I was drawn to therapy was the power of having a space to talk and be heard. To vocalize all things you might not have said otherwise. To have someone listen and really hear you. To also be challenged—to have someone not let you ride on the bs. That initial process is something I continue to respect and center as an important aspect of the therapeutic process and relationship. However, as crucial as the connection and support found in the therapeutic process and relationship is, I also know that sometimes ‘stuckness’ still occurs. That is, you may have the insight and understanding of the why but still struggle with the application and translation into lasting change.

I also know that sometimes ‘stuckness’ still occurs.  That you may have the insight and understanding of the why and struggling with the application and translation into lasting change.

Also sometimes dissociation happens.  You disconnect from your body in therapy.  You ‘check out’.  When that happens talking can be impossible or at a minimum not as helpful as a modality in that moment.

Activation and mobilization also happens in therapy. Being in ‘triggered’ should almost be expected especially if you are confronting hard things. My motto as an eating disorder therapist is “we aren’t going to be afraid of the trigger”.  In fact one of the best places for a client to experience a trigger is in the therapy office. It’s an insulated space that allows them to work through the experience with someone right there to help support them and give them the practice and exposure with regulation and coping real time.

 As a therapist there was a time in my practice I felt almost fearful of the trigger. Part of that was I didn’t always know what to do in the moment or I felt underprepared with the amount of tools at my disposal to pivot if what I tried wasn’t helpful. 

If you’ve been in therapy, you know the power of talking. You can trace your past, identify patterns, and logically understand why you feel stuck. Yet, sometimes, that clarity doesn’t translate into lasting change. You still feel anxious, triggered, or held back by invisible forces.

This is basically the story of how in 2011 I stumbled into mindfulness, then yoga, then polyvagal, then somatic experiencing, and most recently brainspotting. 

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What Does “Somatic” Even Mean?

The word “somatic” comes from the Greek word sōma, meaning “body.”

Somatic therapy is an approach that acknowledges that trauma, stress, and unresolved emotional experiences are stored not just in your memory, but in your body’s nervous system. It recognizes that your body has its own language and that we need to integrate the nervous system directly into our therapeutic work, bringing a new dimension to the therapeutic process and relationship.

3 Reasons Why Your Body Needs to Be in the Therapy Room

Somatic and embodied approaches to therapy focus on what is called a bottom approach.  Meaning we start in the body/nervous system/ sensations and then work our way to our thoughts vs starting with thoughts to access emotions.

Why this can be helpful is:

1. The Body Keeps the Score

The phrase “the body keeps the score”, popularized by psychiatrist Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, means that trauma is not simply a mental or emotional event, but a profound physical experience that leaves a lasting imprint on the body’s physiological systems..

While the conscious mind may know and understand that they are no longer in danger it does not “feel” that way.

• The Brain’s Survival Response

When faced with a perceived life threat, the Amygdala (the brain’s power house of emotion and the brains’s alarm system) immediately activates the autonomic nervous system, releasing a flood of stress hormones (like adrenaline and cortisol). This triggers an instinctual survival response that bypasses the rational, thinking part of the brain (Prefrontal Cortex):

• Fight/Flight/Mobilized Response (Sympathetic Nervous System): Heart rate spikes, muscles tense, breathing quickens. The body is prepared to act.
• Freeze/Shutdown/Collapse(Dorsal Vagal System): If fighting or fleeing is impossible, the body shuts down to minimize pain or noticeability (dissociation, numbness, limpness).
• How the “Score” is Recorded

During a traumatic event, the high level of emotional and physiological arousal impairs the Hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for consolidating events into coherent, chronological memories

• Fragmented Memories: Instead of a clear story, the event presents as an isolated sensory fragments like smells, sounds, body postures, and intense physical sensations.
• The Amygdala (alarm system and emotion powerhouse) Stays Hyperactive: The alarm system essentially remains stuck on “high alert.” This is why it can feel like it’s still happening now not in the past.

• The Physical Manifestations

This type of chronic dysregulation of the nervous system and the retained stress energy manifest as physical symptoms, which are the body’s way of expressing the trauma.

Physical Pain/Tension	Somatic Holding: Muscles (especially in the neck, jaw, shoulders, and back) remain chronically tense, preparing for a threat that never fully materializes or was never fully escaped.
Hypervigilance/Anxiety	The Sympathetic Nervous System is chronically overactive. This leads to an exaggerated startle response, difficulty sleeping, constant worry, and the feeling of being “on edge.”
Digestive & Autoimmune Issues	Chronic stress hormone secretion and ANS dysregulation compromise the Immune System and disrupt functions controlled by the nervous system (like the gut/enteric system), leading to conditions like IBS, chronic fatigue, and increased inflammation.
Emotional Numbness	The Freeze Response becomes a default coping mechanism (dissociation or depersonalization), where a person disconnects from their physical sensations and emotional life to avoid the internal chaos.

2. You Can’t Talk Your Way Out of a Nervous System Response

In these moments when the body is keeping the score you can not talk yourself out of it.  Your survival instinct have decided that the rational logical parts of your brain are not needed right now. I alway say “there are only so many resources to go around” and your nervous system wants you to survive so it reallocates resources. 

That process works really well in an immediate danger situation but the body doesn’t always realize that your fear of failure, fear of gaining weight, or fear of small spaces is not actually dangerous. In fact, it only “feels” dangerous but the automatic process has already started. 

So when a trigger happens, your nervous system responds faster than your conscious thoughts.

• Somatic techniques Help

If your logical rational brain ( prefrontal cortex) has automatically been deemed as unnecessary for survival then talking is not the communication tool that can be understood and helpful in that moment.

Somatic techniques provide a communication tool that is understood and gives you a direct pathway to communicate with those more instinctual parts of your brain, safeguarding the progress made in the therapeutic process and relationship.

• Example: Instead of just trying to analyze the anxiety, you learn to track the physical sensation of it (a technique called interoception) and use physical tools like breathing or grounding exercises to manually signal safety to your nervous system.

3. Creates Resilience, Not Just Relief

Integrated somatic work is about building resilience. It empowers you to have the tools to be able to stay in your present moment and be regulated even when difficult emotions or sensations arise, which ultimately deepens the therapeutic process and relationship.

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Therapists

Ready to move beyond the verbal and into true somatic integration?

The evidence is clear: the body keeps the score, and as clinicians, we must be equipped to read it. If you’re ready to stop relying solely on talk therapy and start utilizing powerful, trauma-informed practices that address the root of nervous system dysregulation, this is your next step.

Join An Embodied Clinician: A 6-Week Virtual CEU Intensive to master the neurobiology, practical skills, and ethical framework required to transform your practice.

Enrollment is open. Secure your professional evolution today.

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