somatic psychotherapy

"The spirit and the body are one, and when we listen to the whispers of our ancestors and feel the rhythms of our breath, we remember how to heal."

— Sobonfu Somé, Burkinabe Author and Spiritual Teacher

Somatic Therapy for Embodied Healing

Two women sitting on a couch, engaged in conversation. One woman, with dark skin and curly hair, wears glasses and a light pink blazer, holding a phone. The other woman, with lighter skin and dark hair styled in an updo, wears a colorful patterned blouse and pearl jewelry. Indoor setting with plants and office supplies in background.

In this work, I support you in paying attention to what is happening in your body, not just what you are thinking. A lot of people come in feeling overwhelmed in a way that is hard to turn off, disconnected from themselves, or like they are stuck in patterns they understand but cannot seem to change.

You might notice you are pushing through your days while your body feels tense, tired, shut down, or on edge, even when nothing obvious is wrong. Or you may find yourself overthinking everything but still not feeling any closer to relief.

We slow things down so you can start noticing what your nervous system is doing in real time. From there, we work on helping you stay with those experiences in a way that feels more manageable, instead of immediately pushing past them.

I draw from somatic psychotherapy, including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and other body-based approaches, to help you work with the impact of stress, trauma, and life transitions in a way that feels steady and doable.

Over time, this work can help you feel more present in your own life, more able to notice what you need, and less like you are constantly bracing or just trying to get through the day.

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what is somatic psychotherapy?

Somatic psychotherapy is a type of mental health counseling that focuses on the connection between the mind and body. It's based on the idea that the body stores negative experiences, such as trauma, in somatic memory. Somatic therapy aims to help patients heal by using mind-body techniques to release stress, trauma, and tension.

While there are different types of somatic therapy, I have training in and heavily utilize Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP).

In SP, the mind, body, and spirit are addressed as a whole rather than as separate parts. The body is a source of information and a target for interventions. Understanding how the body reacts and contributes to thoughts, emotions, and behaviors helps you deeply and thoroughly address experiences like intrusive symptoms, numbness, motor inhibitions, avoidance, emotional dysregulation, and difficulties with relationships and general daily functioning.

The focus is on helping you develop your own internal resources to process the trauma, transcend the prolonged flight-flight-or-freeze reaction of the autonomic nervous system, recognize and self-regulate emotions, and respond calmly and thoughtfully to your world.