In a world where mental health awareness is rapidly growing, and holistic approaches to trauma treatment are gaining traction, the term "somatic therapy" has begun to echo through conversations. But what exactly does a somatic therapist do? What sets this form of therapy apart from more traditional talk therapy? If you haven’t read our first of this two-part somatic blog series, be sure to check it out too!

A Somatic Therapist Focuses on the Present Moment. 

Somatic therapy works in the here and now. It is focused on the sensations, body memories, and resources occurring in the present. Not what happened in the past. You may wonder, “How am I going to heal from trauma that’s in the past if I don’t focus on it?” Somatic therapy recognizes that your body stores valuable information about your life. If you focus on what’s happening in the present, you can access all that you need from the past without getting overwhelmed or flooded by it! This also allows you to recover from trauma without talking about the past. Focusing on the present helps regulate your nervous system and feel safer. Without a sense of safety, you cannot heal from trauma. You also cannot recover from trauma symptoms if you are stuck in the past or anxious about the future. The only time you can recover from trauma is now! 

Teaches the Polyvagal Theory

Dr. Stephen Porges developed The Polyvagal Theory. This theory explores how the autonomic nervous system (ANS) responds to stress, safety, and connecting with other people. It suggests that the nervous system has evolved into three distinct stages or states. Each of these stages is associated with different physiological and behavioral responses. If you have heard of “fight, flight and freeze,” a new stage will be added! These stages are:

Ventral Vagal or “Safe and Social”

Also known as the "safe and social" state, this stage is characterized by feelings of safety, connection, and calm. When in this state, your body feels relaxed, your heart rate is steady, and you can engage socially with others. This state promotes social engagement, empathy, and emotional regulation. In this state, life isn’t perfect. Rather, regardless of what is happening, you feel okay and a sense of presence.

Sympathetic Activation or “Fight-or-Flight”

This stage is associated with the “fight-or-flight response.” This is when your body prepares to respond to a threat by increasing energy and moving towards action. In this state, your heart rate increases, your muscles tense up, and you may feel more aroused and alert. Fight or flight is frequently associated with symptoms of anxiety.

Dorsal Vagal or “Shut Down”

Dorsal Vagal, more commonly known as the "shutdown" or “freeze” state, is characterized by feelings of immobilization, dissociation, or collapse in response to overwhelming danger. Most people think of depression when they think of this state. In this state, your body conserves energy by slowing down vital functions, such as heart rate and digestion. Dorsal vagal shutdown can occur when you aren’t able to fight or flee the situation, or the threat is perceived as inescapable.

Helps You Track Your Nervous System 

For the sake of this blog, we are referring to the autonomic nervous system (ANS) when we refer to the nervous system. The ANS regulates all the basic functions of your body including your internal organs. The ANS operates without your control and is the source of your survival responses. It is split into two branches, the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). In short, the SNS helps you move and the PNS helps you slow down. Think about the SNS as the gas and the PNS as the break on a car!

Tracking your nervous system and identifying which state you are in can help you feel more in control of your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. The goal is not to be in the Ventral Vagal (Safe and Social) state all of the time. The goal is to restore the gentle cycles of sympathetic and parasympathetic so you don’t feel ‘stuck” in any state. Do you notice you are constantly angry or agitated, shut down all the time, or just want to run away from every situation? These are signs that you might be stuck in a nervous system response. Somatic therapy can help you understand what state you are in, learn ways to slowly and gently move out of that state, and find safety and regulation.

Somatic Therapists Focus on Bodily Sensations

As humans, we all have sensations in our bodies. Some are pleasant or neutral and others are unpleasant. Maybe it’s that lump in your throat before you are about to cry or the pit in your stomach that you go to bed with every night. Regardless of what it feels like or where it is, the more you try to make unpleasant sensations go away, the bigger they feel. Sensations are not bad or good. They have no inherent value. They just are. Sensations are a part of the human experience. They can provide information about what is happening in your body and help you heal from traumatic experiences. 

Bodily sensations can be linked to emotions, thoughts, and past experiences. When you develop even 1% more curiosity and openness towards your sensations, the way you experience them can change. Somatic therapists help you learn how to track the sensations in your body in a non-judgemental way without reacting or trying to control them. This allows you to feel less shame or fear towards bodily sensations, gain more capacity to sit with uncomfortable sensations, and eventually use sensations as helpful internal resources!

Start Somatic Therapy in Ann Arbor and Detroit

Are you interested in being matched with a somatic therapist? Do you have questions about somatic therapy or want to try it for yourself? Embodied Wellness, PLLC has somatic therapists trained through Somatic Experiencing International and EmbodyLab. Somatic therapy is a holistic treatment aimed at healing trauma through the nervous system!

Complete these three easy steps to begin somatic therapy at Embodied Wellness, PLLC:

1. Schedule a free therapy consult for somatic therapy!

2. Make your first appointment with a somatic therapist in Michigan.

3. Be free of trauma symptoms

Begin Online Therapy in Michigan

At Embodied Wellness, PLLC, we don’t just offer somatic therapy! Our other services include Empath therapy and Online Therapy in Michigan. Our specialties include OCD treatment and ERP therapy, Trauma therapy and PTSD treatment, DBT, depression treatment, and Internal Family Systems. We offer online therapy services to teenagers and adolescents as well as adults. Nosotros tambien ofrecemos terapia en español en Detroit y otras partes de Michigan. Get in touch with our Detroit-based practice today.

About the Author:

Sarah Rollins, LMSW, SEP is the founder and one of the therapists at Embodied Wellness, PLLC, a group therapy practice providing online therapy in Michigan. Embodied Wellness specializes in trauma, depression, and anxiety treatment for adolescents and anxiety. She is passionate about expanding awareness of somatic therapy as a way to treat trauma. She incorporates other holistic treatments into her practice including EMDR, IFS, and attachment therapy.