Your shoulders carry the weight from yesterday’s stressful meeting. Your chest feels tight when an old memory sneaks up. Your stomach knots when a hard conversation starts. These are not random body quirks. They are your body’s way of holding and processing emotional experiences.

Somatic healing therapy is all about recognizing this connection. It is a gentle, body-based approach that works with the wisdom already inside of you to help release stored tension and find balance again. Our bodies are constantly sending messages, often long before our minds catch on (Ogden & Fisher, 2015).

At in North Port, Florida, we see powerful healing when clients learn to pause and listen. Somatic practices can look like mindful breathing, simple movement, or slowing down enough to notice where emotions are showing up in your body. When you bring attention to these areas, you create space for release and healing (Levine, 2010).

Why We Feel Stuck: The Body’s Role in Emotional Pain

Your body is more than bones and muscles. It is also where emotions live. That heavy chest when you are worried or the tight shoulders after a long day are part of your body’s emotional processing system.

When stress or trauma happens, your nervous system jumps in to protect you. Sometimes that protective response gets stuck in your tissues. Therapists call these somatic holding patterns (van der Kolk, 2014). This is why you might carry tension or discomfort long after the original event is over.

Research shows that unprocessed emotions can stay stored in the body until they are given safe attention and a way out (Price & Hooven, 2018). Somatic therapy provides that path, offering tools to release what has been held too long (Payne et al., 2015).

How Somatic Healing Works

As trauma researcher Bessel van der Kolk reminds us, “The mind needs to be reeducated to feel physical sensations, and the body needs to be helped to tolerate and enjoy the comforts of touch” (van der Kolk, 2014).

Somatic healing is built on the understanding that your mind and body are not separate. They work together as one. Traditional talk therapy focuses on words and thoughts. Somatic therapy uses your body as a doorway to healing.

At Rooted Therapies, somatic counseling sessions often include:

Body awareness: noticing how emotions show up physically, such as shallow breath, clenched jaw, or tight shoulders.

Resourcing: finding safety anchors inside yourself, such as grounding, calming memories, or sensations of strength.

Titration: approaching emotions in small steps so your nervous system is not overwhelmed.

Pendulation: moving between activation and calm so your body remembers it is safe to feel and let go (Levine, 2010).

These tools allow your body to release what it has been holding, often more powerfully than words alone.

How to Begin Your Somatic Healing Journey

You do not need hours a day or complicated routines to begin this work. Simple practices open the door:

Body scan meditation: spend five minutes noticing sensations from your toes to your head (Kabat-Zinn, 2013).

Gentle movement: practices such as yoga, tai chi, or even stretching with awareness reconnect you with your body (Mehling et al., 2011).

Breathwork: box breathing (inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for four, hold for four) can calm your nervous system anywhere.

Journaling: write down what you notice in your body after these practices. Over time, you will see patterns.

These daily practices help regulate your nervous system. For trauma or heavier emotions, working with a trained somatic therapist in North Port provides deeper support (Ogden & Fisher, 2015).

Meet Lisa Rowe, LCSW and Somatic Healing Therapist in North Port

FAQs About Somatic Healing

Q1. What is somatic healing and how does it work?
Somatic healing is a body-based therapy that engages both the mind and body to process and release emotional tension. It uses techniques like body awareness, gentle movement, and breathwork to restore balance.

Q2. How can I start practicing somatic healing at home?
Begin with short, simple practices such as a body scan, box breathing, or gentle stretching. Journaling can also help you see connections between emotions and physical sensations.

Q3. Can somatic healing help with trauma?
Yes. It is especially effective for trauma because it works directly with the nervous system. This allows your body to safely release what it has been holding (van der Kolk, 2014).

Q4. What are signs my body is holding stress or emotional pain?

• Chronic muscle tension
  
• Chest tightness during anxiety
  
• Shoulder heaviness after stress
  
• Stomach knots during conflict
  
• Recurring physical symptoms without a clear medical cause
  

Q5. How is somatic healing different from traditional talk therapy?
Talk therapy focuses on words and thoughts. Somatic healing includes the body in the process, giving emotions stored in your nervous system a safe way to be processed and released.

References

• Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Full Catastrophe Living. Bantam Books.
  
• Levine, P. A. (2010). In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness. North Atlantic Books.
  
• Mehling, W. E., et al. (2011). Body awareness: A look at how mind-body therapies reconnect us. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 6(6).
  
• Ogden, P., & Fisher, J. (2015). Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment. W. W. Norton & Company.
  
• Payne, P., Levine, P. A., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2015). Somatic experiencing: Using the body’s natural systems for trauma healing. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 93.
  
• Price, C. J., & Hooven, C. (2018). Interoceptive awareness skills for emotion regulation. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 798.
  

van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score. Viking.