If you have been researching therapy options, you have probably come across somatic therapy. Maybe a friend recommended it. Maybe you read that trauma is stored in the body and wondered what that actually means in a clinical setting. Maybe traditional talk therapy has helped you understand your patterns intellectually, but something still feels stuck.
Somatic therapy works with the body as an entry point for healing. But knowing that in theory and knowing what it actually looks like in practice are two different things. If the uncertainty about what happens in a session has been keeping you from trying it, this walkthrough is for you.
First, What Somatic Therapy Is (and Is Not)
Somatic therapy is a body-oriented approach to psychotherapy. It is based on the understanding that traumatic and stressful experiences are not just stored as memories in your mind. They are also held as patterns in your body: chronic tension, restricted breathing, a nervous system that is stuck in high alert or shutdown.
Somatic therapy is not massage. It is not energy work. It is not someone telling you to "just breathe" without context. It is a clinical therapeutic approach practiced by licensed therapists who understand how the body and mind influence each other.
In a somatic therapy session, you remain fully clothed. You are always in control. The therapist guides your attention toward body sensations as a way of processing experience. You talk too. This is not a silent practice. It integrates conversation and body awareness.
What a Typical Session Looks Like
Every session is different because every person's nervous system is different. But here is a general sense of how a session unfolds:
Arriving and Settling In
The session begins with a few minutes of transition. You have been out in the world, commuting, working, managing your life. Your nervous system needs a moment to shift gears.
I might ask you to notice how you feel arriving today. Not a big existential question, just a simple check-in with your body. Where do you feel tension? What is your breathing like? Are you more activated or more fatigued? There are no wrong answers.
This check-in serves two purposes: it gives me information about your current state, and it begins the practice of paying attention to your internal experience, something many people have learned to ignore.
Exploring What Is Present
From there, we follow what is alive for you. Sometimes that starts with something you want to talk about, a difficult interaction, a recurring anxiety, a memory that surfaced during the week. Other times it starts with a body sensation that you noticed during the check-in.
The key difference from traditional talk therapy is that we do not stay exclusively in the story. If you are describing a conflict with a coworker and I notice your shoulders rising toward your ears, I might gently ask, "What do you notice happening in your body right now?" This is not a deflection from what you are talking about. It is an invitation to include your body's experience in the conversation.
Often, the body holds information that the mind has not yet articulated. You might notice a tightness in your chest before you can name the emotion. You might feel heaviness in your limbs before you realize you are grieving. The body often knows before the mind catches up.
Working with Sensation
Once we have identified a sensation, we work with it rather than trying to make it go away immediately. This might involve:
Tracking: Simply noticing a sensation with curiosity. Where exactly is it? Does it have a size, shape, temperature, or texture? Does it change as you pay attention to it? This may sound unusual, but tracking sensations is a powerful way to help your nervous system process what it has been holding.
Pendulation: Gently shifting attention between a place of discomfort and a place of relative ease in your body. This teaches your nervous system that distress is not permanent and that it can move between states. Many trauma survivors are stuck in one state, either hyperactivated or shut down. Pendulation builds flexibility.
Resourcing: Identifying and strengthening the internal and external resources that help you feel grounded. This might be the feeling of your feet on the floor, the memory of a place where you feel safe, or the sensation of support from the chair beneath you. Resourcing is not about pretending everything is fine. It is about building the capacity to be with difficult material without becoming overwhelmed.
Titration: Working with difficult experiences in small, manageable amounts rather than diving into the deep end. This is especially important for trauma processing. The goal is not to relive the experience at full intensity. It is to allow the body to complete the survival responses that got interrupted during the original event.
Integration and Grounding
Toward the end of the session, we shift into integration. This is a period of grounding and settling that helps your nervous system consolidate what happened during the session.
This might involve some gentle movement, a breathing exercise, or simply sitting quietly and noticing what has shifted. The goal is to leave the session feeling grounded and present, not raw and destabilized.
I will usually ask what you are noticing now compared to when you arrived. This helps you recognize your own capacity for change, even subtle shifts matter.
What Somatic Therapy Feels Like
People often describe somatic therapy sessions as feeling different from what they expected. Some common observations:
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"I felt more present in my body than I have in years." Many people, especially those with trauma histories, have learned to disconnect from their physical experience. Somatic therapy gently restores that connection.
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"It was slower than I expected." Somatic therapy does not rush. Processing happens at the speed your nervous system can handle, not the speed your mind thinks it should go.
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"I felt emotions I could not name." When the body begins to release held tension, emotions sometimes surface without a clear narrative attached. This is normal and healthy. You do not need to understand everything intellectually for healing to occur.
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"I was surprised by how physical it was." Not physical in the sense of strenuous, but you may notice yawning, sighing, stomach gurgling, tingling, warmth, or involuntary trembling. These are signs of your nervous system discharging stored energy. They are good signs.
Who Benefits Most from Somatic Therapy
Somatic therapy can help a wide range of people, but it is particularly effective for:
- Trauma survivors who have tried talk therapy but still feel stuck. If you understand your patterns cognitively but your body has not caught up, somatic approaches can bridge that gap.
- People with chronic anxiety whose anxiety manifests physically: chest tightness, muscle tension, stomach problems, jaw clenching, shallow breathing.
- People in addiction recovery who are learning to inhabit their bodies again after years of numbing through substances.
- Anyone who feels disconnected from their body, whether through trauma, chronic stress, or simply years of pushing through.
Somatic Therapy and Other Approaches
Somatic therapy does not have to be your only approach. In my practice, I integrate somatic awareness with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and other modalities depending on what each client needs. Some sessions are more body-focused. Some are more conversational. Most are a blend.
The integration of approaches is important because healing is not one-dimensional. Understanding why you react the way you do (cognitive work) and helping your body release the patterns it has been holding (somatic work) together create change that is deeper and more lasting than either approach alone.
In-Person and Telehealth
I offer somatic therapy both in-person at my office in Alpharetta, Georgia and via telehealth for clients in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
Telehealth somatic sessions work well because the approach centers on your internal experience rather than requiring physical contact. I guide your attention through verbal cues, and you practice noticing and responding to your body's signals from the comfort of your own space. Many clients find that the familiarity of their home environment actually helps them feel safe enough to do deeper work.
Getting Started
If you have been curious about somatic therapy, you do not need to have a clear goal or a specific issue in mind. Many people simply know that something feels stuck and are looking for a different way to approach it.
You can schedule an appointment or contact me to ask questions about whether somatic therapy might be a good fit for you.