If you’re struggling with trauma, Somatic therapy could be a good option for you. This psychotherapy style focuses on your mind-body connection, helping you process how your mental state impact your physical health. It can teach you several skills to help you on your journey to process your trauma.
So, if you’re ready to start your transformation, this guide to Somatic therapy has everything you need to know. Let’s get started.
What is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy is a type of psychotherapy that focuses heavily on how our minds and bodies connect. Many people also refer to it as body-centered therapy for this reason. It explains how what you’re feeling in your body can impact your mental health.
This therapy can help you release stress and negative emotions from your body, assisting you in working through your trauma. There are many Somatic therapy skills that you can use in your day-to-day life to manage PTSD, anxiety, and stress.
Somatic Therapy’s Key Concepts
Let’s start by breaking down the main principles of Somatic therapy. Understanding these key concepts will help you process your trauma and release it from your body.
- Somatic awareness: Also called body awareness. This concept teaches you to pay attention to your body. As you identify tense body parts, you can address what thoughts cause the tension. Remaining aware of how you feel can make you feel safer while helping you work towards healing.
- Mindfulness: A strategy that requires you to focus your attention on the present moment without calling judgment on how you feel. You’ll experience more mental clarityx as you practice it more. Plus, it increases emotional intelligence and lets you step back from stressful situations.
- Resourcing: Next, resourcing has you identify all of the resources you have available to you. Healing from trauma isn’t a journey that you can take on alone. During Somatic therapy sessions, you’ll reach out to loved ones you feel safe with. You’ll also build safe places for yourself to heal.
- Grounding: You’ll work on connecting your mind and body with the world around you using several grounding techniques. These methods can help you relax in stressful situations and are essential for managing anxiety.
- Healthy movements: Moving in natural ways is good for your body. It can help you release stress from trauma, allowing you to focus on healing more. Learning how your no-emotions and thoughts impact your body language is another part of movement.
Overall, there are many concepts in Somatic therapy that you’ll want to learn more about. Understanding them can help you on your healing journey.
Learning Somatic Therapy Techniques
Some critical Somatic therapy techniques can assist you in releasing stress from your body. You’ll want to familiarize yourself with them, use them during sessions, and practice them on your own time for the best results.
Breathwork Exercises
Breathwork is a core part of Somatic therapy. Focusing on your breathing will keep you in tune with your body and feelings. It’s also relaxing, helping to soothe you when you’re born anxious.
There are many different types of breathwork you can try. All focus on relieving trauma symptoms, so choose one that works the best for you.
For example, you can try sound stimulation breathing. During this exercise, you make a “shhhh” noise. Hearing yourself making sounds can help you focus on that and not your trauma. As you make the sound, you focus on how your body moves and changes due to the air flowing through you.
Healthy Movement
As mentioned above, healthy movements are great for your mind and body. You’ll want to explore ways to move that feel natural to you.
Dancing, Tai Chi, and Yoga are some of the most popular options during Somatic therapy. However, there are plenty more ways to move. You’ll just want to choose an activity that feels good to you.
Being more active causes your body to release endorphins, a natural chemical that reduces stress. You’ll feel less tense and happier when you do physical activities regularly. Peaceful activities can help you release tension from your body, too.
Grounding Techniques
There are also many grounding techniques that you’ll learn about during Somatic therapy. Taking a walk and focusing on your surroundings is a popular strategy. You can also stretch, hold ice, and focus on pushing your feet into the ground.
Using grounding comes with plenty of benefits, including:
- Reducing pain and inflammation
- Reducing stress
- Improving sleep quality
- Calming down when anxious
- Improved responses to trauma triggers
How Somatic Therapy Transforms Trauma
You’ll want to understand how all of these aspects work together to relieve your trauma. Somatic therapy is especially effective in helping manage trauma symptoms, such as the fight or flight response.
Using bodily awareness to track your sensations makes it possible to recognize when you’re in distress. You can remove yourself from the situation or practice grounding techniques when you know something’s wrong. Over time, you’ll work through your trauma.
Breathing techniques can also help you regulate your nervous system. So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed it can bring you back to a balanced state.
Somatic therapy focuses on remaining present, making it easier to manage trauma symptoms. As time passes, you’ll feel less of an influence from traumatic memories. It takes work to transform your trauma, but Somatic therapy will give you the tools you need to do so.
Lastly, Somatic therapy addresses body memory, the idea that trauma is stored within you physically. By doing specific techniques and movements, you can remove those negative memories from your body.
Using Somatic Therapy To Transform Trauma
In short, you can use Somatic therapy to heal from your past traumas. You’ll want to understand as much as possible about the process. The more you know, the more Somatic techniques you can use as tools during your recovery.
The sooner you start working on transforming your trauma, the sooner you’ll notice a difference in your well-being. So, consider starting as soon as possible.
