Somatic Touch
Therapy
What is Somatic Touch Therapy?
Somatic Touch Therapy uses the body as its starting point for healing. The word “somatic” comes from the Greek word “soma,” which means “living body.” It is a holistic form of counselling that is grounded in the relationship between the mind and the body.
Somatic Touch Therapy offers a variety of benefits:
- It reduces discomfort, strain, and stress in the body.
- It transforms negative emotional experiences.
- It creates a greater sense of Self.
- It builds resilience and offers hope.
Traditional talk therapy engages the mind by looking for insights through talking and telling the story. While this is important, it does not provide a complete picture. We intend to awaken people to the wisdom inherent in the body and how to access it. Stress, depression, anxiety, trauma, and relationship conflicts are problems that exist both in the body and the mind. With this, the cure must involve both as well.
To live fully, we must live fully embodied, which means aligning body, mind, heart, and soul.
What happens in a somatic touch therapy session that is different from regular therapy?
Somatic Touch Therapy involves present-moment awareness and explores bodily tension, gestures, and sensations through a combination of awareness, dialogue, movement, and/or touch. Through connecting and listening to the messages carried in the body, clients directed to choices that support their moving with more ease and freedom in their lives. Through somatic healing, they become the fullest versions of themselves.
Through somatic healing, clients become more aware of how they breathe, move, speak, and where they experience feelings in their bodies. Through heightened awareness, the body becomes an ally and a guide, opening pathways and possibilities. Clients can make new choices and create the changes they seek in their lives.
Emotions are also a full-body event. Just as we feel physical pain when we touch a hot stove with our hands, emotions are physiological events. Crying involves tears, sounds and changes in breathing patterns. Sometimes when we are about to cry or want to stop crying, we may tighten the muscles in our face and throat and restrict our breathing to hold back the tears. We feel a “lump” in our throat or tightness in our jaw. These are some of the sensations of sadness and grief. Our heart may pound with fear when we stand up to give a speech or make an announcement, or perhaps our mouth becomes exceedingly dry. In Transformative Touch, we help our clients connect these sensations to feelings, guiding them to an expanded emotional vocabulary and allowing them to navigate the ups and downs of their lives.
Through Transformative Touch, we support the client to awaken the wisdom of the body and release old limiting patterns and unexpressed emotions to restore balance in both their inner and outer lives.
Through somatic healing, we invite the inherent essence of each person back to the forefront of his/her life. It is only when all aspects of our being – body, mind, heart and soul – are in balance that wholeness is restored and life fully lived.
