Somatic Therapy
Integrating mind, body, and emotion for lasting change
Somatic therapy means Angela’s work with you is guided by the knowing that our bodies are a source of intelligence and feedback for our overall health and vitality. Somatic Therapy is body-centred and looks at interplay of body, mind and emotion. It uses both psychotherapy and physical therapies for whole healing.
Angela’s inclination to work somatically is based on her extensive experience in working with people and their bodies. As a qualified physiotherapist of over 25 years she realised early in her career that there was more far contributing to some individuals pain than just their physicality.
Realising that wellbeing was a complex combination of a persons, physical, mental, emotional and social health Angela embarked on 3 years of training to gain qualification as a counsellor. Thus she is not only a qualified physiotherapist but also a qualified psychotherapeutic counsellor and member of the National Psychotherapy and Counselling Society (NPCS).
Angela’s comprehensive passion, knowledge and expertise in working with the body, mind and emotions has lead her to complete further training with renowned trauma experts and body based psychotherapists such as Bessel Van Der Kolk, Peter Levine, Debs Dana, Janina Fisher & Abi Blakeslee
In this approach we might explore where you feel the physical sensation connected with a particular memory or emotion. We aim to work with these physical sensations in a way that feels manageable and invites a discharge of any energy that might have become stuck in a clients nervous system. The discharge of stuck energy invites a release of reactive physical habits and behaviours freeing the client up to have more choice and improving their ability to respond to challenging situations in life. Somatic therapy is not only important in processing unsolved trauma and discovering where we have resources but is also valuable in helping us to connect with our innate aliveness and okayness. It can be a surprisingly transformational, as well as pleasurable, aspect of the work.
People drawn to working with their bodies are often open to this collaborative approach which supports greater body-mind awareness. Somatic based therapy can often include a spiritual element and can be a journey of self discovery and exploration as to who you really are and what matters most to you in how you wish to live your life. While spirituality can be thought of as religious, Angela see it is an individual journey which may or may not involve religion.
If talk therapy has reached its limits for a you, then somatic therapy may hold the key as the body is a largely untapped resource for psychotherapy.
Somatic therapy can help patients who suffer from a range of ailments, including:
- Trauma and post-trauma
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Grief
- Addiction
Somatic therapy is also used in the treatment of physical conditions, including:
- Chronic pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Chronic fatigue
- Irritable Bowel
- Digestive disorders
How It Works
Somatic therapy emphasises helping us to develop resources within ourselves in order to self-regulate our emotions, or to move out of the fight/flight/freeze response and into a higher-functioning mode where we can think more clearly. Through developing awareness of the mind-body connection and using specific interventions, somatic therapy helps to release the tension, anger, frustration, and other emotions that remain in our bodies from these past negative experiences. The goal is to help free us from what is preventing us from fully engaging in our lives.
If you are considering working with me, please feel free to contact me for a short consultation.
I offer face to face appointments in Wetherby, West Yorkshire and am available for online sessions by zoom.
Talk therapy V Somatic therapy
Talk therapy
Focuses on verbal communication and cognitive exploration to help people understand their emotions and behaviour. Talk therapy can help with identifying obstacles to mental health, overcoming fears, coping with stress & anxiety or learning to accommodate loss and bereavement.
Somatic therapy
Focuses on the body-mind connection, and aims to help people become aware of their bodily sensations and feel more at ease in their bodies. Somatic therapy can help with trauma resolution, releasing tension, improving body mechanics as well as mental and emotional health.