What exactly is somatic healing?
Somatic therapy uses body awareness, breathwork and movement exercises to be more aware of bodily sensations and release stored emotions. This type of therapy is often used to treat conditions such as PTSD, anxiety, depression and chronic pain. It helps people process and release trauma stored in the body. Somatic Coaching Works With Embodied Sense-Making. Somatic therapies – broadly speaking – tend to work directly with trauma through the body. Their aim is often the resolution, integration, or processing of traumatic material. Somatic coaching, by contrast, is not designed to process trauma.Somatic therapy also involves learning how to calm or discharge that stress, tension and trauma. These techniques can include breathing exercises, dance, mindfulness and other body movement techniques. Somatic therapy techniques are body-focused to help us calm our nervous systems that have been overloaded by stress.Some somatic modalities offer somatic therapy training through certificate or continuing education formats that do not require a degree. These pathways serve practitioners working in coaching, bodywork, or wellness contexts where the scope of practice does not include psychotherapy.
Who benefits most from somatic therapy?
Somatic therapy can be beneficial for many people, especially those dealing with trauma, anxiety, or stress-related issues. Critics of somatic experiencing argue that it is still largely unproven and believe that it is based more on New Age philosophy than on sound psychological and biological principles, since Levine, who created somatic experiencing, has also taught at a New Age retreat center.