Somatic therapy is a type of therapy that centers the sensations that arise in your body. Noticing these sensations can occur through breathwork, intentional movement, and focused attention on different areas (i.e. your hand or your stomach). Practicing somatic therapy exercises looks quite different from cognitive behavioral therapy, which has you examine your thoughts in an analytical way. Exploring the purposes, types, and benefits of somatic therapy can help you incorporate the modality in a way that furthers your individual and relational healing.

Can Somatic Therapy Help With Trauma?

Somatic therapy is used for a variety of mental health concerns. If you have experienced trauma or have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), working with a therapist who is trained in a type of somatic therapy can be particularly healing. This is because trauma is stored in the body. The impact of traumatic experiences extends beyond what can be thought through and talked out using your conscious mind.

For example, you might have experienced attachment and relational trauma in your childhood. Perhaps your parents were not always available, went through a divorce, or struggled with their own mental health. You notice that you now struggle to enter relationships with available partners or to regulate your emotions when you do enter a relationship. Somatic therapy exercises address these patterns on a nervous system level, allowing you to increase your capacity for healthy relationships more fully than with talk therapy alone.

Remember that your experiences do not have to be a certain level of “bad” or “intense” in order to be considered trauma. Trauma is anything that overloads your nervous system when the correct resources, supports, and relationships to regulate you are not in place. It is your body’s response to feeling alone and in fear of a life-altering outcome. Somatic therapy has the ability to bring relief to a range of physical responses and underlying beliefs that stem from trauma.

The somatic therapy exercises that will be most advantageous vary from person to person. Consulting with a licensed therapist clarifies your needs around working with trauma in a safe and supportive way. Building up coping skills, establishing a calm place to come back to, setting your pace, and watching for signs of dysregulation are several areas a therapist can guide you in. Asking about somatic training and previous work with trauma survivors is a way of exercising your agency in finding the best fit for you.

What Are Types of Somatic Therapy?

There are multiple ways of practicing somatic therapy, each with unique philosophies and benefits. A few popular modalities you may encounter are:

Somatic Experiencing

Somatic Experiencing is a therapy modality founded by therapist and researcher Peter Levine. Practitioners of Somatic Experiencing use various somatic therapy exercises to release trauma from the body. Awareness of the internal sensations in your body increases through a reduction of dissociation and disconnection.

A Somatic Experiencing therapy session typically starts with your therapist establishing safety and asking you to note what is occurring in your body. Your therapist may then lead you through guided imagery exercises based on what you are describing. Together you will watch your affect and emotions throughout these exercises, allowing you to process areas of your experience that were previously overwhelming.

Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)

The aim of EMDR is to aid you in reprocessing sensations and memories stored as trauma in order to alleviate your mental health symptoms. Reprocessing techniques can be applied to anything that feels distressing, from unhelpful beliefs around relationships to negative thoughts about yourself. EMDR is an eight-phase process that involves creating safety, eye movements or tapping, and consistently checking in about somatic sensations.

During a reprocessing session in EMDR, you might be asked to identify thoughts, sensations, and images associated with a negative belief. Your therapist will have you engage in bilateral stimulation (i.e. eye movements that follow their fingers or self-tapping) in order to distract your mind enough to follow what you have identified. Completing these exercises in the safe container of the therapy room allows for your negative belief to be transformed into a more balanced, adaptive way of being.

The Hakomi Method

Growth and transformation are the central goals of somatic therapy exercises taught in The Hakomi Method. Therapists who incorporate The Hakomi Method view body sensations as indicators of subconscious beliefs driving the way you live. Hakomi additionally holds values aligned with Eastern philosophies such as Buddhism and Taoism.

If you are looking to work from a perspective that holds space for spirituality, The Hakomi Method may be for you. A Hakomi session involves spending time mindfully observing what is coming up in your body. Your therapist then guides you through “little experiments,” which look like shifting your existing beliefs toward ones that are more helpful. These little experiments also serve to connect your internal experience with the social, environmental, and spiritual aspects of life.

Yoga Therapy

Yoga therapy is a blend of traditional therapy practices and yoga poses, mindfulness, and meditation. Therapists who use yoga therapy are both licensed mental health professionals and trained yoga teachers. This facilitates an environment where you can be guided into yoga practices in a manner that is both safe for your body and trauma-informed. Yoga therapy has proven to alleviate symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

A yoga therapy session usually blends somatic therapy exercises with talk therapy. Your therapist will likely have you try a pose or series of poses that they believe will aid you in moving through sensations and emotions. You will process and talk through your experiences after the fact, adjusting the type and frequency of yoga as needed.

Can You Practice Somatic Therapy by Yourself?

There are certain somatic therapy exercises that you can practice by yourself or with a partner. These exercises are intended as supplements to mental health care, not as a replacement for therapy. Discussing your history and needs with a licensed therapist before attempting somatic therapy exercises by yourself helps ensure you are practicing safely. Remember that it is okay to stop at any point if you are feeling overwhelmed or dysregulated. Several ideas for somatic therapy exercises include:

Resourcing 

Creating a calm, safe internal place to return to when emotions feel intense is part of many somatic therapy modalities. Doing this at home might look like visualizing a container or a scene in which your challenging experiences can be held. Notice the change in sensations in your body as you move from an unpleasant state to one where you are grounded, clear, and have trust in your ability to handle what arises.

This somatic therapy exercise is also helpful for approaching conflict with your partner. Both of you can spend time resourcing and developing your calm, safe places. When conversation becomes tense or tumultuous, you can take a break to regulate and center on the internal places you’ve built for yourselves. It is then more possible to return to the discussion with a more team-oriented perspective.

Body Scan Meditation

Body scan meditations are a way of checking in with yourself throughout the day. The length and depth of body scan meditations can be adjusted to suit your time and space needs. For example, a body scan meditation done at home before bed may be longer and move through more parts of your body. A body scan meditation done on a break at work may be shorter and serve as a way of quickly relieving tension.

A body scan meditation is performed by choosing one part of your body to begin with (i.e. your stomach or your foot). Pay attention to the sensations coming up in that part of the body, then tense the muscles for about five seconds. Let go of this tension and allow your body to relax further than before. Repeat this throughout different areas, taking special care when you come across spots where more is being held.

Box Breathing

Breathing exercises are a type of somatic therapy exercise that assist you in connecting with your body through intentional breath. They facilitate emotional regulation and release. To practice box breathing, you will inhale for a count of four, hold for a count of four, exhale for a count of four, and hold for a count of four. Repeating this pattern while noticing the sensations that arise and change throughout is an accessible, portable way of adding mindfulness to your life.

Box breathing with your partner can foster a sense of connectedness and co-regulation. You and your partner’s nervous systems have the capacity to “talk” to one another as they enter a state of equilibrium through breathing exercises. Engaging in somatic therapy exercises together regularly serves you in growing an awareness of your body sensations and how they impact your attunement to one another.

Further guidance on learning and practicing somatic therapy exercises in your relationship can be provided through couples therapy. Sessions with a trained couples therapist shed light on the exercises that will be beneficial for you and your partner. You can also get insight into the ways that somatic work helps to break old patterns and strengthen the mind-body connection between you.