Somatic work: why is it important and what are the benefits?

As I began my career as an Art Therapist, I worked at an outpatient mental health clinic with clients of all ages, diagnoses, gender expressions and cultures. While every client had their own story and set of symptoms, the one thing that always stood out to me was the common theme of the ways in which almost every client experienced sensations and symptoms in their bodies yet had either no awareness or struggled to find ways to both manage and understand the signals their bodies were demonstrating.

It was also around this time that I started to learn more about somatic experiencing and therapeutic interventions involving the body, leading me to begin using somatic healing in sessions with my clients. In this post, I talked about the body, it’s function and how it is a vehicle for our emotions (which come up in the form of sensations). In engaging in somatic healing work, you begin to develop a relationship with your body which can have SO MANY benefits.

Before I talk about the various benefits in the somatic healing journey, I want to share (in very general sense) what the somatic healing may look like for someone.

Somatic Healing involves principles of mindfulness and introspection to allow for you to come into your body as you start to build an active relationship with it. Part of that involves first cultivating a sense of safety and trust with your body. It also involves the use of resourcing and establishing coping skills to bring your body into a state of regulation. You also begin to learn the conversation of your body: it’s signals, what they mean, what they are trying to tell you. All of this occurring over time and at the pace you are able to maintain depending on your body and the levels of trauma (it is also best to do with the support of a trained professional.) As time goes on, you start to come into, what I consider, partnership and friendship with your body - you start to work together as a team. Your body sends you signals, you listen, ask questions, offer support and notice how it reacts.

Now let’s talk about some of the benefits of somatic work…

So many of us begin this journey feeling lost, disconnected, confused by our bodies and its signals which can often turn to feelings of hopelessness and lack of control in our lives, our bodies, our emotional reactions and even our behaviors. However, when you start and continue to engage in your somatic healing process you may notice an increase in:

• Gratitude

• Personal power

• Nervous system regulation

• Confidence

• Mind body connection

• Self love and so much more

While the journey does take time and it is not always an easy road, it is, without a doubt, very much worth it.

Comment below if you want me to create a post going more in detail the benefits listed above! Or if you are interested in beginning your own somatic healing journey, send me an email to schedule a free consultation call where we can discuss working together further.