integrative Somatic therapy

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That is up to you. Some people feel they get what they need from one session. Others enjoy setting intentions together for the long term, and having me walk alongside them as they move towards those intentions. If youare new to Somatic Therapy and/or Yoga Therapy, I recommend eight sessions to start, to get a feel for howthese modalities can work for you and help you heal.

If you suspect you have had one or more painful experiences that has been left unattended to, and that thismay be causing conflict and tension for you in your current life, it may be that there is stuff going on for you onan unconscious level. In time, somatic work can help you thaw out those frozen experiences and access thehealth in your underlying system. We can do this by using tools such as tracking body sensations, movement,gesture, sound and meditation, among others.

Even if we grew up in a great home in a safe environment with loving parents, the vast majority of us will still end up with some kind of trauma by the time we’re 18. If left unprocessed, this can end up causing havoc in our bodies and our lives. We can be traumatized indirectly, such as when we witness someone close to us going through a painful experience. Furthermore, complex trauma can happen as a result of “smaller”, yet just as impactful events that compound over time. Rather than the “big T” Traumas we typically think of like a weather disaster, war or acts of terrorism, small “t” trauma can be things like emotional or psychological abuse, or having a traumatized parent when we are young.

Somatic work is about coming home to the lived experience of the body with curiosity and gentleness in orderto bring awareness to old habits and harmful unconscious patterns. When we can become embodied with loveand acceptance for ourselves, we are equipped to begin to take care of our thoughts, feelings and emotions.In Somatic work, we come from the understanding that we as human beings live with a body and nervous system, and that how we relate to and take care of our bodies, for example with movement is incredibly important for how we are able to heal and progress.

Yes, talking is one layer in our healing, and it can be very freeing to talk about what happened as we heal ourtrauma. I tend to work with clients who are interested in exploring body-based approaches for healing trauma.We don’t just talk our way into the trauma, so we won’t be able to talk our way out of it. As you become morecomfortable with accessing your soma, we can work towards you being able to come back to your embodiedexperience and what is really going on inside more and more. There may be days we spend more time together with “What Happened”, and other days you may feel you want to drop the story and talk less, in which case there are many different tools and practices we can explore.

While both offerings are rooted in a body-based, trauma-informed approach, Somatic Trauma Therapy focuses more directly on processing and resolving stored trauma through body-centred counselling and awareness, nervous system support, and (when appropriate) touch. These sessions are resource- and body-oriented, supporting psycho-somatic and emotional healing and integration.

Somatic Movement Therapy, on the other hand, emphasizes gentle, guided movement practices to restore connection with the body, improve bodily integrity and build resilience through embodied experience. While emotional healing can naturally emerge, the entry point is often through movement, mobility, and reconnecting with the body’s innate rhythms.