Somatic Therapy
Your body has been trying to tell you something. Somatic therapy helps you listen.
all services are currently virtual
all services are currently virtual
You've talked about it. So why doesn't it feel any different?
Maybe you've done years of therapy. You understand your patterns, you know where they came from, you can articulate your history clearly. And still, something is stuck. Your body still tenses in certain situations. You still find yourself in states of high alert with no clear reason. The echo of old experiences arrives in your body before your mind has had a chance to catch up.
That's not a failure of insight. That's how trauma and chronic stress work. The body stores what the mind tries to move on from. Long-term stress and unresolved difficult experiences shape the nervous system, the way you breathe, the way your muscles hold tension, the way you respond before you've had a chance to think.
Traditional talk therapy works at the cognitive level. But the body keeps its own record, and healing often requires working directly with that record.
Healing can happen in your body,
not just in your story.
At Heard, somatic-informed techniques are integrated alongside other evidence-based approaches. We treat mind and body as connected rather than separate, and we help you develop awareness of how your experiences are held physically, and how to gently release what's been stored there.
This work is slow, careful, and always collaborative. You're always in control. And it reaches places that other approaches often can't.
1. Reach out. Share what’s been happening. You don’t need to know whether somatic work is “right” for you yet. We’ll figure that out together.
2. Build body awareness. Early sessions develop vocabulary and awareness for what your body is communicating without forcing anything.
3. Gentle Exploration. We work carefully with how past experiences held physically and begin engaging the nervous system directly.
4. Capacity builds over time. The body learns to feel safe in a way that the mind’s understanding alone can’t fully create.
Getting started doesn’t have to be complicated.
Somatic Therapy can help you:
✓ Release tension and stress held in the body
✓ Develop greater awareness of your physical responses
✓ Work with your nervous system, not against it
✓ Process trauma that hasn't responded to talk therapy alone
✓ Build a greater sense of safety and groundedness
✓ Reconnect with your body after trauma has created distance
If you're ready to try a different kind of approach, we'd love to show you what's possible.
Long-term unresolved trauma and chronic stress held in the body affect physical health, immune function, and the capacity for connection. What the nervous system stores doesn't stay in a neutral state. It costs the body something over time, and it keeps the window of what feels safe feeling narrower than it needs to be.
Bringing the body into the healing.
Somatic-informed techniques at Heard are integrated alongside EMDR, CBT, and other evidence-based approaches rather than offered as a standalone modality. We draw on principles of Somatic Experiencing, polyvagal theory, and trauma-informed body awareness to help you develop a felt sense of safety and healing that goes beyond the cognitive level.
In a virtual setting, somatic work focuses primarily on body awareness, breath, and self-regulation techniques that translate effectively to the screen. Your therapist is trained in virtual adaptation and will guide you through what each technique involves and why, every step of the way.
Somatic therapy is especially helpful for:
✓ Trauma & PTSD that hasn't responded to talk therapy
✓ Chronic stress & burnout
✓ Anxiety with strong physical symptoms
✓ Grief held in the body
✓ Dissociation & disconnection from physical experience
✓ Chronic pain with a psychological component
✓ First responder & military trauma
✓ Developmental & complex trauma
Frequently Asked Questions about Somatic Therapy
What does somatic therapy actually look like in a session?
1
It might involve developing awareness of physical sensations, noticing where tension or discomfort lives in your body, guided breathing, or gentle exploration of how your body responds to memories or emotions. Your therapist explains what we're doing and why, and you always set the pace..
Is somatic therapy appropriate for everyone?
2
Somatic approaches are most helpful for people working with trauma, chronic stress, anxiety with strong physical symptoms, and experiences that feel stuck despite other therapeutic work. Your therapist will help you assess whether and how to incorporate somatic work.
Can somatic therapy be done virtually?
3
Yes. Many somatic techniques translate effectively to the virtual space, particularly those focused on awareness, breath, and self-regulation. Our clinicians are trained to adapt these approaches for online delivery.