Somatic Therapy
Body-oriented therapy to help you heal from trauma and manage anxiety in a safe, supportive way.
For Somatic Therapy, we utilise a range of body-focused techniques grounded in trauma research and neuroscience. With a deep commitment to the mind-body connection, we are dedicated to helping you reconnect with your body, release stored tension, and overcome anxiety or trauma at your own pace in a warm, supportive environment.
Somatic Therapy
Somatic therapy encourages mindful breathing and awareness of physical sensations, helping you tune into your body’s signals and emotions. By gently guiding you to notice areas of tension, tightness, or numbness in a session, we can uncover where stress or trauma may be held in your body. This attentive, compassionate approach allows you to feel and heal, rather than just talk about what you've been through. Over time, these practices help restore a sense of calm, safety, and wholeness in both mind and body.
Somatic Experiencing
As counsellors informed by somatic therapy principles, we draw upon approaches like Somatic Experiencing, developed by Dr. Peter Levine. This gentle, evidence-based method focuses on helping you safely discharge the “fight, flight, or freeze” energy that gets locked in the body during traumatic events.
Rather than revisiting trauma in detail, Somatic Experiencing guides you to pay attention to your bodily sensations in the present moment – for example, noticing a racing heartbeat or a knotted feeling in your stomach – and allows those sensations to gradually soften and release. By working slowly and respectfully with the nervous system, you can process traumatic stress without becoming overwhelmed. Many trauma survivors find relief as their body completes the protective responses that were interrupted at the time of the trauma.
This process can reduce symptoms like hypervigilance, nightmares, or emotional numbness. Over time, you build resilience and learn that it’s possible to feel safe and comfortable in your own body again, even after everything you’ve been through.
Somatic therapy techniques might include guided deep breathing, gentle movement or stretching, and mindfulness exercises. In a typical session, you may be invited to notice your breath and bodily sensations as you talk. We might practice grounding techniques – for instance, feeling your feet on the floor or placing a hand on your heart – to help you stay present.
As you tune in, emotions or memories might surface, but always at a level you can handle. We will support you in releasing stress or emotions through the body: perhaps by taking a deeper breath, sighing, or even shaking out tension in your limbs. These simple body-centered exercises send signals to your brain that you are safe, gradually retraining your nervous system to relax and move out of crisis mode.