Somatic Therapy
Body-based approach to Therapy and Stress Management
Somatic Therapy
Stressful situations are part of modern day living and our nervous system has built-in ways to manage them. However, sometimes either a one-off stressful or traumatic event or an accumulation of various stressors over time can cause our system to become overwhelmed and we struggle to cope.
Physical / Somatic Symptoms of Stress
Stress and trauma have been linked to various physical symptoms including:
- Low back pain
- Feelings of tightness or difficulty when breathing
- Agitation and a feeling of needing to move
- Tight muscles that haven’t responded to previous interventions
- Panic attacks
- Anxiety
- Feeling of sickness or nausea
- Depression
- Chronic fatigue
- PTSD
- Digestive disturbances
- IBS
- Fibromyalgia
- Chronic pain
- Frozen shoulder
- Heart palpitations
- Headaches / migraines
In finding ways to cope, we often disconnect or stop listening to our bodies and our heads take over. We ignore the subtle signs that the body sends that something is wrong. Somatic Therapy recognises that involving the body is the key to healing.
Somatic Experiencing is one type of Somatic Therapy and was developed by Dr Peter Levine. It is specifically designed to track, relieve and resolve the physical symptoms of stress and trauma and to restore the whole system back to balance and health.
What Clients Say
Jane is a truly great therapist and pleasure to work with. I’ve had a number of breakthroughs and increased my general capacity with her help. She’s very skilled in treating muscular injuries with manual work, as well as being brilliant in her somatic work. I couldn’t recommend a therapist more highly!
Not only have I listened intently to Jane’s wonderful talks regarding the importance of the Vagus Nerve, I have also been a patient of hers. She was able to help me find ways of easing the trauma and related issues I had suffered as a result of a car accident. A wonderful therapist, not only in what she was able to offer me by means of treatment, but also in the way she actually listened and understood the root cause of my pain. Thank you.
Jane took a different approach to my previous physiotherapists looking at emotional and mental factors as well as physical… After a number of sessions and discussions about my mental health issues and how these can affect us physically, I had seen the largest improvement with my back in over 5 years… This experience not only helped me physically, but also mentally. After unravelling the trauma, my mental health and strength is 10x better than it has ever been.