“Unusual” things you might do in Somatic Therapy

People often ask me how Somatic Therapy sessions work and what makes it different from talk therapy.

Let me start by saying that each session is different and that’s because even though the common goal is to regulate the nervous system, every person’s system needs something different in order to become regulated.

On top of that, each system might need something different at different times.

That’s why you might find yourself doing things with a Somatic Therapist that you’d never consider doing in a session with your regular therapist.

You’d never think of resting, dare to say dozing off at your therapists’ office right?

Well, in Somatic Work, that can happen.

If you’re feeling totally overwhelmed, that’s usually a sign that the nervous system has reached its capacity to process anything.

Sometimes the client is experiencing exhaustion which is a symptom of sympathetic energy being trapped in the system and the fight or flight response being stuck on the “on” function.

We want to be able to address what caused the system to shut down in the first place but we might not be able to do that until the system can rest.

And honestly, there are so many reasons to rest, but that’s for another post.

Another thing we do in Somatic Therapy is closing your eyes for a bit of the session.

Closing your eyes allows you to hear what your body has to say when it speaks its language - the language of sensations and feelings.

Other things unique to Somatic Therapy sessions, touch, movement, tracking sensations, all have one thing in common: they’re different ways to bring the body to the foreground and include it in the healing process, not instead of but in addition to the mind.

At first all these things might feel awkward, but you’ll quickly find it natural to relate to your body this way.