Somatic therapy integrates awareness of physical sensations, internal imagery, the mind-body connection, and movement to release painful experiences and help heal trauma, anxiety, stress, and depression. Find out how a qualified somatic therapist in Toronto can help you get unstuck.

What Is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy is a holistic approach to psychotherapy that incorporates a growing body of research on the mind-body connection.

By focusing on how emotions are stored in the body, this approach works to release painful experiences and unpleasant emotions. Practitioners of somatic therapy in Toronto guide the client into deeper states of internal bodily awareness. By integrating the experiences of emotions in the body, somatic therapy allows the body to complete its’ natural reaction of discharging or releasing trapped emotions and survival states.

Trauma and the Body

 A growing body of research shows that traumatic experiences can impair the ordinary way that our memory retains experiences, particularly in the case of complex childhood trauma (C-PTSD) [1].

This results in memories becoming fragmented. Certain aspects of a traumatic experience might be stored in explicit memory, meaning the memory that you can recall as a distinct image in your mind.

However, when the memory is too painful to experience, the mind fragments this memory. Some of the experience may be stored as explicit memories, however other parts may be stored in what we call implicit memory.

This implicit memory is pre-cognitive, meaning that it is not consciously recollected through a series of thoughts or images, but is like an autopilot system running in the background. 

Implicit memory can serve us in beneficial ways such as allowing us to know how to use common household utensils or dress ourselves without having to think about or recollect a specific memory of how we do this.

However, in the case of trauma, the pain that was too much to bear also becomes an autopilot system running in the background. 

This implicit memory of the painful experience can show up in the body, manifesting as unexplained physical symptoms including:

• chronic pain and bodily aches
• digestive issues including IBS
• autoimmune conditions;
  cancers
• sudden emotions that feel out of place, such as fear, dread, sadness, anger, or anxiety
• unexplained shortness of breath
• low mood or energy. [2]

This can be exceedingly frustrating for trauma survivors who might find they have no diagnosable medical condition and no discernible reason for feeling overwhelmed, yet have emotions that feel out of place. It is common to feel like one is constantly in a state of survival or reacting to their environment, as the body gets stuck in periods of defense, such as fight, flight or freeze.

Somatic Therapy in Toronto vs. Talk Therapy

Somatic therapy can aid survivors of trauma in accessing and resolving emotions stored in the body that might otherwise be inaccessible in traditional talk therapy. 

Traditional talk therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) utilize an approach called top-down processing. Top-down processing is when your brain uses what you already know, such as your past experiences, expectations, or general knowledge, to make sense of what you are presently experiencing. Goals of these approaches can include altering thought patterns, changing behaviour, or developing coping strategies.

This approach to therapy can have its limitations with survivors of trauma, as traumatic experiences override the cognitive functions, activating the more primal areas of the brain associated with defensive responses. These traumatic defensive states of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, can become encoded as patterns in the mind and body. When trying more top-down oriented approaches, clients often report feeling like there is something wrong with them for not being able to reframe their thoughts.

In my own work as a psychotherapist providing somatic therapy in Toronto, I primarily work with high functioning adults to treat childhood trauma. I frequently encounter clients who have spent a year or more working with traditional talk therapy, and feel frustrated that they are stuck in the same patterns in their life. They often say that the more they talk about their trauma, the worse it gets. 

One of the major reasons for this is because the previous top-down approaches they have attempted try to use cognitive processing. Recall that trauma fragments our experience. Therefore, just working with the verbal and cognitive process alone leaves many others aspects of traumatic experience unresolved, such as the sensory, visual, or imaginal processes.

By contrast, bottom-up processing approaches start with engaging lower brain regions responsible for reflexes, memories, and survival responses. Trauma itself is a survival response to experiences that were too overwhelming to endure. Trauma is the splitting of the self, the splitting of emotions, and storage of affect and emotion in implicit memory. 

