Your body stores stress and trauma. Emotional experiences can be stored in the body (not just the mind) even for years after they have passed.
Somatic therapy is a body based therapy method that focuses on the connection between the mind and the body. Somatic therapy recognizes that our bodies often hold onto experiences, fear, stress, trauma - and other things we experience, long after the events themselves have passed.
When we experience overwhelming situations, the nervous system may become stuck in patterns of Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Shutdown.
Somatic therapy helps release these stored emotional responses by increasing awareness of bodily sensations, movement, breath, and nervous system responses.
Unlike talk therapy alone, where we only talk about what happened, somatic therapy helps your body process and release stored stress and restore balance in your nervous system.
Over time, somatic practices help with nervous system regulation, restoring a sense of calm, stability, and emotional resilience.
Looking to explore somatic therapy? Reach out for a free 15 min consultation with an expert therapist.
Issues that somatic therapy can help with include:
Somatic therapy works by helping you become aware of physical sensations connected to emotions and past experiences. During the somatic therapy session, our therapist guides you through gentle, supportive techniques that may include:
Body Awareness: noticing physical sensations such as tension, warmth, tightness, or relaxation.
Nervous System Regulation: recognizing when your nervous system is activated and guiding you back to a regulated state.
Breathwork: Breathing techniques help calm the nervous system and release stored stress.
Movement and Grounding: small physical movements or grounding exercises help the body complete stress responses that were previously interrupted.
Safe Processing of Experiences: Rather than reliving trauma intensely, somatic therapy focuses on gradual processing that respects your nervous system’s pace.
This approach allows healing to happen without overwhelming the mind or body. Reach out, we look forward to supporting you!
Our somatic therapists create a space where you can safely reconnect with your body, with your emotions, and regulate your nervous system.
All our somatic therapists are trauma informed, and move at a pace that feels safe and manageable for your nervous system.
Expect our therapist to curate somatic practices that suit your needs and work with you to build awareness, resilience, and practical tools you can use in everyday life.
You can also choose to combine somatic therapy with our other therapeutic approaches such as holistic therapy, CBT, mindfulness, trauma therapy, and nervous system regulation techniques.
Our goal is not just body trauma release but wholesome healing that helps you build a deeper sense of safety, connection, and self-trust.
Each of our therapists is also personally dedicated to their own healing work in order to guide you on your healing journey with clinical excellence as well as lived experience. We’re human too, we’ve been there, we get it, and we can help!
Somatic therapy can benefit many people, especially those who have experienced traumatic events and feel that talk therapy alone hasn’t fully helped. It may be particularly helpful for individuals who:
Have a dysregulated nervous system
Have a history of trauma
Struggle with emotional regulation
Experience chronic stress or anxiety
Feel disconnected from their bodies
Feel stuck in repeated behavioral or relationship patterns
Experience physical symptoms linked to stress
Want a more holistic approach to mental health alongside talk therapy
Somatic therapy can also benefit people who want to develop deeper self-awareness and nervous system resilience.
A somatic therapy session usually involves conversation along with guided practices that focus on different body parts and give attention to bodily sensations. Your therapist may invite you to notice tension, breathing patterns, or subtle physical responses while discussing experiences or emotions
Somatic Experiencing is a specific method of somatic therapy developed for trauma recovery. Somatic therapy is the broader category of this method of therapy and it includes several body-based therapeutic approaches.
Yes. Somatic therapy is widely used in trauma treatment because trauma often affects the nervous system, body responses, and is often stored in the body. This approach helps release stored survival responses safely.
Somatic therapy involves physical movement, but not intense physical activity. Any movement or exercises are usually gentle and optional, such as breathing, grounding, or small movements.
As we always say, every person’s healing process is different. Some people notice improvements in stress and body awareness within a few sessions, while deeper healing may take longer.
A gentle reminder, healing is not a straight path and it unfolds differently for everyone. You may begin to notice small yet meaningful shifts within yourself or your life after only a few sessions, and over time, these changes grow into deeper transformation. As you continue to apply what you learn in therapy to your daily life, the impact becomes even more clear to you and to many parts of your life. At the heart of lasting change is the commitment to show up for yourself each day with curiosity and compassion.
When you combine somatic therapy with traditional talk therapy, you gain access to a holistic approach that helps you process emotional experiences on multiple levels. While talk therapy provides a platform for you to express yourself verbally and gain cognitive insights, somatic therapy equips you with tools to address emotional distress stored in your body. This integrative approach enhances your self-awareness, emotional regulation, and overall well-being, resulting in more profound and lasting healing.
Somatic therapy offers a variety of techniques aimed at addressing emotional and physical release through the body-mind connection. One example is Breathwork, which involves specific breathing exercises and techniques designed to activate your body's natural relaxation response, release tension, and increase your capacity for emotional flexibility. Other treatments may include guided meditations, gentle movement practices, increasing somatic awareness, and grounded exercises. All of the somatic practices we offer help you build nervous system resilience and increase your capacity for healing, joy and love
If you’re ready to explore Somatic Therapy, make sure to work with a trained Somatic Therapist. Our Somatic therapists at Normalize Therapy are trained and have lots of experience in somatic therapies of all kinds.
Normalize therapy, supporting you towards lasting body and mind wellness.
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