Somatic Therapy…the thing I never knew I needed
Here is a visual to describe the difference between talk therapy and somatic therapy. I can’t take credit for this awesome explanation, a friend of mine told me this and I think it’s a perfect way to grasp it. Think about a tree. If talk therapy is like the branches, somatic therapy is the roots. You can address the roots of the trauma so that the branches don’t need to be talked about because the healing happens deep.
During this blog post, I am going to talk about what somatic therapy is, why it’s been beneficial for me and why I believe it has “moved the needle” much more than talk therapy, some of the tools I’ve taken away from the six sessions I have had thus far, and I’ll share at the end of the post who I have been going to see if you are local to Nashville and are interested in seeing her for your own healing.
What is somatic therapy?
According to Psychology Today, “somatic therapy is form of body-centered therapy that looks at the connection of mind and body and uses both psychotherapy and physical therapies for holistic healing. Practitioners of somatic therapy address what they see as a split between the body. Instead, they believe mind and body are intimately connected, though not always in apparent ways. Thought, emotions, and sensations are all believed to be interconnected and influence one another.” This is the technical definition and I thought I’d also describe what I think it means from my perspective. To me, somatic therapy is dropping out of your head and into your body to reconnect with yourself. It’s so easy to stay stuck in our heads and to become disconnected from our feelings and the wisdom of our bodies. Our bodies are so smart and we often override them with our minds. Somatic therapy has allowed me to reconnect with my body, drop in and feel safety again in my body, to feel calmness and peace in a very fast paced world.
Why is somatic therapy beneficial and why has it moved the needle more than talk therapy did for me?
A bit of background information…I first went to talk therapy around age 17 or 18. I went back to talk therapy after my car accident happened at age 19. If you are interested in that story you can read more about that HERE. I stayed in therapy consistently for a few years after that. Then took a break from therapy for several years and went back around age 28. I’ve been in and out of talk therapy since then. (I am 35 as I am writing this blog post). My grandmother passed in January of 2023. I went to a talk therapy session a few weeks after her passing and I just didn’t get much from it. I left the session and still felt so disconnected from my body. I have always felt pretty connected to my body (or so I thought), but grief really caused me to disconnect from my body and I felt very off. My friend told me about a somatic practitioner she had been to see and spoke so highly of the practitioner and of her experience. At this point, I had nothing to lose so I decided to sign up for a session and give it a shot. I’ll try most anything once.
March of 2023 I went to my first somatic therapy session. It had been about 7 weeks since my grandma’s passing. I had the BIGGEST release of emotions I had experienced since mid January. It was the first time my body felt completely safe to let go. I can’t describe how I felt during the session and afterwards other than I felt so much relief and freedom in my body. I have been back 5 times since then and plan to keep going to continue to work through some things that I won’t talk about here.
Each session is different, which I love, and every time I leave I have new tools in my tool box to use in day to day life. I will share one of the things I have done in a couple of sessions that has helped me tremendously and that is breath work. I am one of those people that until I tried breath work, I didn’t really understand the “hype” of it. Well, I am drinking the breath work kool-aid now, let me tell you! I also learned a lot about it and now understand that it is backed by science and is really an amazing tool. The first time I did breath work, my hands and arms started tingling and my stomach was rapidly moving and tears poured from my eyes (I wasn’t sad). I learned that this was a somatic release. The next session, I did breath work again and this time it was for a longer period of time. My whole body was shaking and the release I felt from it was the most powerful physical thing I have ever experienced. I do not recommend trying breath work by yourself for the first time. Once you have done it a couple of times under the guidance of a trained professional and they give you the go ahead to do it alone then that’s okay! If breath work isn’t your thing, that is not required in somatic therapy sessions, this is one thing I have benefited from that I wanted to share.
I believe that somatic therapy has “moved the needle” more for me than talk therapy because I am dropping into my body. I am not talking my way through things, I am fully experiencing them and feeling them in my body. I am learning to regulate my nervous system, I am learning to listen to my body. We can only think and talk so much, you have to be in your body, learn to feel safe in your body again and if you live only in your head then that isn’t possible. I do think talk therapy is beneficial and I don’t regret the time I spent in talk therapy, however I am forever grateful that I have found somatic therapy and truly believe that it’s something that has helped me to come home to myself.
A few tools I’ve taken away from my sessions
I am going to share a few tools I have taken away from my sessions. This will vary greatly as we all have different things we are healing from or working through. So, if you don’t resonate with these, please don’t let that deter you from trying somatic therapy.
Keeping my own energy is something that I have struggled with for a big part of my life. This is something I have worked on in my somatic sessions and have learned ways to keep my own energy and not take on the energy/vibe of others. First, reminding myself that it’s not my responsibility to take on other’s energy or problems, their energy is theirs and mine is mine. A few grounding techniques I have learned are—feeling my feet steady on the ground and imagining roots are going down into the ground, washing my hands between clients or using hand sanitizer to “wipe away” each person’s energy and starting fresh, some breathing techniques, learning about energy bubbles and keeping other’s energy out of my “bubble”, rubbing my hands together to bring myself back to the present moment, one hand on heart one on belly to feel my own energy.
Scheduling rest. Scheduling time to rest. I am someone that likes to fill my days with things to do and to go go go. This can also be a form of numbing and “running” from being still. Our bodies NEED stillness and rest. I have started scheduling time to rest during the days. This doesn’t always mean napping or laying down, it could mean sitting out in the grass or doing some yoga or going for a walk without headphones/etc. A time to slow down and connect with myself. Now that I have developed a pattern with rest, I no longer have to “schedule” it and it’s more intuitive. However, at first I had to block it on my calendar because I was SO far removed from listening to what my body as far as rest.
More play. Along with rest, play is SO important. As adults, we sometimes forget to let our inner child out. She/he is still in there and always will be and needs love and care too. For me, this has looked like going to dance classes, dancing around my house, putting my phone away for a bit and seeing what I want to do, having one free day per week to see what comes up, what I want to do—letting my body tell me…what would this look like for you?
Breathing & pausing before responding. This has been a big one for me. Breathing, pausing, allowing. If you are used to being in fight or flight and going going going all of the time and not allowing feelings this can be hard. I am someone who used to always respond to texts, emails, messages, requests etc RIGHT AWAY. Not anymore and WOW this has been impactful. Remember, your free time and your availability are NOT the same thing. You get to decide that. Breathe, pause, allow, you don’t have to respond immediately.
These are just a few tools I have taken away from my sessions. I won’t share them all because some things are meant to be kept private. :)
Who have I been working with?
If you are local to Nashville, you are one lucky duck because I am about to share who I have been working with the last several months and she is PURE GOLD. Courtney Elliott is a somatic practitioner that works in East Nashville. Her energy is the most calming energy I have ever been around and the way that she holds space for people is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Her space is so clean and calming and you feel welcome right when you walk in the door. She is intuitive in her approach and truly listens without judgment. She has a gift and I am happy I can share her information with you. Here is here WEBSITE and her INSTAGRAM. If you have any further questions, please reach out.
Thanks for reading and if you have any questions, please reach out! I’m most active on INSTAGRAM.