By working with the survival response itself, as it shows up in the body in states of attaching, disconnecting, or entering into fight-flight-freeze, somatic therapy helps the body exit the survival state, and enter into a state of relaxation and calm from which new insight and choices can arise.

This is like your brain getting out of it’s citadel of thoughts, and stepping down into the city to meet the average citizens that are your bodily emotions and sensory experiences. 

In this process, new information is conveyed to the brain, that helps it release the old information of the past and create new memories of safety, change and empowerment.

What does Somatic Therapy involve?

Somatic therapy can involve a variety of different tools and techniques depending on the type of somatic therapy. 

The unifying feature of most somatic therapies is a focus on creating a sense of safety in the therapeutic process, guiding the participant into increasing degrees of bodily and sensory awareness, then helping to integrate the experience of challenging emotions to effect a release or freeing up of new vitality in the mind and body. [3]

To help illustrate this process, I will outline some of the common types of somatic therapies, and their various techniques and tools below.

Types of Somatic Therapy

Common forms of somatic therapy available in Toronto include:

• Somatic Experiencing (SE): developed by Dr. Peter Levine, somatic experiencing helps clients develop stress tolerance for unpleasant bodily sensations and suppressed emotions. SE purports to help clients complete the defensive responses typically associated with states of acute stress and shock trauma, by helping the body release this stored energy and turn off the fight-flight-freeze alarm that is causing dysregulation. [4]
• Sensorimotor Therapy: developed by Dr. Pat Ogden, sensorimotor psychotherapy is effective at treating trauma and attachment issues by using the body as a primary source of information. It uses a three-phase approach by first creating safety and stabilization, then guiding the client into bodily and affect processing, and finally integrating the experience. It is thought to strengthen innate survival capacities and help clients develop resources for coping with painful experiences, which may have been absent at the time of trauma. [5]
• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP): AEDP is an approach to psychotherapy that helps you connect with and process your feelings in a way that transforms pain into healing. Whereas some approaches may be more problem-oriented, AEDP attempts to emphasize positive experiences, like feeling understood or connected within the context of the therapeutic relationship, to help you harness innate strengths you may not have been aware of before. [6]
• Gestalt Therapy: gestalt therapy focuses on the whole person, rather than attempting to treat any one specific part of the person. Where some therapies focus on the problem itself, Gestalt therapy focuses on the process of how you are engaging with the environment around you, and the internal landscape. [7]
• Hakomi Method: with roots in neurolinguistic programming, Buddhism, Ericksonian Hypnosis, and other body-based approaches, the Hakomi Method is based on the principles of unity, mind-body holism, organicity, mindfulness, and nonviolence. Hakomi helps you access internal experiences through body reading, repetition of body gestures, conscious taking over of tension to illicit pleasurable experience, and other body-mind based techniques. [8]
• Neurosomatic therapy: informed by polyvagal theory, neurosomatic therapy incorporates  soft, slow patterns of subtle movement to give new information of safety to your brain, alongside bilateral movement, coaching, and traditional talk therapy. [9]
• Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT): EFT uses self-administered tapping along pressure points in the body to help the body illicit a natural relaxation response and reduce the intensity of distress. EFT can be used alongside other therapeutic approaches.

Somatic Therapy Exercises and Techniques

Typical exercises and techniques of somatic therapy include:

