What Is Somatic Work?
What Is Somatic Work?
A body-based approach to emotional growth, safety, and self-trust.
If you’ve ever felt like your body knows things your mind can’t quite explain — you’ve already touched the world of somatic work.
The word “somatic” comes from the Greek word “soma,” meaning “body.” Somatic work is a body-based approach to emotional growth, healing, and transformation. It’s rooted in the understanding that the body holds wisdom, stories, and unprocessed emotion that the mind alone can’t always access.
Where traditional talk methods work with thoughts and insights, somatic work invites you to come into your body — to feel, sense, and move through what’s ready to shift. It acts as a bridge between mind and body, awareness and healing.
For years, I understood my emotions but couldn’t feel them — not safely, anyway. It wasn’t until I began working through the body that my healing actually integrated. That experience is what drew me to this work — because insight alone isn’t enough when your body still remembers every experience you’ve tried to forget.
“Somatic work helps you come home to your body — safely, gently, and at your own pace.”
What Makes Somatic Work Unique
It begins in the body, not the mind
Most healing or growth work starts with thoughts or talk. Somatic work begins with felt sensing— noticing breath, tension, movement, and emotion as they live in the body.
The body holds what the mind forgets
When we go through stress or trauma, our bodies can store the residue — constriction, guarding, or numbness. Somatic work doesn’t force release; it gently tends to what’s held, allowing integration.
It’s relational and co-created
This isn’t something you do alone. Together, we track what arises — breath, sensation, pacing— creating a space where your system feels safe enough to open.
Safety and pacing come first
Because we’re working somatically, nervous system awareness and pacing are everything. You never go faster than your body can handle.
Integration, not just insight
Insights are wonderful, but embodiment is the key. Somatic work supports change that your body can actually sustain.
This is where transformation begins — not by thinking harder, but by feeling safer.
What Somatic Work Can Support
Somatic work supports the space between knowing and feeling — the in-between where you understand what’s happening but still can’t shift it. It helps reconnect body and mind so change becomes embodied.
Challenge
Emotional overwhelm or anxiety
Trauma or stress residue
Chronic tension or numbness
Self-trust and intuition
Creative blocks or stagnation
How Somatic Work Helps
Helps you locate and regulate emotion in the body.
Invites integration through gentle awareness and presence.
Brings curiosity and movement to areas that hold.
Builds confidence in your body’s signals and boundaries.
Reconnects you with flow, energy, and embodied expression.
How Somatic Work Differs from Therapy
Focus & Orientation
Therapy often focuses on healing mental health challenges or processing trauma. Somatic work is growth-oriented — helping you integrate awareness and build new embodied patterns.
Scope & Credentials
Therapists are licensed to diagnose and treat conditions. As a somatic facilitator, I don’t diagnose or treat — I guide you in exploring your body’s cues and building capacity.
Method & Tools
Therapy is often talk-based. Somatic work uses breath, movement, interoception, and curiosity to shift from thinking to feeling.
Time Orientation
Therapy may look to the past; somatic work anchors in the here and now, while honoring your history.
Goal Relationship
Therapy seeks healing and stabilization. Somatic work invites forward movement, integration, and embodied empowerment.
Many of my clients continue therapy alongside somatic work — and find that working through the body helps their insights from therapy finally land.
A Simple Somatic Invitation
You don’t have to wait for a session to begin sensing with your body. Try this gentle practice whenever you need a moment of grounding.
Pause and notice your breath. Feel its texture, depth, and rhythm.
Scan your body slowly. Move your awareness from feet to head, noticing sensations or tension.
Identify one small sensation — perhaps a tightness, warmth, or subtle movement.
Greet it with curiosity. Ask, “What wants my attention here?”
Breathe toward it. Let the exhale soften any edges.
Rest and integrate. Notice any shift, ease, or space within you.
There’s no right way to do this — only your way. Notice what feels different, even if it’s small.
Is Somatic Work Right for You?
If you’ve done therapy and still feel disconnected from your body — if you’re craving presence, calm, and deeper trust in yourself — somatic work may be the next step in your journey home.
Each session is an invitation to slow down, listen, and reconnect with the part of you that already knows how to heal.
