Somatic Therapy (Body Centered)

In addition to working with thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, we are learning more and more that the body and nervous system, particularly when we are talking about trauma and overwhelming or chronic stress, plays a central role in our well being. This is why I integrate Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing into all of my work.

A large part of my focus as a therapist is encouraging and helping my clients to become more aware of the thoughts passing through their minds as well as the sensations in their body. The body holds many of our memories and is constantly communicating with us on how it feels towards a particular situation. But the body's manner of communicating is often much quieter than our minds and may take some time in order to learn how to hear what the body is trying to tell us.

Most of the trauma-resolution modalities I work in are body based, and supporting my clients to return to their bodies as a safe place and secure base are integral in my work. I love supporting my clients to increase their capacity to track their bodily awareness and integrate this information into their more global self-awareness.

As a dedicated Vipassana meditator, I try to meditate two hours a day and have participated in more than 100 days of silent retreat. From this personal experience I know firsthand how powerful and healing somatic approaches can be. It can be far from easy to access this type of healing, however, as our bodies also carry our accumulated pain and trauma. A somatic approach can often initially lead to more discomfort, but "moving through" can lead to incredible healing.

Prior to my career as a counselor, I practiced as a Licensed Massage Therapist in the state of Florida for 7 years. With that background

Somatic therapy is the healing part of therapy. It uses the body's natural drive to process through traumatic and painful experiences.

Living in the body-obsessed culture that we do, our bodies are not truly our own and most people tend to live from the neck up. We move through this world using our minds, rather than our bodies, and often do not tap into the natural wisdom our bodies have to offer. I encourage clients to return to their bodies and begin listening to their bodies again.

Somatic Psychotherapy is a body-centered therapy that explores the connection between the mind and the body. This approach uses both traditional talk therapy with somatic techniques. We will use body-mind exercises that will help you release anxiety, depressed emotions and trauma that are negatively impacting your physical and emotional health. To free the body from the mind we need to build internal awareness. Somatic therapy strengthens your internal awareness to unlock patterns that bou

Peter A. Levine developed a neurobiological approach to restoring resilience and embodied presence called “Somatic Experiencing,” a pioneering integrative body-mind approach. (Levine & Frederick, 1997). Somatic work has a healing effect because of the way our body-minds or the energy and biology of our body-mind-spirit-emotions function. Focusing in the body allows process and recall of stimuli and experiences that powerfully influenced and altered our brain and somatic activation patterns.

"I want to be a more fully integrated person. All these different parts of me get me from one place to another, including my feelings, thinking, and body. These parts feel so separate – like they’re strangers – and I think it’s time to be introduced". Somatic Focusing is the practice of focusing and listening to your body and discover new personal insights. It's like having a conversation with your body and being able to integrate what it's telling you".

Prior to my career as a counselor, I practiced as a Licensed Massage Therapist in the state of Florida for 7 years. Since beginning my career in counseling I have received training and supervision in a range of somatic-based therapies and have consistently brought awareness of the body into my work with clients.

The body is a source of information that, when we learn to listen, can often suggest a clearer path. Body psychotherapy enrolls the body directly in therapy, whether it’s through authentic movement or Somatic Experiencing, or more subtly through opening to the intuition of the nervous system, mind-body work, of becoming aware of the unique signals your body developed to communicate with you. Working with the body is the most direct means of healing trauma because it's where trauma is processed.

“This is your body, your greatest gift, pregnant with wisdom you do not hear, grief you thought was forgotten, and joy you have never known.” -Marion Woodman. Neuroscientific research shows there is no separation between body and mind. We feel symptoms of anxiety, depression, or trauma in the body: racing heart, churning stomach, fatigue, aches and pains. I use gentle, safe, somatic methods to help clients process experiences and learn simple, effective somatic skills to reduce symptoms.

I lead clients through somatic experiencing to process the emotions that are effecting their nervous system.

We have multiple providers who work with Somatic Therapy techniques for body based healing and self-acceptance.

I have been a massage therapist for 30 years and found my way to Pyschotherapy as a result of the many emotional experiences that the body released during with newborns and their parents with CranioSacral therapy. I found that the implicit memories that keep people stuck can be accessed with or without the story being shared to be released and healed in the body and the mind.

My favorite way of working includes the body. When the body mind connection are recognized, you access your wisest self. You also experience an improvement in mood, a decrease in anxiety, and experience more fulfilling connections with yourself and with others.