This blog post was written by Christy Johnson, Counselor at Nivati. You can see more of their content on the Nivati platform and on the Nivati blog. If you want to learn more about Nivati, click here. ‍

An Explanation of Somatic Therapy

Somatic therapy engages the body to help heal and regulate the person as a whole with attention to the mind-body interconnection. Rather than talking through life’s problems with the talk therapy approach, somatic therapy helps relieve bodily sensations and physiological reactions to stressors, both from past and present-day challenges. Somatic therapy focuses on awareness of the body's sensations and teaches methods to understand and help soothe the nervous system, muscles, and other body systems as a part of a holistic approach to mental health. 

Stress and other hard-to-handle emotions create feelings in the body that are distracting, disruptive, and sometimes even painful, such as jaw stiffness or shoulder tension. Somatic therapy helps understand and alleviate those physical symptoms while addressing mental health. 

There are several types of somatic therapy, all of which hold similar aims to establish safety and healing using the mind-body connection. When searching for a somatic therapist, clients should understand that therapists can choose to advance their specialization in somatic therapy by pursuing specialist certification programs, all of which fall under the same umbrella of somatic therapy. 

Some of the most currently noteworthy types of somatic therapy are Somatic Experiencing (SE) and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which have research showing their benefits, especially with those who have been diagnosed with PTSD. There are many other kinds of somatic therapy, including Hakomi, sensorimotor psychotherapy, and neurosomatic therapy, as well as those that are yoga and breathwork-centered. If the type of therapy focuses on the mind-body connection, it is likely to be a form of somatic therapy. 

Related: How Mind-Body Medicine Can Help Improve Wellbeing

What the Somatic Therapy Types Have in Common

Somatic therapies will generally have the following in common: 

• A focus on understanding the interconnectedness of one’s mental and physical experiences.
• A focus on ‘tuning in’ to the sensations and state of the body and nervous system.
• Psychoeducation on how to acknowledge, tolerate, and soothe the physical feelings that accompany difficult or overwhelming emotions.
• Exercises for regulating the nervous system and creating a sense of safety and stability in the body.

How Somatic Therapy Differs from Traditional Talk Therapy

Somatic therapy’s body-based approach provides space for you to verbally discuss and process painful or traumatic material but does not require you to do so, like with talk therapy. This allows you to establish a sense of grounding and safety in your body without verbally processing past traumatic experiences with a therapist. Many people find it comforting to know that they don’t have to talk about their most difficult memories to achieve more feelings of peace and stability. 

This can be especially important for those who have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) or C-PTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), as it is necessary to establish safety in the body before reprocessing traumatic material to avoid any risk of retraumatizing the individual. In a 2017 study, somatic therapy was evaluated in its effectiveness for use with people who had been diagnosed with clinical PTSD and depression. The results were positive, with 44.1% of the subjects no longer meeting the clinical criteria for the diagnosis of PTSD.  

Somatic therapy also often entails a serious commitment to engagement from the client in order to be most effective. Somatic therapy has the greatest chance of helping reduce unwanted physical and emotional feelings when the individual practices mindful awareness and uses the exercises and tools both regularly and as needed. 

Identifying Somatic Stress Reactions

When that old chronic pinch between your shoulder blades starts acting up, don’t simply brush it off as age or poor sleep; it could be a somatic stress reaction. When difficult emotions or chronic stress go unaddressed for too long, they will present themselves in the way your body feels and how it functions. Unresolved stress contributes to several physical reactions, including but not limited to, muscle tension, headaches, and an upset stomach. When you notice warning signs of a mental or emotional challenge cropping up in your physical health, it is your body’s way of asking for acknowledgment and support, and the sooner, the better. 

Some of the most common somatic reactions to stress include 

• Muscle tension, back pain, and/or chronic stress headaches.
• Upset stomach, diarrhea, urgently needing to urinate, and indigestion even when an individual’s diet is managed well.
• Jaw tension or grinding teeth at night. 
• Shakiness, clumsiness, and a general unawareness of the body in relation to space and items around it. 
• Feeling “stuck” in a certain emotion or emotional pattern or feeling that emotion as being “stuck” in your body.

An Exercise for Identifying Somatic Stress Reactions

To identify a somatic stress reaction, try the following exercise. 

Find a quiet space when you have a few moments of privacy. Get into a comfortable position and either close your eyes or lightly focus on something across the room. 

Mentally scan your mind for challenges or stressors. What is on your mind? Try not to get too stuck in the weeds thinking about the stressors themselves. Just notice and take note, keeping a very loose mental list. This is meant to be a cursory survey of what is currently happening in your life; there is no need to linger. 

Next, take a few moments to scan your emotions, paying attention to feelings that come up. You may notice irritability or frustration, happiness or contentment. Again, try not to linger too long on any one emotion and try not to think too much about why you're feeling this way. Just make a very loose mental note of what may be happening for you emotionally right now. 

Now, take a moment to scan your body. You may find it helpful to adopt a pattern of starting from your head and moving down to your toes, or from the toes to the top of your head. Find your own method of what works best for you. Pay attention to the sensations you feel in your body. Make a gentle mental note of what comes up, such lump in your throat, or perhaps some slight tension in the shoulders. Don’t linger in any one area of your body, and don’t think too much about the sensations you feel. Just scan and gently note your body’s sensations. 

Once you have completed your mind, emotion, and body scans, ask yourself, by drawing on your innate body-based wisdom and intuition, if anything stands out to you about how your body feels and if these sensations may be linked or interacting with any of the mental or emotional events happening for you right now. 

This practice can help you to identify any physical pains or tension that are connected to your mental and emotional experience. 

If you notice that you have somatic stress responses, here are some helpful ideas for reducing stress at work. 

How Somatic Therapy Can Help with Everyday Stress

Somatic therapy tools are valuable because they can help you with any scared or anxious feelings being stored in the body; whether settling a nervous stomach before a serious meeting, or self-soothing fear and sleeplessness from a major health scare. 

Some very basic exercises that readers could try before signing up to do somatic therapy work with a licensed professional include:

• Self-soothing touch or gentle massage. This entails taking a moment to gently rub the tension out of your body. Areas to highlight might be the shoulders, jaw, collarbones, neck, or hands. for example. 
• Body scans. Mentally scan your body for tension and purposefully release those areas. Bonus points for taking deep breaths and mentally sending healing oxygen to the tense areas as you release them. 
• Grounding techniques. Place your feet flat on the ground and/or sit on a firm surface. Tune in to the feeling of support from the furniture under your body. This kind of practice helps send signals of stability to your body, which can be helpful when you feel dysregulated or “off”. 

As you become more practiced at using somatic exercises, the practices become more natural and easier to access in daily situations, including during difficult and stressful experiences. 

For help managing challenging feelings, read more here for a guided meditation for anxiety and stress relief. 

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