or disconnect, the fear from our body we are capable of developing a new relationship with ourselves.
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. Somatic psychotherapy invites us to tune into our internal worlds by tracking the gentle (or sometimes not so gentle!) shifts that happen in our physiology. By tracking our senses and learning their relationship with other experiences, what supports them, what challenges them, and what turns them on or off, we can change our relationship with our bodies.
The ultimate goal of Somatic Psychotherapy is to help your nervous system get back into the sense of regulation that it longs for. Since our bodies are longing for both survival and connection, Somatic Psychotherapy helps our dysregulated nervous systems come back into the present moment so that connection becomes possible again. It is from this place that healing and meaningful relationships are possible.
We provide body-centered psychotherapy:
somatic psychotherapy blogs
Somatic Touch
If you were to come into our 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 … it’s not. It is, however, a place wherein Somatic Touch could occur. Whether you are seated or lying down, the table provides a place where co-regulation can happen by utilizing gentle, non-manipulative, present-focused, therapeutic touch.
Like Somatic Experiencing, Somatic Touch is also a body-oriented approach that helps people regulate their nervous systems. It is a more hands-on approach that is based in the science of co-regulation. Somatic Touch helps people sense into their own nervous system regulation and learn ways to practice this at home. As our sense of touch is the first sense to develop in utero, Somatic Touch also helps those people who have experienced trauma experiences preverbally.
Much like babies learn how 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, we 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 we, at Embody & Mind Collective, believe this is true, we can also sort of pick up on other people’s “calm” or regulation by attuning to a sense of safety.
Somatic Experiencing
Now, Somatic Experiencing (SE™) isn’t only limited to the use of a table. It is a body-centered approach that can also be utilized seated, standing, or even moving. In fact, movement is often encouraged in a Somatic Experiencing session. SE isn’t necessarily something we “do” rather it is a new lens we can see our experiences through. Even such, you can walk away with tangible skills in tracking, sensing, and regulating your own nervous system.
Somatic Experiencing (SE™) is a body-oriented therapeutic approach to helping people heal from their traumas. It teaches people to tune into their body responses with curiosity and begin to track their experiences. It helps people separate out fear from these body responses and creates space to explore our natural and adaptive physiologies. By increasing our own awareness of our body’s signs and signals, we can change our relationships with our bodies. We can begin to trust our bodies more and become more self-aware.
OUr approach: healing through body + mind
Whether you are looking for compassionate support, integrated feelings of embodiment or more directive guidance towards living your fullest life, individual therapy may be for you. Catered to your specific needs, this may include talk therapy, Somatic Experiencing, or incorporating Somatic Touch.
Healing starts with more presence
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