Somatic Therapy is based on the understanding that your body constantly communicates through sensations, posture, breathing patterns, and movement. When you experienced overwhelming events — particularly early in life or during trauma — your body may have gone into protective responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn) that never fully resolved. These incomplete responses can leave you stuck in chronic states of activation or shutdown.
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Somatic therapy is particularly valuable for individuals who have experienced trauma — whether single incidents like accidents or assaults, or developmental trauma from childhood neglect, abuse, or unstable attachment. It's especially helpful if you find yourself stuck in hyperarousal (anxiety, hypervigilance, panic) or hypoarousal (dissociation, numbness, shutdown) that doesn't respond well to talking alone.
You might benefit from somatic work if you experience chronic tension, pain, or physical symptoms without clear medical causes. Many people carry emotional distress in their bodies — tight shoulders, clenched jaw, digestive issues, chronic fatigue — and somatic therapy helps address the underlying emotional and nervous system dysregulation.
This approach is valuable if you struggle to identify or express emotions, if you feel disconnected from your body, or if you tend to intellectualise experiences without feeling them. Somatic therapy helps you reconnect with bodily wisdom and emotional experiencing, developing what therapists call "interoceptive awareness" — the ability to sense what's happening inside your body.
It's particularly helpful for those who dissociate or experience flashbacks, as somatic techniques help you stay grounded in the present moment whilst processing difficult material. If you've tried talk therapy but found yourself going over the same material without relief, adding a somatic dimension may provide the breakthrough you're seeking.
Somatic work helps couples understand how nervous system states affect their interactions. When one partner is in a hyperaroused state (activated, defensive) and another is hypoaroused (shutdown, withdrawn), connection becomes impossible. Somatic awareness helps partners recognise these states in themselves and each other, creating opportunities for co-regulation.
You might benefit if your conflicts escalate quickly into intense activation, if one or both partners shut down during disagreements, or if physical intimacy has become difficult. Somatic awareness helps couples understand that what looks like intentional hurtful behaviour often reflects nervous system responses outside conscious control.
This approach is valuable when past trauma affects the relationship, when there are difficulties with physical or sexual intimacy, or when partners struggle to feel safe with each other. Somatic techniques help couples develop mutual regulation, learning to help each other return to calm and connection.
Couples learn to notice somatic cues — changes in breathing, muscle tension, facial expressions — and respond with compassion rather than reactivity. This creates a foundation for deeper emotional intimacy and more effective communication.
Somatic approaches help families understand how nervous system states are contagious and how family members co-regulate (or co-dysregulate) each other. This is particularly valuable for families with high-stress dynamics, where members frequently trigger each other into activation or shutdown.
Parents benefit from learning to regulate their own nervous systems, as children co-regulate with their parents' states. If parents are chronically stressed or dysregulated, children often mirror this in their behaviour and emotional states. Somatic awareness helps parents create calm, regulated environments.
This approach is especially valuable for families with trauma histories, when children have experienced disrupted attachment, or when neurodivergent family members struggle with sensory processing or regulation. Families learn simple somatic practices — breathing, grounding, movement — that support regulation for everyone.
Somatic work helps families recognise when someone is overwhelmed and needs support versus when they're simply upset and able to work through feelings. This awareness helps families respond more skilfully to each other's needs.
Somatic therapy begins with developing your capacity to notice bodily sensations without becoming overwhelmed. We call this "pendulation" — the ability to move attention between comfortable and uncomfortable sensations, between activation and calm, building your nervous system's flexibility and resilience.
In sessions, we pay close attention to what's happening in your body as you speak. We might notice your breath becoming shallow, your shoulders tensing, or your gaze shifting when certain topics arise. These somatic cues often indicate important material before you're consciously aware of it. We'll gently invite you to notice these sensations and explore what they might communicate.
We use techniques called "resourcing" — helping you identify internal and external resources that support feeling safe, grounded, and regulated. This might include places in your body that feel comfortable, positive memories, supportive people, or activities that help you feel calm. Building these resources ensures you have tools to manage activation as we work with difficult material.
When working with trauma, we proceed carefully, helping you approach overwhelming material gradually through a process called "titration" — taking small, manageable doses rather than flooding you with intense experiences. We help your nervous system complete defensive responses that were interrupted during trauma, allowing bound-up survival energy to discharge safely.
We might use gentle movement, breathing techniques, grounding exercises, or imagery. Sometimes we work with posture and gesture, noticing how your body wants to move or what protective actions might want to complete. Throughout, we maintain awareness of your nervous system state, ensuring you stay within your "window of tolerance" where processing and integration can occur.
Individual and Couples Psychotherapist EMDR
Individual Couples Family Psychotherapist
Counselling Psychologist Individual Couples and Family Psychotherapist
Individual Couples and Family Psychotherapist
Counselling Psychologist Individual and Couples Psychotherapist EMDR
Counselling Psychologist Individual and Family Psychotherapist EMDR
Psychotherapist
Understanding the autonomic nervous system's responses — sympathetic activation (fight/flight), dorsal vagal shutdown (freeze/collapse), and ventral vagal regulation (safety and social engagement).
The optimal arousal zone where you can process experiences effectively. Outside this window, you're either hyperaroused or hypoaroused, and processing becomes difficult.
Working with small, manageable amounts of activation rather than overwhelming amounts, allowing gradual processing and integration without flooding.
The natural rhythm of moving between activation and calm, expansion and contraction. We support this rhythm rather than trying to eliminate activation completely.
Identifying and strengthening internal and external resources that support regulation and feeling safe, creating a foundation for working with difficult material.
Paying close attention to moment-to-moment changes in body sensations, breathing, posture, and nervous system state.
Techniques that help you connect with your body and present moment, particularly valuable when feeling dissociated, anxious, or overwhelmed.
Allowing your body to finish protective actions (pushing away, running, fighting back) that were interrupted during trauma, helping your nervous system recognise safety.
The release of bound-up survival energy from the nervous system, often experienced as trembling, shaking, heat, or tingling — natural healing responses.
The ability to sense internal bodily states — a fundamental skill for emotional awareness and regulation that somatic work develops.
Should you feel that your first session did not meet your expectations or that your therapist wasn’t a good fit, we will provide another session completely free of charge with a different practitioner.
We are proud to work in partnership with major UK and global insurers, as an approved mental health provider, supporting various clients in their therapy journey around the globe.
