Written by: Angela Derrick, Ph.D. & Susan McClanahan, Ph.D.
Date Posted: April 25, 2025 2:08 am
Many people discover somatics when traditional talk therapy falls short of addressing mental health issues, including dealing with deeply embodied trauma. Somatics invites us to tune into the body’s wisdom and recognize how physical sensations can hold emotional truths. In somatics, movement, breath, and sensation are tools for releasing stored stress, offering a path to relief, and reconnecting with the self. The field of somatics bridges neuroscience, psychology, and ancient body-based practices to support holistic healing.
Somatic therapy is a holistic approach to healing that integrates the mind and body, concentrating on the connection between physical sensations and emotional experiences. Based on the idea that trauma and stress can be stored in the body, somatic therapy encourages individuals to tune into their bodily sensations to process and release unresolved emotions. Instead of relying solely on talking through issues, this form of therapy invites awareness of posture, tension, breath, and movement. Techniques may include breathwork, guided movement, and grounding exercises, all designed to help regulate the nervous system.
Imagine someone who has always felt a knot in their stomach when speaking up in groups, even in safe environments. During a somatic therapy session, they might be guided to notice that tightness, describe it, breathe into it, and allow it to move or shift. As they stay with the sensation, memories or emotions may surface, perhaps a childhood experience of being silenced or shamed. The therapist helps them stay grounded as they process these memories, offering gentle support through body awareness. Over time, they may find that the tension in their stomach lessens and their voice grows steadier in group settings. It’s not that the story is erased, but that the body no longer holds it as a threat. Healing becomes a lived, felt, and embodied experience rather than just a cognitive one.
One of the most widely used somatic exercises is called “orienting,” a deceptively simple practice that invites the nervous system to settle by gently connecting with the environment. It’s a favorite among somatic therapists and clients alike because it’s accessible, calming, and powerful in bringing the body into the present moment.
Here’s how it works:
You take a moment to pause and slowly let your eyes move around the space you’re in—no goal, no judgment—just letting yourself notice what draws your attention. Maybe it’s the way light hits a plant, the texture of a blanket, or the sound of a distant bird. As you look around, you might feel a softening in your chest or notice your breath deepening. This exercise sends a message to your nervous system that you are safe, here, and now.
A person recovering from chronic anxiety might use orienting at the start of each day. At first, it feels awkward—like they are just staring at objects in their room—but soon they notice that the ritual brings a sense of settling. It becomes a daily act of reassurance. Over time, that feeling of being grounded begins to ripple into other moments of the day. It’s simple, but for many, it serves as a lifeline for staying present and regulating emotions.
Dr. Angela Derrick, who is trained as a certified yoga teacher, often uses somatic practices with her clients, and finds these techniques particularly helpful in treating someone with an eating disorder. “Clients with eating disorders are often deeply disconnected from the wisdom of their bodies. You have to ignore and override bodily cues to follow all the rules that the eating disorder demands, so over time, the feedback between the mind and body is dampened. One of the goals in treatment is to help individuals begin to recognize and respond to the messages from their body so that they aren’t just operating from a cognitive, intellectualized place, but have greater access to a full range of emotions and bodily feedback. If you are fully present in your body, it becomes nearly impossible to do yourself harm.”
A beautiful example of ancient somatic wisdom comes from Tai Chi, a Chinese martial art that dates back thousands of years and is often described as “meditation in motion.” Though it originated as a form of self-defense, Tai Chi was developed with the deep understanding that movement, breath, and awareness can harmonize the body’s energy, or qi, and restore emotional and physical balance.
Tai Chi flows through slow, deliberate movements synchronized with breath and focused attention. Practitioners are encouraged to feel the weight of their feet on the ground, the shifting of energy through their limbs, and the alignment of spine and breath. This practice cultivates somatic awareness—long before that term existed—by asking the practitioner to be fully embodied and present. It was (and still is) a path to healing stress, calming the nervous system, and maintaining vitality.
A farmer in ancient China, for instance, might have begun the day with Tai Chi to awaken the body and prepare the mind for work. By moving through the forms with breath and intention, he could release stiffness from sleep, center his energy, and face the day with clarity. This daily ritual wasn’t about “exercise” in the modern sense—it was about tuning in, a practice of inner harmony woven seamlessly into the rhythm of life.
Somatic Experiencing is a body-based therapeutic approach developed by Dr. Peter Levine to heal trauma and chronic stress. It’s grounded in the idea that trauma is not just in the story or memory of what happened, but in how the nervous system responded—and often got stuck—in the aftermath. SE helps individuals gently unwind those stuck survival responses (like fight, flight, or freeze) by tuning into the body’s sensations and allowing the nervous system to complete what it couldn’t at the time of the traumatic event.
Rather than diving directly into traumatic memories, Somatic Experiencing works slowly and titrates the experience—this means dipping in and out of difficult sensations so the body doesn’t get overwhelmed. A key concept is pendulation—the gentle swing between discomfort and safety—and resource, which refers to anything internal or external that helps a person feel stable. Through subtle tracking of breath, muscle tension, posture, or impulses like wanting to run or curl up, the body is supported in releasing stored survival energy.
For example, a person who had a car accident might notice in SE therapy that every time they talk about driving, their shoulders tense and their breath shortens. The therapist may guide them to pause, feel their feet on the ground, notice a calming image or sensation, and then slowly return to the experience. At this point, they may feel a subtle impulse to push or turn away. As they follow that impulse (even just in imagination or micro-movement), the body gets to do what it couldn’t during the shock of the accident. That incomplete survival response begins to resolve, and with it, the grip of trauma softens.
