Somatic Therapy (Body Centered)

Somatic Psychotherapy is a process that honors and incorporates the intelligence of both our bodies and minds. By examining the ways in which thoughts and feelings are related to physical sensations, we develop a more nuanced understanding of ourselves in relation to the world around us. If you're open to it, I'll guide you through simple movement exercises to help increase body awareness, and we'll talk together about how what you feel in your body relates to what is going on in your life.

Somatic therapy is the physical underlying prompting of all emotion and action. It is physically felt through the vagus nerve (12th cranial nerve in the brain) throughout our whole body. When you develop awareness of your sensations you can learn how to “feel” feelings in a completely new way. It is like having another sense. Once you have this sense, you can develop techniques that make moving through emotions, trauma, eating disorders and other “intense” states a breeze. It is fun and easy!

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is what is called a bottom-up type of therapy as it involves learning to pay attention to (or track) your sensations and emotions (what is happening in the body) which will result in changes to feelings and cognitions. When we experience threatening situations and cannot fight or flight the survival energy gets stored in the body but thankfully can be released later. In learning how to pay attention and release it one becomes more connected to themselves and others.

During a somatic experiencing session, we will slowly revisit the trauma while taking the time to notice what arises in the moment. I will support you to notice sensations, images, behaviors, affect or emotions, and thoughts or meaning that naturally arise during sessions. Through each response from your body, we will find areas that hold unprocessed energy and to release as needed, slowly and gently. Through the release of this energy, your body’s nervous system will return to its normal flow.

There are various ways that we will incorporate the body into the therapy work. I guide clients in noticing their posture, the way that they're breathing (or not breathing), and how they might be tensing as we talk about difficult topics. I have practiced mindfulness meditation for many years and sometimes invite clients to use their five senses to orient to the space around us, in order to feel more grounded, as well as noticing how their breath helps them to connect with their emotions.

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

Most recent research in neuroscience shows that in order to heal, we have to start with a bottom-up approach which means healing the nervous system before we focus on cognitive restructuring.

My entire graduate studies were focused on Somatic Psychology at the California Institute for Integral Studies. This orientation provides an added dimension by taking the therapy out of the arena of second-hand reports (from your verbal mind) and into first-hand, felt experience. Our bodies often reveal first what our verbal, self conscious mind attempts to disguise and hide. I utilize Somatic interventions to potentially open you up to information that can be overlooked in most analytic psychotherapy. Traditional therapy practices pay attention almost exclusively to thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. In Somatics, the added awareness of sensations and felt experiences within the body are used to deepen the work. This can provide a channel of cooperation between the unconscious and conscious. In turn, Somatics helps to facilitate communication among parts of yourself that may be lost, hidden, or isolated.

Somatic Psychology (body mind psychotherapy, body-oriented psychotherapy, etc.) is a holistic form of therapy that respects and utilizes the powerful connection between body, mind, and spirit. How we are in this world, how we relate to ourselves and others, is not just purely about the mind or our thoughts, but it is also deeply rooted in our bodies and our spirits. Unlike traditional talk therapy or cognitive therapy, Somatic Psychology tends to be more experiential.

I began training in Somatic Experiencing in 2010, officially became a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in 2014, and was an assistant trainer for years. It and the basis in understanding the nervous system from Polyvagal Theory is deeply integrated into how I approach treatment and in addition to providing individual therapy from this lens, I have been built a group therapy program called Resiliency and Regulation where individuals can learn the principles and practices.

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.

Jessica Taylor is a Somatic Experiencing Informed Practitioner and certified yoga teacher. She sees the body, mind, and spirit as interweaving systems that communicate and inform one another, and believes it is beneficial to work holistically to support her clients. Jessica also believes it can be therapeutic for some people to explore body-based support in combination with talk therapy, and integrates somatic experiencing principles and practices into her work with clients.

Our bodies hold trauma. Through somatic experiencing, we can learn to release the trauma.

Somatic Experiencing techniques are some of my favorite to use in session. Our bodies keep the score of every event we have endured, and connecting the emotional to the physical can be a powerful, moving experience. Expanding this connection can transform the way you show up in relationships and the way you view the world. Every nervous system is capable of finding and keeping regulation- let's discover the pathway that works for you :)

I found my way to Pyschotherapy as a result of many clients emotional experiences as a massage/ CranioSacral therapist. So many clients were having emotional releases and needed help to process them, so I became a therapist. What does somatic therapy mean and look like? Implicit memories (the ones without a movie in our head) that ares stored in the body keep people stuck. These memories can be released and accessed with or without the story being shared to heal the body and the mind.

Body Psychotherapy is holistic; it takes the entire human being and his/her/their life experiences into account. It offers mindful consideration to the crucial role of the body in the structure and process of the psyche. During a session, I pay close attention to sensation and body states, which allow unconscious material to manifest and possibly be worked with using breath, spatial awareness, consented therapeutic touch, movement, sensation, and imagery.

Through my Focusing & Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy methods, we can use the "felt sense" to get in touch w/ what our body is telling us - how it has a sense of "knowing" where we are stuck, or where we might like to go, that often doesn't even need words. Talk therapy can do a lot, but in many cases, we can feel like we hit a wall. Somatic approaches including cultivating the felt sense, engaging the right brain & limbic system, & working with body-based approaches can be transformative.

Maybe you’ve tried talk therapy and are wanting a different approach. Mindfulness-based experiential therapy places a high value on present-moment experience. With mindful compassionate curiosity, we explore what is true for you related to your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, body sensations, impulses, behaviors, needs, and memories. At times, we may explore what it is like to say or do something, or mindfully notice the impact of something. Mindfulness is a powerful agent for transformation.

I guide women in fostering a deeper connection with their bodies. This approach empowers you to explore your mind-body connection, addressing both emotional and physical aspects. Through body awareness, we navigate and release stored tension, promoting healing and self-acceptance. I'm all about elevating well-being and redefining your relationship with your body. My style is gentle, guided, and supportive.