Behind the scenes with a therapist

Last week I was fortunate enough to participate in a Somatic Experiencing training.

“Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the event itself. They arise when residual energy from the experience is not discharged from the body. This energy remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and minds”. - Peter Levine

This quote resonates deeply with me as a Somatic Therapist and as someone who’s been on a healing journey path for years.

It’s so hopeful to me.

It implies that there’s a way to heal from trauma. It’s about releasing the energy that’s been trapped in the nervous system.

Energy that stayed there after a traumatic event.

Even though I’m a Somatic Therapist myself, there’s always more I can learn. 

I can’t wait to share my insights with you and to have these insights influence my work to help individuals liberate themselves from trauma. 

Meanwhile I wanted to share with you some behind the scenes of what it's like to be a Somatic Therapist so you have a better sense of what happens in a session.

Being a somatic therapist is like going on a guided tour. 

The guide is the client. I never know where we’re going to end up going and what we’re going to see on the way. 

When a client shares something they’re experiencing, I often encourage them to feel it inside their bodies.

As they start to go into the details of how that experience, I'll want to take the lead, to start to guide. But what actually happens is I join them in the moment. 

Because it’s my job to make room for the bodymind to speak. And that tends to change the trajectory of things. 

Often what happens in the moment is non-verbal.

I see something happening in my client’s body or a certain movement/gesture and that becomes the sign post of where we need to go next. 

The amazing part?

What the client experiences ends up being exactly what they need for their “issue” to be resolved. 

It works every time.