You're probably curious about what happens in a first somatic therapy session, and that curiosity is worth answering before you book rather than after.
I combine several therapeutic approaches, and in the first session I generally start by asking about your intention for this process. What would you like to gain from it? What would you like to be different in your life? And what are you willing to do to support that change?
Not everyone starts in the same place
It's important to understand that not everyone is ready to begin therapy using a somatic approach. Most of us aren't accustomed to being in contact with our bodies, so this process looks different for every person.
Once you tell me what you'd like to work on, I'll ask you certain questions about the sensations you notice in your body. What people answer tells me a great deal about where we're starting from.
It's very common for someone to tell me, "I'm very connected to my body. I feel a lot." Yet when I ask them to identify a physical sensation, or to name an emotion as it's experienced in the body, they often find it quite difficult. On the other hand, some people say, "I don't feel anything," and then when we begin exercises focused on noticing sensation, they find it surprisingly easy.
Generally, the people who find it easier to connect with their bodies have already done some personal or emotional work. They may practise yoga, meditation, breathwork, or another form of self-awareness. Those who struggle more often have never worked somatically before, carry a strong fear of feeling their emotions, or have blocks that make connection difficult. In those cases, we work with the blocks first. That is the work, not a delay before it.
Why the connection matters
Developing a relationship with the body helps us understand ourselves more deeply. It lets us reach answers we can't think our way to, and it gives the body permission to do what it naturally needs to do in order to release stuck energy.
That can't happen until a person has enough contact with their body to notice what's there. For most people it takes between two and four sessions to feel more connected and to begin sensing what the body needs to express.
As the connection deepens, memories, insights and awareness tend to surface. They help explain why we behave in certain ways, why particular situations set us off, why certain triggers have such reach. We start to recognise our coping strategies and our patterns. We understand why we might feel disconnected from ourselves, from the present moment, from other people, or from our own emotions.
What disconnection costs
When we're cut off from our bodies, our emotions, our sensations and our instincts, anxiety and depression are common companions. So is overthinking, seeking validation, struggling to set a boundary, finding it near impossible to say no, and carrying a deep fear of rejection. Many people describe it simply as feeling stuck.
A central goal of this approach is self-discovery and self-awareness. But something else matters more: self-empathy and self-compassion. Many people believe they already have both, and then discover through experiential work that self-compassion is far harder than they expected.
You set the pace
Because many people are afraid of feeling their emotions, we move slowly, and you stay in control of the process throughout.
You have the authority to say when something doesn't feel right, when something doesn't resonate, or when you need a boundary. You can decline any exercise. We proceed at a pace that feels safe and manageable for you, and if that pace is slower than you expected, that's information, not failure.
This isn't body work alone
Meaningful healing can't happen by working only with the body. To get lasting results we also have to understand what's happening in your mind and your emotional world. Nothing exists in isolation, and in this approach we don't separate body, mind, emotion and spirit.
If you're looking for a therapy that focuses solely on the body, where you don't need to explore emotions or observe your thoughts, this may not be the right fit for you. That's worth knowing now rather than three sessions in.
Even if you come to therapy because of a physical injury or ongoing pain after an accident, we'll still explore the beliefs and unconscious stories you hold about yourself. Those beliefs can quietly interfere with recovery. Bringing them into awareness is what creates the conditions for deeper change.
Where the roots usually are
More often than not, the emotions and beliefs we find have roots in early life. That's true even when what brought you here happened last year, and it's the reason a single traumatic event so often opens a much older door.
That's a bigger subject than one section, and I've written about it separately in healing trauma beyond the event.
If you're wondering whether this approach fits what you're carrying, the discovery call exists precisely for that question.
