Contemporary Somatic Psychotherapy
Somatic psychotherapy honours the notion of mind and body as a single and whole entity. For many of us we have been brought up with the belief that the mind (psyche) and body (soma) are two distinct entities working independently of the other. In somatic psychotherapy, thoughts, emotions and bodily experience are understood as inter-functioning aspects of the person’s whole self. Somatic psychotherapists while working verbally with a person, are also trained to notice and work with the bodily experience that a person has. So the focus is often brought to the breath, sensations, movements, postures, body image and touch when appropriate. This embodied approach can help deepen a sense of connection to oneself and others.
This form of therapy understands that the way we are in the world is conducted primarily through the body that we have and it is our body that experiences and holds many things. We are not just a mental apparatus with arms and legs. So this way of thinking about the body encourages therapists and clients to get curious about what our body is doing and feeling. We often feel stress in our bodies as a headache, or tightness somewhere. We have references in our language to the body such as “my heart is breaking” or “I have sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach” and we are often aware of these sensations before we have any thoughts about them. Body work does not discourage thinking and talking but it brings this added dimension of direct reference to the body. Body-oriented psychotherapists draw on a range of theory, including those concerning personality and character, attachment, emotion, human development, movement, neurobiology and trauma.
So how does it work? When you have a feeling I will invite some curiosity about how it is experienced in the body. I might ask you to repeat a movement or involuntary gesture mindfully so as to get data about how you organise your beliefs and feelings. I will pay attention to your breath, voice tone, posture and facial expressions as these are all indicators to what is happening in the body. I will often slow the pace right down so that we can study these body states as they are happening. The body in this context is a rich resource.