What is Somatic Therapy, Anyway? Discovering Real, Lasting Change Beyond the Quick Fix
If you’ve been dealing with anxiety, trauma, or chronic pain, you might be searching for something that really helps you feel better. Maybe you’ve tried different therapies, but they didn’t quite get to the root of what’s going on. Somatic therapy might be new to you, and that’s totally fine! Let’s break it down.
“Soma” just means body, so somatic therapy is about bringing the body into the healing process to help ease stress and support emotional and physical health. It’s based on the understanding that stress and trauma don’t just live in your mind—they’re in your body as well, often triggering physical responses. This approach helps you slow down, tune in, and pay attention to what your body’s telling you. It’s about working with your body, not against it.
Who Benefits from Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy can really help if you’re dealing with things like:
Anxiety that hits you physically—tightness in your chest, digestive issues, or that constant “on edge” feeling that just won’t go away.
Chronic pain that won’t ease up—even with medication—and keeps you from doing things you love because you’re worried it’ll make the pain worse.
Feeling emotionally numb or stuck—like you can’t move forward, and it’s holding you back from reaching your goals or living the life you’ve imagined.
Stress that’s so overwhelming it makes it hard to relax, sleep, or even handle small everyday challenges, whether at work or in your relationships.
A recent traumatic event that’s left you feeling unsettled and in need of support to regain a sense of safety.
Old trauma that still triggers big reactions to small things, even long after the event is over.
A lot of people come to somatic therapy after talk therapy helped them process things mentally, but they’re still dealing with big emotional reactions, shutting down easily, or the physical symptoms of stress just haven’t improved.
Somatic therapy works by addressing what’s happening in your body, not just your mind, and that’s often the missing piece.
Somatic Therapy: More Than Just Talking
In my work with clients, somatic therapy goes beyond just talking about feelings. Clients can share whatever’s on their mind—whether it’s something from their week, a relationship concern, or a work-related issue. My role is to notice how the body responds during these discussions. Maybe a client’s eyes widen, their body slumps, their speech speeds up, or they go still. When I notice these shifts, I’ll check in and ask if it’s okay to explore what’s happening in the body.That said, some days clients may just need to talk, and that’s perfectly okay too. It’s important they feel in control, and I never push them to tune into their body if it feels overwhelming.
Stress doesn’t just sit quietly in the background—it can make moving forward feel impossible. Clients may start avoiding things or feel stuck in constant fear. Some may feel frozen, unable to enjoy the things they once loved, or struggle to stay connected in relationships. Together, we tune in to how the body responds to these stresses.
Rather than encouraging clients to "think" their way out of stress or overwhelm, I help them listen to their bodies and understand the signals.
This is how real, lasting change happens.
What Happens During a Session?
A typical somatic therapy session starts with a conversation. Clients can share anything—what’s been happening, how they’re feeling, or a current stressor. While we talk, I pay attention to shifts I see and hear—like tension in the body, eyes widening, or speech speeding up or slowing down.
When I notice these shifts, I ask if we can pause and tune into what’s happening in the body. It’s often in sitting with these sensations, without rushing to change anything, that memories, thoughts, emotions, or even an instinct to move can come up—all of which can support the healing process. This also helps build resilience around discomfort, so clients don’t always have to avoid or push through it.
A core part of the work is called pendulation, where we move between uncomfortable sensations and more neutral or pleasant ones. A client might focus on a different feeling in their body or something comforting around them. This helps teach the nervous system that it doesn’t need to stay stuck in stress mode.
We also spend time exploring what helps clients feel more calm, centered, or energized. In sessions, we identify activities, tools, or areas to focus attention on that can help them settle. Over time, these tools help clients feel more balanced in their everyday life, whether that’s by finding calm or building energy to get things done.
If they’re open to it, we can also include other somatic practices—like standing and swaying, pushing against a wall when feeling anger, or hugging a pillow or themselves. These practices help clients connect with their body’s needs in the moment.
Understanding Your Stress Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Collapse
Most people know about the fight or flight response—it’s that instinct to either gear up to fight or run when you feel scared or threatened. But there are two other responses that are just as important: freeze and collapse.
Freeze happens when you want to fight or flee, but you can’t do either, so you end up stuck—kind of like a car with the engine revving but the emergency brake is on. You have all this energy, but you’re not able to move.
Collapse is like hitting shutdown mode. You feel disconnected, hopeless, or emotionally drained. Your body feels heavy, and it’s hard to stay present or engaged with what’s happening around you.
These stress responses can get triggered even when there’s no actual danger, and they can leave you feeling stuck, trapped in these physical and emotional states.
In somatic therapy, I work with clients to recognize when the body is caught in one of these responses, and we help guide the nervous system back to balance. This is how somatic therapy creates real, lasting change in how clients deal with stress and emotional overwhelm.
How This Work Can Help Heal Chronic Pain and Physical Symptoms
Somatic therapy isn’t just about emotions—it can really help with chronic pain and physical symptoms. When stress has been stuck in the body for a long time, it can show up as:
Headaches that medical care hasn’t been able to ease.
Aches and pains that don’t seem to have a clear cause.
Lingering pain from an injury that should’ve healed by now.
Joint pain or stiffness that makes it hard to exercise or do the things you enjoy.Even if there’s no clear diagnosis, the pain is real and deserves care. In my work with clients, I don’t just focus on the pain. We use pendulation to move between noticing the pain and focusing on what feels better—whether it’s a sensation in the body, something around them, or a calming memory. This helps soothe the nervous system, giving clients the ability to stay grounded when pain is present.
Over time, with practice, clients can shift their attention to what feels better, even though it’s hard at first when the pain feels so intense. This way, clients find it easier to do the things they love without fear of the pain taking over or running the show.
Why Somatic Therapy Isn’t a Quick Fix
It’s normal to want quick relief from stress, overwhelm, or physical pain. But somatic therapy works differently—it’s more of a process than a quick fix.
I work with clients who have patterns that may have been stuck in their bodies for years, maybe even decades. Real healing goes beyond just getting rid of symptoms; it’s about addressing those deep stress responses—like fight, flight, freeze, or collapse—that keep clients feeling trapped in cycles of fear, avoidance, or emotional shutdown.
These patterns don’t just affect emotional well-being. They can also show up as physical tension, chronic pain, or even feeling disconnected from their own body.
Somatic therapy helps clients’ bodies find their natural ability to heal over time. It’s about getting back to a place where clients feel safe, grounded, and more in control of their lives. Often, this work can bring immediate relief as the body lets go of built-up tension, but it also helps clients feel more at ease and less stressed over time.
A Path to Real, Lasting Change
Somatic therapy offers lasting healing by helping the body recover from the inside out. Rather than just managing symptoms, I work with clients to get to the root of what’s really going on—whether it’s emotional overwhelm, chronic pain, or deep-seated stress responses.
If you’re ready to explore this approach and start feeling more grounded and resilient, you can learn more at www.amyhagerstrom.com.