• Grounding: This is the act of conveying present-moment safety to your nervous system. Grounding can be done in a variety of ways, but typically focuses on connecting deeply to the felt sense of your body meeting the earth. Focusing on the sensation of your feet on the ground, or body in a chair, helps bring you out of an activated state of fight-flight-freeze, and into the feeling of being physically safe in this moment.
• Resourcing: just like the name sounds, resourcing is about developing internal resources. In somatic therapy sessions, the therapist will help guide your mind and body towards sensations of safety and wholeness. Initially these can be small sensations, however by repeatedly coming back to feelings of safety, this can form a ground of wellbeing from which we can recondition patterns of fear, anxiety, and trauma responses. In my sessions with clients, I frequently use resourcing as a way to build the capacity to face that which initially may seem scary or difficult.
• Pendulation: resiliency in the mind and body depends on a natural ability to move back and forth between the ebbs and flows of life. Trauma can cause us to get stuck in states where our ability to move out of feeling anxious, irritable, sad, or angry can get impaired. Pendulation in somatic therapy is the process of retraining the mind and body to return to it’s natural ability to move between pleasant and unpleasant emotions without getting stuck. Think of it like coming back to flow!
• Titration: when healing from anxiety and trauma in therapy, less is more. in my work with high-functioning anxiety, I often get clients that want to immediately jump on the horse! I admire the zeal, but I often remind them of the importance of titration. Titration is the process of slowing down our awareness of sensory experiences, and beginning to break down the difficult experience one drop at a time. During this process, we frequently pause to notice what bodily sensations are arising and corresponding to the difficult experiences and emotions. This helps the mind and body integrate and process the experience. In practice, this can often feel like a release, rather than simply ruminating over the same issue without resolution.
• Sequencing: in somatic therapy, sequencing involves paying attention to the order in which physical sensations appear as emotions and energy are discharged from the body. Bringing conscious awareness to the process of emotional release is intended to allow the psychological and physiological process to complete itself, while strengthening the client’s sense of self and ability to be present during the process of emotional release.
• Somatic Movement: various forms of somatic therapies employ the use of movement. Unlike physical exercise which can often be goal oriented, a somatic movement is a motion done consciously, intentionally focusing awareness on the internal experience of the movement, rather than the external form. Somatic movements are often repeated slowly, in an effort to bring deeper levels of inquiry to what state the body is in, and what emotions, experiences, or processes might be stored there.
• Co-regulating touch: co-regulation is the natural process of relaxation that happens in our bodies when two or more people are emotionally attuned (see my blog post on the myth of self-regulation to learn more). This process occurs naturally between parent and child. A crying child, when picked up by their caregiver and held in a loving and empathetic manner, is physiologically soothed. Co-regulation and secure attachment go hand-in hand. In somatic therapy, co-regulating touch (employed conscientiously, ethically, and with consent), can help illicit a relaxation response, reducing symptoms of anxiety, trauma, depression. This is typically used alongside other somatic and talk therapy approaches.
• Use of Imagery and Imagination: somatic therapies can also incorporate the use of internal imagery and imagination. Clients are assisted to investigate the bodily sensations, emotional, and physical responses to imagery that is evoked when exploring their physical state. Imagery can then be altered, using the imagination, to explore how the body responds, and ultimately to provide relief from heightened states of activation, including anxiety.

In my practice providing somatic therapy in Toronto with trauma survivors and high-functioning anxiety, I use an integrative somatic therapy approach that has its foundations in Eastern mindfulness traditions, Jungian therapy, relational therapy, and creative therapies. This is informed by training in Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy, and my personal lived experience healing from trauma. 

Through working with dreams, internal imagery, the imagination and the accompanying bodily sensations, clients are able to process emotions that are often difficult to treat in traditional talk therapy.

To learn more about my life’s work and my approach click here.

What can Somatic Therapy help with?

Somatic Therapy can help with a wide variety of concerns including:

• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), sometimes referred to as single-incident trauma
• Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), sometimes referred to as developmental or childhood trauma
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Negative self-beliefs (to learn more check-out my article on somatic therapy for self sabotage) 
• Somatization disorders
• Chronic Pain
• Insomnia
• Persistent disturbing dreams
• Relational and trust issues
  Attachment disorders
• Self-esteem issues
• Difficulty tolerating emotional distress. [10,11]

In my work with trauma survivors, I frequently see clients that experience multiple overlapping symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, emotional dysregulation, digestive issues, and chronic pain. As we begin to work with the body in somatic therapy, these issues often begin to resolve.

