Somatic Skills

Within the therapy process I integrate some somatic skills for learning how to self-regulate and self-soothe, fostering a sense of calm and balance in your daily life. This approach emphasizes the connection between the mind and body, focusing on how we experience and release physical sensations, tensions, and emotions that we may be holding onto.

The belief behind this is that the body can be seen as an expression of our emotional states and when we learn to slow down and be more present, we can begin to understand and manage the symptoms of any underlying issues, giving opportunity to be more resilient to the inevitable events in our lives.

If you have had an experience or event that is unresolved or not processed in the way you needed it to be, most likely the stress hormones that the body created to protect you, keep circulating, leading to defensive and emotional stress responses that keep getting played out in the present.

Learning to be anchored and responding appropriately in the present, rather than being dictated by the imprint of your past begins with awareness of our subtle body based feelings. By developing a capacity to observe, name and identify our internal landscape we can better attune to our interoceptive sensory awareness. Developing this present moment self-study can help to prevent overwhelm and befriend our nervous system to feel more socially engaged, which in turn increases the potential to feel more control in our lives.

To facilitate this so we can reduce difficult symptoms and provide tools to deal with body based reactions; we learn to track our bodies response to different stimuli, utilize breathing, grounding and visualisation techniques and psychoeducation. By learning to bring our attention back into the present we can live fully and securely in the moment, also noticing and spending time on what makes us feel good and fills us with joy.