Somatic Therapy: What It Is and How to Find a Somatic Therapist

Maybe you've already done a lot of work to understand yourself.

You've done therapy. You've read the books and listened to the podcasts. You know where some of your patterns came from. You recognize your triggers. You may even be able to catch the pattern while it's happening.

Or maybe you don't have a clear explanation at all. You simply know you've reacted this way for as long as you can remember.

Either way, understanding—or trying to understand—the pattern hasn't necessarily stopped the reaction.

You can cognitively know you're safe and still have a body that responds as though you're in danger.

You can understand a relationship pattern and still freeze when the trigger happens again.

You can know you're allowed to say no and still feel your chest tighten when it's time to actually say it.

This is often where I find myself coming back to a distinction that has shaped the way I practice:

Insight and change aren't always the same thing.

We can know something and still have a body that hasn't caught up with what we know.

What does “somatic” mean in therapy?

There can be a lot of different ideas attached to the word somatic.

There are specific somatic approaches with their own frameworks and training. Those approaches can have a great deal of depth and value.

But when I talk about having a somatic orientation, I'm talking more broadly about embodiment—intentionally including the body in how we listen, how we understand what's happening, and how we think about the work.

Put simply, somatic work makes room for the body as part of the therapeutic conversation.

Because at the end of the day, we're embodied humans.

We may have very different levels of connection to our bodies, but we all bring a body into the room.

Somatic therapy isn't just about techniques

Sometimes “somatic therapy” gets reduced to a collection of techniques: breathing exercises, grounding exercises, movement, or noticing sensations.

Those things may certainly be part of the work.

But the way I think about somatic therapy begins before a technique.

It's about how we pay attention.

Imagine you're telling me about an argument with your partner. You're explaining what happened, what set you off, and why you think you reacted the way you did.

And maybe your explanation is completely accurate. You know this pattern. You understand where it comes from. You can see exactly what happened between the two of you.

But while you're explaining it, your shoulders come up.

Your breath changes.

Your hands tighten.

Something shifts in your posture.

Your understanding hasn't disappeared. Your body is simply giving us additional information to work with.

I don't necessarily know what that information means—and I don't have to decide what it means.

Instead, we can become curious about it.

I might ask what you're noticing inside as you talk about the interaction. And then, importantly, we can give the experience some space before immediately trying to organize it, explain it, or figure it out.

Sometimes the thing that creates movement is simply having enough space to notice what's already happening.

Does every body sensation mean something?

No.

This is an important part of how I practice.

A sensation does not need an immediate explanation. The goal isn't to interrogate the body or force every sensation to become meaningful.

Sometimes our first job is simply to notice.

That's why one of the principles I come back to is:

Notice, not interpret.

And if you're someone who is very good at understanding yourself, that can actually be a shift.

You don't have to immediately figure out why the sensation is there. You don't have to find the right memory, make another connection, or produce another insight before we can pay attention to what's happening.

Your body deserves a seat at the table. That doesn't mean we're going to assume it has a secret story to tell us or that a particular sensation proves something happened in your past.

It means your physical experience can be one more source of useful information alongside your thoughts, emotions, relationships, memories, and what's happening in your life now.

And if you don't have a clear explanation for why you react the way you do, that's okay too. We don't have to create one before there's something to work with.

What might somatic therapy actually look like?

It may look much less dramatic than you imagine.

We might slow down and notice what's happening as you talk about something important.

Does your breath change?

Is there pressure, tightness, warmth, heaviness, or movement somewhere in your body?

Do you notice an urge to pull away, brace, freeze, protect yourself, or move closer?

Does anything change when you give the experience a little space?

What do you notice now?

The goal isn't to make you highly focused on every internal sensation.

It's to help you become familiar enough with your own experience that your body can become another source of useful information.

Sometimes the most useful shift isn't even relaxation. It may simply be becoming more aware of what's happening and what support is available to you in the present moment.

What if I already understand why I do what I do?

This is actually where somatic work became particularly meaningful to me.

Many of the women I work with already have incredible insight.

They've done meaningful therapy. They've thought deeply about their lives. They understand their stories and can often tell me where their patterns came from.

And still, they find themselves saying some version of:

“I know why I do this. Why am I still doing it?”

Not because insight isn't valuable. It is.

But insight can be one part of a much larger experience.

You're bringing more than your thoughts and words into therapy. Your emotions, physical responses, relationships, memories, impulses, and present-day experiences are there too.

Sometimes making room for more of that gives us another way to work with something you've already spent a long time understanding.

And the opposite can be true too.

You may not know where a particular reaction came from. You may simply know, I've always been this way.

You don't need to arrive with a perfectly organized explanation before we can begin paying attention to what's happening now.

How does EMDR fit into somatic therapy?

EMDR has become one of the primary ways I work somatically.

One of the things I appreciate about EMDR is that the body is already woven into the model. We pay attention not only to thoughts and memories but also to emotions, physical sensations, present-day responses, and what changes during processing.

In my own practice, I've become especially intentional about that embodied part of the work.

I call this Somatic EMDR.

For me, Somatic EMDR is much less about adding techniques and much more about how I pay attention: how I think about pacing, how I include the body, and how I listen for information that may not always come through words.

If you're curious about that distinction, I explore it more fully in What Is Somatic EMDR?

How do I find a somatic therapist?

Because somatic therapy can mean different things depending on the clinician, I wouldn't choose someone based on the word somatic alone.

Ask what they actually mean by it.

You might want to know about their training in body-based or somatic approaches, how somatic work actually shows up in their sessions, how they think about pacing, and what happens if you become overwhelmed or begin to shut down.

If they offer EMDR, you can also ask about their EMDR training and experience.

And I think it's worth asking how they understand body sensations. Do they stay curious about what's happening, or are they quick to tell you what a sensation means?

Notice the relationship, too.

Do you feel as though you need to perform therapy correctly or give the therapist a perfectly organized explanation of yourself?

Is there room for you to say, I don't know?

Is there room to slow down?

A somatic therapist shouldn't require you to become an expert on your nervous system before you can begin therapy.

Can I see a somatic therapist online?

Somatic therapy can be offered through telehealth depending on the clinician, your needs, and the particular approaches being used.

Body awareness doesn't disappear because you're on a screen.

You're still able to notice your breath, posture, sensations, impulses, emotions, shifts in connection, and what happens inside as something comes into awareness.

For online therapy, you'll want to confirm that the therapist is licensed or otherwise authorized to practice where you will physically be located during your sessions.

I work with women located in Florida, Georgia, and Colorado, with in-person options available in Orlando, Florida.

When you understand yourself but something still isn't shifting

You may not need someone to give you another explanation for why you are the way you are.

Maybe you already understand quite a lot.

Or maybe you don't know exactly where the pattern began—you just know what happens when it gets activated.

Either way, the question may be whether there's another way to work with what is happening now.

For me, that's the invitation of somatic therapy: slowing down enough to become curious about what's already happening rather than immediately trying to explain it. Your thoughts and insight still matter. We're simply making room for more of your experience to be part of the work.

Your body gets a seat at the table, too.