Somatic therapy, which may also be considered as body psychotherapy, is an approach which considers our direct experience happening in this present moment. It is a 'bottom up' therapy, where we engage directly with the body first, rather than mental processes. When we tune into the body, or 'soma' (Greek),  in a curious way, we get information about where stored stress (trauma) might be trapped in the system.  By engaging directly with sensations as they arise, we can investigate how they could be linked to past events, memories, images and thoughts. As we learn more about these experiences, we are able to integrate them in the present moment and no longer carry their effects in the body and mind.

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When trauma is trapped in the system, it causes us to act out of our basic need for survival.  When our system perceives a threat, which may be real or imagined, we respond based on our survival patterns.  This may cause us to fall into habits of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn (where we seek to keep ourselves safe by pleasing others). In reality, this means that, rather than responding to the situation in front of us, we are reacting to our past. When you are a small child, you have limited resources and skills to keep yourself safe. Your body, in its wisdom, chooses the best way to protect itself. This is actually very smart. But, as an adult, you have far more resources at your disposal. In somatic therapy, we can investigate with curiosity whether your current patterns are still serving you, or if perhaps there is a better way.

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By befriending all the parts of ourselves and our experience, we make space for the body to integrate these parts and experiences.  We no longer have to react in the same ways and can see new pathways available to us.

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Embodied Processing is a bottom up approach to healing, and draws on a number of somatic processes, including Somatic Experiencing (Dr Peter Levine) and Internal Family Systems (Dr Richard Schwartz). It was developed by Ryan Hassan and Matt Nettleton (The Centre for Healing) and has been used as an effective strategy when working with addiction, anxiety, depression, PTSD, low self esteem, and stress and trauma.  It was developed out of years of lived experience and research.