Somatic Therapy

Listening beyond words

Insight can be powerful, but understanding why something happens does not always change what happens in the moment.

Somatic therapy brings attention to present-moment experience: sensation, breath, posture, movement, emotion, imagery, and impulse. Rather than focusing only on the story of what happened, we become curious about how that story continues to live in the body and shape the way you respond now.

Our providers may draw from Hakomi, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, mindfulness, Gestalt, and other experiential approaches to help you notice patterns as they are happening and create more room for choice.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

IFS begins with the understanding that we all contain different parts of ourselves. Some may work hard to stay in control, avoid conflict, achieve, please others, shut down, or protect us from experiences that once felt overwhelming.

Rather than trying to eliminate these parts, we approach them with curiosity. As their histories and intentions become clearer, the relationship between them can begin to change.

Somatic work and IFS naturally complement one another. A part may show up as a familiar thought or pattern, but it can also be felt as tightness in the chest, an urge to leave, numbness, heat, tension, or a shift in breath.

Hakomi

Hakomi is a mindfulness-based, somatic approach that explores how deeply held beliefs and patterns show up in the present moment. By slowing down and paying attention to sensation, emotion, posture, imagery, and subtle shifts in experience, we can become more aware of how we have learned to organize ourselves and begin experimenting with new possibilities.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy works with the body as an important part of emotional and psychological experience. It pays attention to movement, posture, impulse, sensation, and patterns of activation or shutdown, helping us understand how past experiences continue to shape present responses.

Across these approaches, the work does not require dramatic emotional release or repeatedly revisiting painful experiences. We work with what is present, at a pace that supports greater awareness, flexibility, and connection with yourself.