You are not a lost cause!

It’s true that for Somatic work to be successful you have to be able to connect to our felt sense, which is how something is experienced in the body.

It’s also true that for a lot of us this can be a tall order.

That doesn’t mean that all is lost and that you can’t benefit from Somatic Therapy.

If you have a hard time sensing anything in the body here are a few things to consider:

First of all, you’re born totally connected to your bodily experience. Our upbringing, culture and trauma makes us forget that connection which means that you can always decide to reclaim this capacity.

Secondly, sometimes we think we can’t feel anything but what’s really happening is that we’re feeling the places that actually feel ok at the moment and we don’t think it’s important to notice them.

We’re wired to scan for what’s wrong and when we come to therapy there can be an even stronger pull in this direction because we’re in a “trying to fix it“ mode.

Since there’s a high premium on noticing what’s wrong, we skip over pleasant sensations which totally count!

Also, sometimes felt senses can be so subtle that we discount them all together.

Again, we’re not used to paying such close attention to what’s happening inside and what’s showing up is on a small scale, so we don’t think it matters. But noticing each little thing is how we develop our sensitivity to our felt-sense.

You might feel like you’re making things up but trust that you aren’t. The more you listen, the more you’ll be able to hear your felt-sense.

You may also find it hard to describe what you're noticing. If that’s the case, you’re in the right place. Felt senses are vague and hard to describe.

In fact the research conducted by Eugene Gendlin about the efficacy of different kinds of therapy showed that the more you’re engaged in the activity of trying to describe something that you feel in the body, the better chances you have of healing.

You can start with “I’m feeling something” and eventually more words will come.

It’s not about finding the exact right words. It’s about engaging in the process of searching.