I’ll never forget working with a client, Barbara, who struggled with chronic pain for years which she attributed to her hormonal imbalances. She had suffered a traumatic upbringing, ending up in foster care. She carried a deep sense of shame and grief, and never felt like she deserved a better life. As we began to work with the ways this shame, loss, and grief showed up in her body, she began to have moments of relief, and started to feel like the life she wanted to live was possible. (check out my recent blog post to learn more about why grief is a natural part of trauma healing).

One day in a session following a somatic exercise, she said to me “I can’t believe it, I have no pain!” Her body and regulated out of the defensive state of fight/flight/freeze/fawn, and into a state of relaxation for the first time in years. By the time we ended therapy eight months later, her chronic pain had not returned at all.

Somatic therapy holds the potential to uproot deep seated sources of emotional and psychosomatic pain.

Who should avoid Somatic Therapy?

While somatic therapy is remarkably effective at working with a wide variety of concerns, it is not for everyone. 

For individuals with certain medical conditions, severe personality disorders such as active psychosis, or where neurological impairment inhibits bodily awareness (interoception) or awareness of body movement (proprioception), somatic therapy needs to be used with caution.

Additionally, while somatic therapy is effective with single incident trauma also known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it has limitations as a standalone approach when working with developmental trauma, also known as complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD).  In such cases, an integrative approach that incorporates somatic therapy as part of a broader therapeutic treatment can be more effective.

In my own work with adult survivors of childhood trauma, I frequently employ somatic therapies as one component of therapy, alongside other evidence-based approaches such as relational therapy, psychodynamic therapy, creative arts therapies, and parts work. This allows for a responsive, an adaptive approach that can be tailored to fit the unique lived experiences of my clients.

Is Somatic Therapy effective?

Yes, somatic therapy is remarkably effective at treating a wide variety of concerns, including anxiety, depression, trauma, chronic pain, insomnia, and low self-esteem.

For more information on the efficacy of somatic therapy, including how long it takes to work, and the pros and cons, continue reading.

How long does somatic therapy take to work?

Many clients begin to find some form of symptom relief from the first session.

In my work providing therapy for anxiety, trauma, and PTSD, I advise my clients that we can expect to re-assess the therapeutic relationship within 6 sessions, as this provides time to begin to build a therapeutic alliance and see progress. 

For less complex issues such as anxiety, meaningful changes are typically seen within 12 sessions.

In cases of more complex trauma, developmental trauma, or C-PTSD, somatic therapy is often integrated as one part of longer-term therapeutic treatment, and can continue from 24 sessions onwards depending on the goals of the client.

The pros and cons of somatic therapy

The benefits of somatic therapy can include:

• Improved mood regulation
• Stress reduction
• Anxiety reduction
• Improved self-esteem
• Increased sense of belonging and identity
• Increased feelings of wellbeing and calm
• Ability to self-regulate
• Reduction of PTSD and C-PTSD symptoms
• Improved interpersonal relationships
• Reduction and elimination of chronic pain and other psychosomatic symptoms. [12,13]

While somatic therapies have significant benefits, they are regarded as a newer form of intervention by some insurers and medical institutions. This may lead to insurers not recognizing or providing coverage for this form of treatment. However, when somatic therapy is administered by a  Registered Psychotherapist or medical health care practitioner, it is often covered by private insurance plans.

As somatic therapy trainings become more popular, they are also now being offered to a wide variety of people, such as life coaches, body workers, yoga instructors, acupuncturists, and other wellness instructors. With this popularity, there are also risks when it is administered by someone who is inexperienced or untrained in providing the act of psychotherapy.

Registered psychotherapists, and other mental health professionals in Toronto who are trained in somatic therapies are best suited to appropriately respond should somatic therapy reveal a need for a different therapeutic approach, or more serious mental health concerns that the client initially presented with.

Finally, though somatic therapies have roots in traditional mental health practices dating back thousands of years, research into somatic therapy is a relatively new field, and more academic data will be needed to determine the long term efficacy of these approaches.

