SOMATIC TRAUMA HEALING
finding safety within
A Return to Safety
Traditionally, therapy has focused primarily on the cognitive aspects of trauma through approaches such as talk therapy. However, it is becoming increasingly recognised that trauma not only affects the mind but is also deeply held within the body. To truly heal at the root, we must therefore work with the nervous system and the felt sense of our experience.
Somatic trauma healing supports individuals in cultivating a felt sense of safety and helping the nervous system return to regulation. From this more regulated state, space is created within the body for unresolved trauma to gently unwind. The trapped energy begins to release, trauma cycles complete, and we return to a more balanced healthy state.
Because somatic trauma healing is rooted in safety and is nervous system led, it offers a gentle and compassionate way of working through pain. Unlike traditional cognitive therapy, it is not necessary to discuss, or even consciously remember past experiences, although this often arises organically as part of the healing process.
During a somatic trauma healing session, we, as facilitator, will support you to cultivate a sense of safety in the body – something which is unfamiliar to so many of us. From this place of safety, you will be guided to explore elements of your body (soma) through aspects such as physical sensations, emotions and beliefs from a place of curiosity and non-judgement.
As you become more aware and deepen into your felt sense experience from this place of safety, the body’s wisdom will arise and naturally move through the necessary processes to complete the trauma cycles.
This could look like energy discharging through sighing, yawning, shaking or emotional releases. Natural responses which were suppressed at the time of the trauma may take place such as the legs running, kicking, the head turning or the arms pushing away.
During the sessions, you will likely move through cycles of activation (when the nervous system is in a fight, flight or freeze response) and deactivation (when the nervous system returns to a regulated state). As the body moves through these cycles, the nervous system’s window of tolerance increases and so does your capacity to experience painful sensations without feeling overwhelmed.
During the process, we learn to feel and hold our emotions from a place of safety. This feels very different from what we are previously used to. Rather than these emotions feeling painful or uncomfortable, we begin to experience them as sensations moving through the body. We still feel the full range of emotions deeply but it happens with a sense of ease and comfort. Over time, this becomes a new way of experiencing our emotions.
During the sessions we use a combination of some of the most well-recognised somatic trauma healing modalities:
– Compassionate Inquiry® (Gabor Maté)
– Somatic Experiencing® (Peter Levine)
– Internal Family Systems (Richard Schwartz)
We also include two of our own modalities which have been hugely supportive in our own healing journeys – Conscious Holding™ (read more) and Luma™ (read more).
Each of these modalities approaches trauma healing from a different angle yet are all somatic in nature. For this reason, using a combination of all of these approaches is a very effective way of working with trauma.
Between us, we are trained in many of the most powerful somatic and energetic trauma healing modalities.
As you look through these approaches, you will notice they all have things in common:
• Safety – Because we can’t heal when we’re living in survival mode. When we cultivate a sense of safety from within, our nervous system moves into regulation and from this place, we can begin to heal.
• Love and Compassion – When we are hating and rejecting these wounded parts of ourself, we are reinforcing the very wounds that were created in the first place. When we see these parts with love and feel compassion for ourself, we move from a state of resistance into a place of surrender, and healing is the journey of surrender.
• Holding – The reason we have unresolved trauma is because we didn’t have an attuned holding from our primary caregiver(s). When we feel this sense of holding within ourself, we create a safe foundation for the healing to take place.
• Space – When we are living in a fear state with a dysregulated nervous system, the body constricts and energy becomes trapped. When we create space, a somatic unwinding can take place for emotions to be processed and the trapped surivial energy to be released.
In our experience, each of these approaches alone is incredibly supportive, but together…? They are an amazingly powerful combination 🧡🔥
We incorporate all of these approaches into our offerings to support healing from different angles.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us.
Julie & Mich x