Somatic Counseling
& Therapy
Reconnect with Your Body, Discover Yourself, and Experience the Healing that Words Alone Can't Provide
Something is "off." You can feel it. You know it. But you can't quite name it.
You've tried talking about your anxiety, stress, fears, sense of overwhelm, or past traumas. You've listened to podcasts, read books, tried everything you can think of to let go, including more traditional talk therapy – and yet nothing seems to help, at least not for long.
You can feel the tension living deep in your chest, your lower back, your jaw ... or just under the surface of everything you do.
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Your body always seems tense – there's anxiety in your muscles, your breath, your gut, your sleep
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Your emotions always seem to be either "too much" or "not enough" – as if they're trapped somewhere you can't quite reach
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You dissociate, check out, or feel disconnected – from others and from yourself
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You seem to get triggered before you even know what’s going on
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You can think about peace, but you always feel the anxiety and fear
We're here to let you know that you don't have to keep feeling this way.
Our bodies have a tendency to remember and hang on to what our minds try to forget.
But just knowing this isn't enough to let go and heal.
Until your nervous system feels safe again – until you begin to work through and unwind the tension, the startle reflex, the hold‑and‑release cycles in your body – words alone won't be able to create the change you seek.
At Big Life Change Therapy, we understand that emotional pain doesn't live just in our minds – it lives in our bodies, too. That's why most of our clinicians specialize in various somatic therapy techniques – compassionate, body‑centered healing approaches that can help you uncover and heal the anxiety, stress, emotional overwhelm, and trauma that's trapped not just in your brain, but in your body, too.
What Is Somatic Therapy – and Why It Matters
Talk therapy typically focuses on thinking and making sense of your relationships and emotional experiences on a verbal level.
But there are many things we don't experience verbally ... and many experiences we can't easily put into words.
Somatic therapy is about going deeper.
While many people think of somatic therapy as a specific approach to counseling and psychotherapy, it's actually more of an umbrella term that defines a wide variety of therapeutic approaches, including attachment- and trauma-informed approaches, EMDR, somatic experiencing, polyvagal therapy, dramatic- and art-based therapy, and mindfulness.
These techniques are designed to help you heal directly through the body‑mind connection – the way experiences (especially overwhelming or stressful ones) get stored in our nervous systems.
When we experience intense emotions, chronic stress, or trauma, our bodies become just as flooded and overwhelmed as our brains. We can tell ourselves the threat has passed, but our bodies may be unable to "forget" and let go. Instead, they adapt.
Muscles tighten, breathing changes, the nervous system stays on alert, and automatic survival responses become the default. Even years later, our bodies may continue signaling danger long after any threat has passed.
Somatic therapy is designed to help you:
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Become consciously aware of your physical sensations
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Learn how your body holds stress and protection patterns
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Release tension that words alone can't access
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Calm your nervous system and return to a state of safety
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Integrate emotional experience into your felt sense of self
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Build emotional regulation and resilience
In somatic therapy, your body isn’t just some container of your symptoms or the vehicle in which you live … your body becomes your partner in healing. What you feel physically becomes a source of information, understanding, healing, growth, and transformation.
How Somatic Therapy Can Help
Somatic therapy approaches have been shown to be effective in helping clients work through a wide variety of issues, including:
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Anxiety and Panic: Anxiety often shows up as physical sensations (headaches, trembling, tightness, stomach discomfort, and breathing changes). Somatic work can help you discern safety from threat, calm your nervous system in real time, and reduce all of these issues.
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Chronic Stress and Burnout: Stress isn’t just a mental state – it shows up in muscle tension, sleep disruption, irritability, and exhaustion. Somatic therapy can help you recognize and release long‑held patterns of stress.
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Depression and Low Energy: Somatic therapy can help you understand how low energy and depression become embedded in our posture, breath, and movement, and experience greater energy and vitality by working directly with these physical manifestations.
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Trauma and PTSD: Trauma isn’t just a story you tell yourself – it’s something your nervous system experiences and lives every day. Somatic therapy can help you unwind the freeze/fight/flight cycles and learn to feel safe again.
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Emotional Numbness or Disconnection: Somatic therapy can help you reconnect with your body – gently and safely – so you can access your emotional experiences and rebuild a sense of connection with others and with yourself.
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Self‑Regulation and Emotional Resilience: Rather than suppressing or avoiding emotional triggers, somatic therapy can help you train your nervous system to notice, regulate, and respond with flexibility and choice – so you can reclaim a sense of control and become the author of your own life.
What to Expect in Somatic Therapy Sessions
Somatic therapy isn't about "forcing" your body to do anything you're not ready to do. It's about noticing and working with what's already present, with curiosity and safety.
In sessions, you may:
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Tune into physical sensations
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Explore breath, movement, posture, and tension patterns
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Notice how emotions show up in the body
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Practice regulation that calms your nervous system
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Integrate bodily awareness with emotional insight
This approach is not about performing exercises you "should" do – it's about learning from your body, understanding how and where emotions live, and discovering regulation skills that bring a greater sense of safety and ease.
Every person's somatic experience is different. We tailor our work to where you are right now – whether that means beginning with gentle awareness, nervous system regulation, or releasing deeper trauma‑related tension.
When to Reach Out for Help
While there's no right or wrong time to get started, and somatic therapy can help relieve a wide variety of issues, it may be especially beneficial if you're experiencing:
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Frequent feelings of overwhelm or inability to calm nervous arousal
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Chronic stress patterns that "live in your body"
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Difficulty sleeping, breathing, or relaxing
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Emotional disconnection or numbness
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Flashbacks, body memories, or startle responses
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Feeling stuck, heavy, or unable to move forward emotionally
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Persistent physical tension, tightness, or discomfort not resolved by medical care
It's also important to note that somatic therapy isn't a "standalone" set of techniques. In fact, it's best used as a powerful complement to more traditional talk therapy – helping your body and mind learn to co‑regulate and heal holistically.
Does Big Life Change Therapy Have the Best Somatic Therapist for You?
The most important ingredient in effective therapy isn't any one technique, but the healing relationship you co-create with your therapist.
After all, if you don't trust your therapist, you'll find it next to impossible to do the deep work necessary to heal and grow. And that's especially true when it comes to doing body-oriented, somatic work.
This is why no one clinician can possibly be the best somatic therapist for every client.
Fortunately, Big Life Change Therapy is much more than just one therapist!
At Big Life Change Therapy, we offer:
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A highly-trained team of clinicians that specialize in somatic and body‑centered therapy techniques, including polyvagal, somatic experiencing- informed, mindfulness, dramatic- and art-based therapy, and attachment- and trauma-informed approaches
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Compassionate, nonjudgmental care that meets you where you are
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Flexible scheduling with virtual and in‑person appointments
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A variety of payment options, including some sliding scale and insurance options to make sure everyone can access the care they need
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A calm, supportive space where you can be you, and your body’s wisdom is honored
Of course, the only way to really find out whether we have the best somatic therapist for you is to contact us today, ask any questions you have, and schedule an initial consultation.
Somatic therapy isn't about "fixing" you – it's about listening to what your body has been trying to tell you all along, and helping you build a nervous system that feels safe, regulated, and connected with who you are and who you most want to become.
If you still feel stuck no matter what you try and you're ready to try something a little different – to move beyond thoughts and words and connect with the inherent healing capabilities your body already possesses – somatic therapy can help.
Contact us today, schedule your free 15-minute consultation, and discover how somatic therapy can help you reconnect with your body, discover yourself, and experience the healing that words alone can't provide.