What is Somatic Therapy?
S o m a t i c
Somatic refers to any body-based therapeutic practice. The word itself is derived from the ancient Greek word Soma, which means “The body in its wholeness”.
T h e r a p y
The word Therapy comes from the ancient Greek word therapeia, which means to stand beside and attend to another in their healing. The verb, therapeuein, means to serve another.
You can Build a healthier relationship
with yourself through somatics
Psycho-somatic work can give you the space to build a healthier and more authentic relationship with yourself - your whole self, your body, mind, emotions, goals, and spirit, and thus the world around you. Somatic work doesn't just allow us to resolve trauma or exit chronic stress loops, triggers, or unhelpful coping strategies; it allows us to live authentically. When we use somatic practices to connect with our bodies, we develop a relationship with ourselves that's based in reality. We are no longer interrupting our genuine feelings and sensations with mental conditioning. We can allow our true selves a voice in our own stories. We begin to live from a deeply integrated and embodied place with ourselves.
More on Somatics
Thomas Hannah, a movement theorist, coined the term Somatics in the 1970s to describe the experience of the body from the inside out. In modern psychology, it refers to integrating the body and mind as one deeply connected system. Somatic practices as a therapeutic pathway are incredibly effective for widening what is called our window of tolerance. By gradually using somatic tools, we can build an embodied sense of safety in our lives, allowing us to experience our authentic feelings without dissociating, denying, or living in ways that aren't true to who we are, or acclimating ourselves to high levels of stress. We can then feel the full range of our human experience without cutting ourselves off from our emotions and our bodies. We can grieve when we need to grieve, we can find safety within when we feel scared, we can be seen in our authenticity without needing to hide, we can say no when something is unhealthy for us, we can find calm when we are anxious, we can process the stress of major life experiences with more tools, and we can heal from abuse or trauma. Somatic Therapy offers a pathway to live in a deeply integrated, embodied way.