Trauma is often associated with the onset of mental challenges. Your body, however, experiences and remembers the trauma, even when you try to push the experience aside. You may notice muscle tension appear when you’re stressed, a nagging knot in the pit of your stomach, or your breathing becoming shallow when you enter crowded spaces.
These physical responses aren’t occurring randomly. They’re your nervous system, carrying the weight of the trauma, often stuck in an unhelpful pattern. Somatic therapy works directly with these body-based responses to help your nervous system break free and find a sense of balance. Rather than going the route of traditional talk therapy, this method enables you to process your trauma from wherever it’s currently living within your body.
Nervous System Dysregulation
Your nervous system is the built-in alarm system that should alert you to imminent threats and return to the status quo once the real danger has passed. Trauma, chronic stress, or overwhelming experiences can cause your system to malfunction. You might find yourself constantly on edge, even in moments where you’re safe.
This dysregulation shows up in different ways:
Hyperarousal: feelings constantly wired, anxious, or unable to relax
Hypoarousal: feeling numb, disconnected, or nothing at all
Swinging between both: fluctuating between feeling overwhelmed and shutting down completely
These responses are meant to protect you based on what you learned from past experiences, but may no longer be serving you in your current situation.
How Somatic Therapy Creates Change
At the core of somatic therapy is this belief that your body holds the key to healing. After trauma, or chronic stress for that matter, you’ve developed protective strategies to survive. Your body still defaults to that even though you’ve moved on.
A somatic therapist will help you tune into any physical sensations linked to the traumatic experience. You’ll explore where your body carries tension, develop mindfulness of shifts to your breathing pattern, and become aware of how your body adjusts in different environments. This awareness forms the foundation needed for change.
Somatic therapy helps your body complete the initial protective response that it started, but never finished. Your body likely triggered a fight-or-flight response. But, unable to take the steps needed to carry the process to its end, all that energy remained trapped inside. With this approach, you’ll be given a safe space to release stored energy and teach your nervous system new responses that are more helpful to you.
Building New Nervous System Patterns
Regulation doesn’t happen overnight, but it can be a learned process with the right tools and practice. Your therapist may guide you through gentle movements, breathing exercises, or mindfulness practices that help your body acknowledge its safety. Together, you’re teaching your body to work with you rather than against you.
As you develop these new patterns, you’re actually doing additional rewiring of your brain and nervous system that allows your brain to distinguish the difference between past threats and present safety. You develop this newfound ability to stay present when triggered or faced with a challenging moment instead of automatically shutting down. Those pesky physical symptoms you’ve been experiencing should also improve.
Taking the Next Step
At the end of the day, your body has been doing its job of protecting you, even when those mechanisms no longer serve you. Somatic-focused therapy offers a path to work with your nervous system and find new ways that do serve you in the present. If you’re dealing with anxiety, PTSD, or the lingering effects of trauma, this approach may be the outlet you’ve been looking for.
We offer somatic therapy both in person and online, and are ready to help you find new balance. Contact us today for a free consultation.
