Most of us now have heard the term somatic therapy, but what does it mean?
Somatic means of the body
Somatic therapies work directly with the body and bodily sensations. All bodies store experiences in what is called 'somatic memory'. This means the body responds to your current environment from this somatic memory; when a situation feels similar in anyway, it responds as if the body is in the past situation. The body can react to a similar smell, sound, taste or others senses automatically and move into a stress response. Somatic therapies aim to help ‘discharge’ these stored negative experiences, moving the body into the present moment and into a more regulated state. They also aim to build awareness of bodily sensations to help people work through feelings and experiences in the future.
Somatic exercises also can be seen as a way to ‘rewire’ the nervous system, teaching it to respond differently in the future.
A few of the most widely used somatic therapies or exercises are: Breathwork or Meditation, Somatic Experiencing, EMDR and EFT Tapping.
Breath-work’s earliest form traces back to the Indian practice of Pranayama. Controlling the breath in a meditative state was used as a tool for spiritual growth and to build a deeper understanding of the self and the world.
There are many different forms of breath work to achieve many different results. Controlling your breath can aid in up-regulating or down-regulating the nervous system. Breathing at a faster or a more forceful rate up-regulates the nervous system and activates the sympathetic branch (known as the ‘fight or flight’ branch) this can help increase energy and motivation. Breathing at a slower and deeper rate down-regulates the nervous system, activating the parasympathetic branch (known as ‘rest and digest’). This calms the nervous system and can bring about a state of relaxation and ease.
There are also methods of breath-work or meditation to process stored trauma. Typically this type of breath work uses controlled slow deep breathing while bringing mental attention to the physical sensations of the body after discussing an emotional experience they wish to work through. This type of breathwork is used to process through the trauma and 'discharge' the stress response. It is typically done with a practitioner, or some type of guidance. It can allow for change in the body's physical and emotional responses to the current environment and release 'triggers'.
Breath-work is very portable and easy to use, however, bringing attention to the body can be dysregulating at first. If the nervous system is in more of a 'freeze' response or sensations have been numbed, feeling the body can be overwhelming. The nervous system may not yet be flexible enough to move in and out of a stress responses, and attempting to process through traumatic experiences with breath-work can dysregulate you more. Starting with short breath work sessions and building safety in your body is important before attempting any somatic therapy to address trauma. Listening to your body is the best way to avoid more dysregulation. If discomfort is building, backing off on the technique and orienting using your five senses can help bring you back to safety.
Somatic Experiencing was developed in the 1970s by Dr. Peter Levine. This modality uses awareness of sensations in the body alongside breathing, humming, and other somatic exercises to move a client into more regulation. They start by working on the clients current emotional or nervous system state, bringing attention to feelings and sensations. They then use exercises to bring the client towards regulation while noticing these sensations.
A session varies dependent on the client. Traumatic experiences are processed by bringing attention to the physical sensations in the body, after discussing traumatic events. The practitioner may use a technique called pendulation, where they move the clients focus between areas of discomfort in the body and areas of comfort to help regulate the nervous system while processing the trauma. They may also use a technique called titration, where the practitioner has the client focus on a small part of the trauma rather than the whole. This is to process it in a more manageable way without overwhelming the body. The client and practitioner work closely on monitoring the intensity of the feeling and bringing in safety until the client ‘discharges’ or releases the pent up emotions stored in the body. This may look like tears, warmth, shaking, breathing easily again or unconscious movement.
Somatic Experiencing is performed with a practitioner, making the effectiveness somewhat dependent on the practitioner and client relationship. The goal of somatic experiencing is to process trauma, build safety in the body, and move the body into a more regulated state.
EFT Tapping or "Emotional Freedom Technique" is a technique similar to acupuncture. It was developed from the practice of Chinese medicine, focusing on meridian points. Meridian points are thought of as points along the energy pathways in the body. Tapping on these points in the energy pathways is thought to unblock energy from negative experiences. Western medicine believes tapping on these acupoints calms the nervous system via stimulating the nerves.
An EFT tapping session typically has the client focus on a problem, fear, or traumatic experience. They then focus on the emotions around that problem and the sensations felt in the body while focusing on it. The tapping starts moving the body from a stress response, to a more regulated state while processing the experience. EFT Tapping is typically performed with a practitioner, but can also be performed at home alone. With a skilled practitioner tapping can be more effective because of ‘co-regulation’. Co-regulation refers to the process of regulating between two people. In this case it refers to an emotionally regulated practitioner or ‘witness’ bringing a feeling of safety while the client moves through difficult emotions.
The positives and negatives are similar to other somatic therapies, it can be effective tool to move towards regulation. However, EFT Tapping could be dsyregulating or retraumatizing with a poorly trained practitioner. With a well trained practitioner it is a very effective tool, it is portable, and has the most amount of research backing it's effectiveness amongst somatic therapies.
EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a technique using eye movements or bilateral stimulation to process through traumatic memories and reduce the nervous system reaction to these memories. This helps reduce the stress response to triggers tied to that memory, as the nervous system will respond to anything in your current environment that feels similar as if you are back in the traumatic situation. Triggers could be a smell, a feeling, something you hear, see, or taste.
In a typical session, the practitioner brings attention to the traumatic experience. They then use the eye movements or bilateral stimulation while the client brings mental attention to the emotionally charged memory. They guide them through the memory, the sensations the client is feeling and what they are noticing. They may also use titration, first just focusing on a small part of the traumatic experience and processing through the experience piece by piece as to not overwhelm the client.
After all tension is released and the body is moved into a calm regulated state, positive beliefs are reinforced to replace any negative beliefs formed from the trauma.
EMDR can be very effective for acute trauma, or trauma that happened over a short period of time. It can also help process more long term trauma and by reducing the emotional charge. Typically EMDR is preformed with a practitioner, making cost a barrier and effectiveness dependent on the skills of the practitioner.
The positives are once the traumatic experience is processed, many people no longer experience the triggers from that experience.
Each somatic modality is slightly different, and the effectiveness of each is person-dependent. We've seen different techniques work better for different clients, and have found that what matters most is listening to your body and continuing to move the body and mind into the present moment.
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