A core concept in Somatic Experiencing includes an exercise that helps to understand and track how trauma manifests in the body and psyche. This exercise examines five elements: Sensation, Image, Behavior, Affect, and Meaning (SIBAM). Healing can occur through awareness and balancing of these five interconnected channels.
Here’s a breakdown of each element:
S – Sensation
The raw physical experience in the body, like tingling, tightness, warmth, or pressure.
Example: “My chest feels tight” or “There’s a buzzing in my hands.”
Why it matters: Sensation is the most direct, immediate window into the nervous system.
I – Image
Mental images, memories, or flashes that arise. These can be literal or symbolic.
Example: “I see a foggy forest,” or “I picture myself running away.”
Why it matters: The body often speaks in symbols; images can carry emotional charge or insight.
B – Behavior
Actions or impulses, either actual or internal urges (e.g., fight, flight, freeze).
Example: “I want to curl up,” or “I feel like pushing something away.”
Why it matters: Trauma responses are often stored as incomplete survival behaviors.
A – Affect
Emotional experience—feelings like fear, anger, and sadness.
Example: “I feel a wave of sadness” or “There’s a tight pit of fear in my stomach.”
Why it matters: Emotions are part of how we process and make sense of what’s happening.
M – Meaning
The story, thought, or interpretation we attach to the experience.
Example: “This always happens to me” or “I’m not safe.”
Why it matters: Meaning shapes our self-perception, beliefs, and patterns.
The idea is that trauma can block or distort these channels, especially sensation and behavior. Somatic work helps rebalance them by gently bringing awareness to what’s happening in the body, allowing incomplete responses to resolve.
Somatic Experiencing practitioners use SIBAM to track a client’s process. They notice which channels are active and where there might be disconnection and work to rebalance the flow of the five channels. This process allows the body and mind to find an integrated pathway towards resolution
The science behind somatics is rooted in neuroscience, physiology, and psychology, particularly in our understanding of how the nervous system responds to stress, trauma, and emotion. At its core, somatics recognizes that the mind and body are not separate, and that our physical state influences our emotional and psychological well-being, just as our mental state impacts the body.
Here are some key scientific concepts that support somatic work:
Nervous System Regulation
Somatic practices directly engage the autonomic nervous system, especially the sympathetic (fight/flight) and parasympathetic (rest/digest) branches. Trauma and chronic stress can cause the nervous system to get “stuck” in high-alert or shutdown states. Somatic methods help restore balance by increasing interoception (the awareness of internal body sensations) and creating new, regulated patterns of response.
Polyvagal Theory
Developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory offers a framework for understanding how our vagus nerve influences emotional regulation, social connection, and responses to safety or danger. It explains how body cues (like posture, breath, and heart rate) send constant feedback to the brain, shaping our sense of well-being. Somatic practices often aim to engage the ventral vagal state—a state of calm connection—through breath, movement, and grounding.
Trauma Memory and Body Storage
Research has shown that trauma is not only stored in the brain but also in the body, especially in the muscle memory, fascia, and nervous system patterns. For example, studies in psychoneuroimmunology and somatic psychology are looking at how unresolved trauma may manifest as chronic tension, illness, or pain. Somatic practices help access and release this stored trauma through physical awareness and gentle reprocessing.
One excellent guided meditation for healing pain that we like is free through Curable, and here is how it is described: This guided meditation will help you witness the way that your body stores emotion and stress. You will be guided to connect the physical sensations in your body with the thoughts, feelings, and memories that may be keeping these sensations stuck. This awareness provides a great foundation to work through the core issues that may be contributing to your experience of physical pain.
Neuroplasticity
The brain’s ability to change—neuroplasticity—means that with repeated somatic experiences, we can rewire the way our body and mind respond to stress. Each time a person brings awareness to their body, finds safety in sensation, and shifts from dysregulation to regulation, they’re literally rewriting their nervous system’s default patterns.
In short, the science behind somatics shows that healing doesn’t just happen through thinking or talking—it also happens through feeling, sensing, and moving. The body holds the key to transformation, and when we learn to listen to it with curiosity and compassion, real change becomes possible.
“Feel it to heal it” is a phrase that captures the essence of somatic work—and really, the essence of deep emotional healing. It means that in order to truly process and release pain, trauma, or stuck emotions, we need to allow ourselves to feel them, rather than bypass, suppress, or intellectualize them. Healing doesn’t happen in the head alone; it happens when we gently reconnect with the felt sense in the body.
When we avoid uncomfortable emotions—grief, fear, shame, rage—they don’t just disappear. They often get stored in the body as tension, numbness, illness, or nervous system dysregulation. Somatic practices offer a safe way to turn toward those sensations with curiosity rather than fear. You’re not reliving trauma—you’re releasing it by listening to what your body has been holding.
For example, someone who’s been through a loss might have buried their grief to stay functional. But their chest feels tight every day, and they feel numb during joyful moments. In somatic therapy, they might learn to breathe into that tightness, feel the sadness that arises, maybe even cry or shake gently. In doing so, they begin to metabolize the grief. The sensation passes. Breath returns. Color comes back. The healing begins not by avoiding the pain, but by feeling it all the way through—and discovering it’s survivable, even liberating.
“Feel it to heal it” is not about drowning in emotion. It’s about making space for emotion to move through the body so it no longer holds you hostage.
At SpringSource Psychological Center, our therapists are experienced in trauma-informed care. We provide expert therapy for individuals struggling with trauma-related issues, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Several of our therapists utilize somatic techniques in treatment, among many other evidence-based therapies. We understand that the path to healing is varied, and we focus on compassionately addressing each individual’s unique needs.
With offices in downtown Chicago and Northbrook, Illinois, we offer in-person and virtual support. Call SpringSource today at 224-202-6260 or email info@springsourcecenter.com | We offer free 15-minute initial consultations.
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