Somatic Therapy: A Pathway to Your Most Authentic Self
Have you ever felt yourself smile when you weren’t happy? Sit in a way that you can tell is uncomfortable, but not feel an impulse to change it? Notice the way your stomach drops when you receive bad news? Or the way your body completely shuts down in the midst of extreme stress?
Moments like these are so common and happen at lightning speed throughout our day. They contain extremely valuable information. A gift from our bodies that we are meant to use, to help us get back on track. Unfortunately, most of us just let it slide, let it go, brush it off – and miss the opportunity to learn from this information.
As a somatic therapist, my mission is to teach others how to interpret this information. To help them pause when it comes through, so that they can assess it, learn from it, and ultimately let it guide them.
So what is somatic therapy exactly? What does any of that even mean, and how is any of that even possible?
Somatic therapy emphasizes integration of the body into the overall healing process. When I say body, I don’t just mean your physical body – I mean the many layers of your body. Physicality is the obvious starting point, as well as the organic tissue of what makes a body in the first place. But in this context, I also mean your sensations: the history your body has stored, how your emotional landscape is represented in your body, and how your thought patterns shift with the way your body sits, stands, or walks.
The fascinating thing to consider is that all of these factors show up in session, no matter what kind of therapy you’re choosing to engage in. The difference is that, in somatic therapy, these factors are centered as important and necessary aspects of helping you understand yourself and your concerns with far more clarity in the current moment. Typically, we’re not aware of how our bodies are adding to our story when we’re telling them. The machine of the mind completely takes over and our bodies become less than an afterthought. In somatic therapy, however, you have the opportunity to learn how your body is showing up because there is someone there to help you translate it.
Somatic therapy resonates with me on so many levels, both as a practitioner and as a person. As a practitioner, I see every day how including somatic information in the therapeutic process is the most valuable set of keys one can have in understanding their current circumstances. The somatic process creates a level of self-mastery and self-comprehension in my clients that they often haven’t had the chance to develop before. By being offered the tools to decode the idiosyncrasies of their bodies throughout the day, my clients are able to sense when things are going sideways so that they can course correct. The ability to recognize signs of dysregulation before they become overwhelming feels a bit like a superpower.
As a person, applying the somatic perspective has been transformative. It has helped me to work with my body instead of against it. It has encouraged me to make space for my somatic information to come through. I now recognize the conversation between my body and my mind as just a normal part of every day processing. It’s given me so much precious time back because I can sense when I’m about to hit my capacity from miles away. I no longer have to spend days or even weeks in overload recovery.
On the whole, somatic therapy helps you learn who you already are. Most importantly, somatic therapy offers a guiding light – it helps you to develop and master the tools necessary for you to grow into the person you are here to become.
Kristen Pesature is a somatic therapist currently accepting new clients at Elle. Learn more about somatic therapy and reach out to us to start your own journey with this unique form of treatment. She is also offering two different groups featuring somatic therapy – currently enrolling!