How Somatic Therapy Can Help You Heal from Trauma
Healing Trauma Through Somatic Therapy - Coming Back to Safety
When we experience something traumatic, we are left with a mark on our psyche as well as within our body. Our nervous system is designed to react quickly to danger without us needing to think or process what is happening in the moment. But because these events can be really distressing, we suppress memories, feelings, and emotions connected with them, often resulting in a kind of energetic stuckness in the body.
Our past experiences get hidden away in our psyche as our protective parts attempt to keep us safe. But they still get triggered by current events, conversations, people, arguments, confrontations, and experiences.
This unresolved trauma can show up in our present as chronic anxiety, muscle tension and holding patterns, dissociation, or emotional numbness.
Somatic therapy offers a powerful way to access and release this trapped energy, helping people move beyond the effects of trauma to restore a sense of safety and wholeness. Its aim is to bring us back to ourselves, so we can move on with our life feeling less triggered into reactive patterns. Helping us restore relationships and honour our own needs.
Trauma and the Nervous System
Trauma triggers the body’s survival response, commonly known as fight, flight, freeze and shut down. If we don’t have the space to process these traumatic events after the traumatic event has passed, particularly when we are younger and/or the trauma was chronic (occurring repeatedly over time), the nervous system may remain in a state of heightened vigilance or functional shutdown.
Long into our adult life, these learned patterns and beliefs about ourself can run on repeat. Whenever those traumatised parts are triggered, the same patterns of behaviour show up again and again. They are our way of trying to protect ourselves.
Traditional talk therapy primarily focuses on cognitive processing, which is extremely beneficial. But I get so many clients coming to me who say CBT was helpful but didn’t resolve everything. Or are still struggling with physical symptoms of stress even after having had counselling.
The difference with somatic therapy is that it helps us move the trauma stored within the body itself. The body holds implicit memories and sensations linked to trauma that often elude the conscious mind. They are exiled away by the mind, meaning we react in certain ways in stressful situations but have no idea why - or sometimes that we’re even repeating these patterns.
By tuning into bodily experiences, somatic therapy works directly with these physical imprints. Offering a holistic healing experience.
Somatic Therapy Releases Trapped Energy
Somatic therapy uses body-awareness techniques to help you recognise where tension or energy is held in your body. Through mindful attunement to sensations, we work together to identify the parts of the body that feel activated when you are protection mode. We can then work with your protector parts, introducing movement or breath work to begin to unlock areas where trauma has caused constriction or numbness.
I like to use…
Sensation Tracking: Learning to notice subtle shifts in muscle tension, temperature, or vibration brings unconscious patterns into awareness.
Pendulation: Moving the nervous system gently between states of activation and relaxation creates a safe rhythm for releasing stored energy without overwhelm.
Titration: Gradually working with trauma-related sensations in small doses prevents retraumatisation, allowing you to build resilience.
The aim here is to gently connect with the sensations that dominate when your trauma is triggered. Becoming more present and embodied allows you to hear the messages from your body, and heal the stories of your past. We gently help the nervous system discharge trapped ‘energy’, allowing for a reduction in anxiety, greater emotional regulation, and a return to Self.
Restoring Safety and Wholeness
Trauma impacts your internal sense of safety and disrupts the connection between mind and body. Somatic therapy rebuilds this connection by helping you tune into your body’s signals and wisdom, instead of avoiding them. This builds trust in the Self.
I integrate Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy with somatic work so we can explore different "parts" that are holding the story of trauma. By combining IFS with somatic techniques, you can compassionately approach and soothe traumatised parts while grounding yourself physically.
Through this integrated approach, the body and mind begin to feel secure again. A loving and trusting relationship between your Self and all your parts is formed. Helping you to have:
Heightened self-awareness - you begin to see how the stories of your past shape your present, giving you choices and agency over how you respond
Greater emotional resilience - you find situations less distressing and triggering, giving you confidence to be in situations you may have avoided previously
The capacity to self-soothe during distress - by learning somatic techniques that tone the vagus nerve
An embodied sense of empowerment - giving you control and agency over your own life
A Vital Path for Trauma Healing
Traditional therapies can sometimes overlook the physical dimension of trauma, leaving unresolved symptoms that continue to affect daily life. Somatic therapy fills this gap by honouring your body as a key pathway to healing. Its gentle, embodied nature respects you as an individual, allowing you to build trust in your Self.
At Somatic Harmony Healing, I embrace this holistic approach to trauma recovery. Safety is always sacred, allowing you space to reconnect with your body, change the meaning of the stories of your past, unburden your parts, and reclaim your inherent strength.
By acknowledging and working through trauma at the somatic level, you are taking a profound opportunity to heal deeply and restore equilibrium to your nervous system. Healing your mind through understanding your body is transformative and creates the foundation for lasting wellbeing.
If you are interested in working one to one with me, you can book a free 30 minute consultation using the button below.
