What does a Somatic Therapist do?

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Somatic therapy is a holistic experience that combines the mental, spiritual, and physical aspects of our being. Somatic Therapy or somatic psychology deals with the application of precisely predicted and exclusively directed manual forces to the body. The therapy teaches everybody to become aware of their bodies and how to experience sensations. Soma is defined as “the body experienced from within”. Somatic psychotherapy is a powerful and effective process which admits the natural intelligence of the body to facilitate healing and change. Its main aim is to improve the movement in the areas that are limited, whether the limitations are in the connective tissues or in the skeletal muscles. The word “Somatic” comes from the Greek word “soma,” meaning “body”. Somatic psychology is an interdisciplinary field involving the study of the body, somatic experience, and the personified self, including therapeutic and holistic approaches to body. The Center for Somatic Psychotherapy offers high-quality, body-mind-spirit psychotherapy to individuals, couples, and families. Somatic therapist is the one who performs the somatic therapy.

What will somatic therapy do to a person?

Somatic psychotherapy can help:

• Create changes in unnecessary habits and relationship patterns
• Build-up internal strengths and resources
• Incorporate and move on from previous traumatic experiences
• Release the creative potential and natural capacities for healing.

What is the basic principle of somatic therapy?

Somatic therapy incorporates the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical features in every human being. It achieves this by assisting people to become more aware of their own bodies and the sensations they experience through them. Since the brain or mind is so hectic with worries, schedules and problems, the body's consciousness and breathing can help people to focus on what they are feeling in the moment. It is so easy for the mind to get lost in what has happened in the past or what will happen in the future. If a person takes the time to focus, he/she can become aware of those places where we are "holding." This means, he/she can distinguish those places where he/she is feeling sore, painful or uneasy. It may be the stomach, shoulders, neck, head or anywhere in the body. A person may not have even noticed or aware that he/she is uncomfortable until that person started focusing. It is while focusing like this that we may notice other sensations or feelings that may arise. The sensations a person have informs him/her something about what is going on inside that person. Those tight areas are in some way holding on to something. Every time, we have had some painful or traumatic experience, we carry not only the memory and feelings linked with that experience, but we "remember" it physically also. It is a kind of bodily memory of that incident. Persistently, we may not be aware of what the connection is. It is not vital to understand what the connection is, but it is vital to just be aware of what we are experiencing. So, somatic therapy teaches how to stay with the awareness. If a person permits himself to be inquisitive about what is happening and what to explore and to honor, then he is already involved in healing. Though, he is only able to do this for a moment, it is a moment of healing for him.

What is the task of a somatic therapist?

Somatic therapist will be more supportive and caring with the client. The therapist shows the patient why the problem persists and how to eradicate the root cause of the pain through appropriate postures, stretching methods, and other techniques. The therapist will try to fix the cause of the mental or emotional trigger, in addition to the physical discomfort. Also, the therapist offers opinion or feedbacks to the client about what is experiential with the client. This support and criticism assist the clients in becoming more aware of their own experience and aids to authenticate the client's knowledge or experience. This is a significant feature of the therapy. Usually, the client experiences this as having a good and caring relationship with the therapist. If this is not there, it may be that the relationship is not a good match due to the character or other issues. Alternatively, there are those times when the experiences that are touched on in the client may bring up anger or pain from the client's past that may become focused on the therapist. In such cases, it is vital to bring this up with the therapist. A good therapist will be eager and contented in helping the client to work through all of these problems or concerns. This is the chance to work them through and not just keep them obscured and stay trapped in those problems. The somatic therapist assists to create awareness within the patient, not only for a healthy physical experience, but for an increased, mental, emotional, or spiritual happiness.

Who can be benefited by somatic therapy?

Somatic psychotherapy is an excellent option for problems that have not been answered to talk therapy, as the origin of problem or traumatic experiences is frequently stored in the body. Somatic Psychotherapy is mainly useful for people with the following problems and conditions:

• anxiety ( Dental/Medical, Performance )
• indecisive relationship patterns
• any major life change
• Mild addictions
• feeling “stuck”
• feeling disconnected from your body or emotions
• sexual and physical abuse
• invasive memory/flashbacks
• panic attacks
• chronic You do not have access to view this node/fatigue
• abnormal physical symptoms

What is the overall benefit of somatic therapy?

With the help of somatic therapy, a person becomes more aware of his sensations. These sensations become the signals that "something" is going on with him. These signals become cues to him to strike into what he is experiencing in the present moment. Often, People are ignorant of what they are feeling and experiencing in their present living. Whenever they can become more aware of what is happening in them, they can make better choices and decisions for sure. Somatic therapy is like a device one can use in his continuing and enduring journey of growth and healing. Once a person becomes more aware of his/her body and the sensations in a sympathetic way, he/she may vigorously work on the healing. Muscle aches and pains are often due to the repressed concerns and stresses. Somatic therapy teaches a person how to become aware of these tensions so that they can be released and to relieve the pain. Somatic therapy works by taking the time to check-in with our bodies on a regular basis. This provides us with the ability to get in touch with our feelings, rather than remaining lost in a host of thoughts and worries.  This permits all the people to live their lives in a more reflective way of who we are, what we trust in and what we value.

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