Nevertheless, somatic therapy when applied in a therapeutic setting, and integrated as part of a broader evidence based approach, can create long-term healing for complex trauma, childhood trauma, anxiety, and depression. [14]

What to know if you’re considering Somatic Therapy in Toronto?

If you’re at the point that you are considering somatic therapy, then it is probably time to give it a try. Somatic therapy can be a gentle way of overcoming trauma, anxiety, and more. When used alongside traditional talk therapy, somatic therapy can produce long-term change.

In my practice, I offer a free consultation call to make sure we are a good fit, and help you assess whether somatic therapy is appropriate for you. I have both in-person and virtual appointments to suit your needs. 

Reach out today if you’re ready to experience the benefits somatic therapy has to offer. 

Still curious about how somatic therapy in Toronto can help? See my service page to learn more about the issues I treat. 

For more free resources on mental health and spiritual wellbeing, subscribe to my blog.

References

[1]. Da Costa Silva, L., Laisney, M., Charretier, L., Eustache, F., & Quinette, P. (2023). Les altérations de la mémoire dans le trouble de stress post-traumatique [Memory alterations in post-traumatic stress disorder]. Biologie aujourd’hui, 217(1-2), 55–64. https://doi.org/10.1051/jbio/2023018 

[2]. Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.

[3]. Podolan, M., & Gelo, O. C. G. (2023). The Functions of Safety in Psychotherapy: An Integrative Theoretical Perspective Across Therapeutic Schools. Clinical neuropsychiatry, 20(3), 193–204. https://doi.org/10.36131/cnfioritieditore20230304 

[4]. Somatic Experiencing® International. (2024, November 11). SE 101 – Somatic Experiencing® International. https://traumahealing.org/se-101/ 

[5]. About – Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute (SPI). (2024, August 13). Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. https://sensorimotorpsychotherapy.org/about/#what-is-sp 

[6] About AEDPTM Psychotherapy. (2024, April 28). AEDPTM Institute. https://aedpinstitute.org/about-aedp-psychotherapy/ 

[7] What is Gestalt Psychology? | The Gestalt Centre. (2023, February 12). The Gestalt Centre. https://gestaltcentre.org.uk/what-is-gestalt/ 

[8] Hakomi Institute. (2024, November 8). What is Hakomi | Hakomi Institute. https://hakomiinstitute.com/about/what-is-hakomi/

[9] What is NeuroSomatic Therapy and Neuromovement®? | NeuroSomatic. (n.d.). NeuroSomatic. https://www.neurosomatic.org/about

[10] McRae, K., Misra, S., Prasad, A. K., Pereira, S. C., & Gross, J. J. (2012). Bottom-up and top-down emotion generation: implications for emotion regulation. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 7(3), 253–262. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsq103

[11] Kuhfuß, M., Maldei, T., Hetmanek, A., & Baumann, N. (2021). Somatic experiencing – effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy: a scoping literature review. European journal of psychotraumatology, 12(1), 1929023. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1929023

[12] Brom, D., Stokar, Y., Lawi, C., Nuriel-Porat, V., Ziv, Y., Lerner, K., & Ross, G. (2017). Somatic Experiencing for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Outcome Study. Journal of traumatic stress, 30(3), 304–312. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22189

[13]  Iwakabe, S., Edlin, J., Fosha, D., Gretton, H., Joseph, A. J., Nunnink, S. E., Nakamura, K., & Thoma, N. C. (2020). The effectiveness of accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP) in private practice settings: A transdiagnostic study conducted within the context of a practice-research network. Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.), 57(4), 548–561. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000344

[14] Iwakabe, S., Edlin, J., Fosha, D., Thoma, N. C., Gretton, H., Joseph, A. J., & Nakamura, K. (2022). The long-term outcome of accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy: 6- and 12-month follow-up results. Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.), 59(3), 431–446. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000441

[15] Wampold B. E. (2015). How important are the common factors in psychotherapy? An update. World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 14(3), 270–277. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20238