Somatic Psychotherapy

Somatic psychotherapy is an embodied, holistic approach to healing that recognizes the intimate connection between the body and the mind and explores the sensations, emotions, breath, images, memories and stories stored within the body, unlocking pathways to profound healing and transformation. 

During trauma processing the therapist works with the clients own internal system to discover what the underlying patters are, dissolve them, so that processing and healing can happen on a deep sub-cordial level. Clients can start noticing visible shifts in their reactions, experiences and responses in their lives. 

 Here's how somatic therapy helps with self-regulation:

1. Body Awareness:Somatic therapy helps individuals develop a heightened awareness of bodily sensations and experiences. By tuning into bodily cues such as muscle tension, breathing patterns, and visceral sensations, individuals can identify signs of stress or dysregulation 

2. Mind-Body Connection: Somatic therapy recognizes the interconnectedness of physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts. By addressing bodily experiences, individuals can access and process underlying emotions and cognitive patterns that contribute to dysregulation.

3. Regulation Techniques:Somatic therapy offers a variety of techniques to regulate the nervous system and promote relaxation. These may include deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, grounding techniques, and mindfulness

4. Trauma Resolution: Somatic therapy is particularly effective for individuals who have experienced trauma or chronic stress. Traumatic experiences often result in dysregulation of the nervous system, leading to symptoms such as hypervigilance, dissociation, and emotional reactivity. Somatic therapy helps individuals release stored tension and discharge traumatic energy from the body, promoting a sense of safety and stability.

5. Resilience Building: Through somatic therapy, individuals learn to build resilience by cultivating adaptive responses to stress and adversity. By developing self-awareness and regulation skills, individuals can better navigate challenging situations and bounce back from setbacks more effectively.

6. Integration of Body and Mind: Somatic therapy encourages the integration of bodily experiences with cognitive and emotional processing. By acknowledging and honoring the wisdom of the body, individuals can access deeper layers of insight, intuition, and self-understanding.

7. Empowerment: Somatic therapy empowers individuals to take an active role in their healing process. By learning to listen to their bodies and respond to their needs, individuals gain a sense of agency and self-efficacy in managing their emotional well-being.

Somatic therapy helps individuals regulate their emotions by promoting body awareness, regulating the nervous system, resolving trauma, building resilience, and fostering empowerment. By cultivating a mindful connection between the mind and body, individuals can experience greater self-regulation and overall well-being.

“The greater the role played by experiencing during the therapy hours, the greater will be the therapeutic change and [the more likely] the successful outcome of therapy” (1961, pp. 240-243). To test this hypothesis, Gendlin and his colleagues developed and tested the experiencing scale, which measures the level of experiencing in a segment of therapy. More than 30 stud- ies now show that a higher experiencing level correlates with more successful therapy (Hendricks, 2002)."

REFERENCES: Gendlin, E.T. (1961). Experiencing: Avariable in the process of therapeutic change. American Journal of Psychothera- py, 15(2).

Source: https://focusing.org/sites/default/files/legacy/pdf/friedman_gendlin_annals.pdf