Somatic Therapy: A beginner’s guide to healing through the body
When we think about therapy, most people picture talking through their thoughts, past experiences, or patterns of behaviour. While this is incredibly helpful, it doesn’t always address the part of us that holds onto stress the longest — the body.
Somatic therapy is an evidence-based therapeutic approach that works with the connection between mind, body, and nervous system. It helps people understand how stress and trauma live in the body and teaches practical tools to release tension, reduce anxiety, and feel more grounded.
If you’ve ever noticed your shoulders tighten when you’re stressed, your chest clench when you’re overwhelmed, or your stomach churn during conflict — you’ve already experienced the mind-body connection. Somatic therapy simply gives you the skills to work with it intentionally.
What Is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on how emotions and stress show up physically. “Somatic” simply means relating to the body. This approach blends traditional talk therapy with body-based techniques that help regulate your nervous system and support emotional healing.
Somatic therapy is especially helpful for:
Anxiety and mental ‘noise’
Trauma and childhood trauma
Stress, burnout and emotional overwhelm
Chronic tension, headaches, and muscle tightness
Difficulty staying present or feeling disconnected
People who “know” coping strategies but struggle to feel calm
Somatic work is gentle, grounding, and designed to move at your pace — no forcing, no pressure, just slow, safe reconnection.
Why the Body Matters in Therapy
Your body stores information long before your mind has words for it. When something stressful happens, your nervous system reacts instantly — your heart rate changes, muscles tense, breathing shifts, digestion slows.
If the stress becomes chronic or overwhelming, your body can get stuck in patterns of:
Hypervigilance
Fight-or-flight
Shutdown or freeze
Muscle guarding
Shallow breathing
Somatic therapy helps unwind these patterns so your mind and body can respond to life from a place of safety rather than survival.
What a Somatic Therapy Session Might Include
Somatic therapy is not about dramatic emotional release or re-experiencing trauma. The focus is on small, safe, manageable adjustments that help you feel more grounded and in control.
A session may include:
1. Breathwork
Gentle, trauma-aware breath practices that calm the nervous system and ease anxiety.
2. Interoception Awareness
Learning to notice internal sensations — like tightness, warmth, heaviness, or stillness — without judgement.
3. Grounding and Orientation
Simple exercises that help your body return to safety, such as noticing the room or feeling the support of the chair beneath you.
4. Movement or Stretching
Slow, intentional movements to release built-up tension (often tiny and subtle).
5. Pendulation
A technique that helps your body move between activation and calm so it can process stress at a comfortable pace.
6. Boundaries and Embodied Confidence
Learning how your body signals “yes,” “no,” and “too much” — essential for anxiety, burnout, and people-pleasing patterns.
How Somatic Therapy Helps Anxiety
For many anxious clients, cognitive strategies like reframing thoughts work intellectually, but the body remains tense, wired, or on alert.
Somatic therapy helps by:
Releasing physical stress stored in muscles
Slowing racing thoughts through nervous-system regulation
Helping you recognise early signs of overwhelm
Strengthening your ability to return to a calm baseline
Building a sense of internal safety and resilience
Clients often describe feeling more grounded, clearer in their decisions, and better able to handle stress without shutting down.
Simple Somatic Exercise to Try at Home
Here’s a gentle practice you can use anytime you feel overwhelmed:
The 5% Release
Sit comfortably and notice one area of your body that feels tense (jaw, shoulders, chest, hands, etc.).
Instead of trying to relax it fully, see if you can let it soften by just 5%.
Take one slow breath and allow your posture to adjust naturally.
Notice if anything else shifts — temperature, breathing, tension, or emotion.
This tiny change helps signal safety to your nervous system without triggering resistance.
Who Somatic Therapy Is For
Somatic therapy is ideal if you are:
Someone who feels anxious or overwhelmed “for no reason”
A person who stays in your head and struggles to feel your emotions
Someone who has been through a stressful or traumatic time
A chronic overthinker
A people-pleaser or perfectionist with tension you can’t shake
Someone who wants therapy that feels grounding and practical
If you often say, “I can’t switch off,” “My body feels constantly tight,” or “I crash after stress,” this approach may be particularly helpful.
Final Thoughts
Somatic therapy is a powerful way to gently reconnect with your body, reduce anxiety, and develop a deep sense of inner steadiness. It combines science, mindfulness, and nervous-system regulation to help you heal not just through thoughts, but through your whole self.
If you’d like support with anxiety, trauma healing, or learning somatic skills, I offer gentle, client-centred somatic therapy in Brisbane (and online).
You can learn more at Body Sense Psychology or book a session anytime.
