Somatic Experiencing®
Release, recover, and become more resilient
What if you’ve tried talk therapy, but still feel stuck?
If you've tried talk therapy but still find yourself caught in cycles of anxiety, overwhelm, or emotional shutdown, you're not alone. For many, trauma isn't just a memory stored in the mind. It's something held in the body.
You might not always have words for it, but you feel it:
- A constant sense of unease, like your body is bracing for something
- Difficulty relaxing, even when things seem "fine"
- A tendency to disconnect, go numb, or overreact to small stressors
- The sense that no amount of insight is enough to shift what's really happening inside
These aren't character flaws. They're signs of a dysregulated nervous system, often the result of unresolved trauma. And they can be healed.
Somatic Experiencing®: A Different Kind of Therapy
As a Registered Psychotherapist trained in Somatic Experiencing® (SE), I offer an approach that doesn't just ask what happened to you, but how your body adapted to survive it.
Somatic Experiencing® is a body-based therapy developed by Dr. Peter Levine, grounded in decades of research on the autonomic nervous system. It helps you gradually release stored survival energy, fight, flight, freeze or fawn, that keeps you stuck in patterns of stress or reactivity.
Rather than rehashing painful stories or analyzing every thought, we work gently and collaboratively to bring awareness to your sensations, movements, and impulses. This allows your system to complete interrupted survival responses and restore natural regulation.
Why somatic therapy can help when other approaches haven't. Many of my clients are thoughtful, self-aware individuals. They've read the books, listened to the podcasts, maybe even been in therapy before. But despite all that insight, they still feel hijacked by their anxiety, irritability, or sense of shutdown.
That's because trauma lives in the nervous system, not just the mind. Until the body feels safe enough to let go, symptoms often persist.
Somatic Experiencing® helps bridge that gap. It's not about fixing you. It's about helping your body remember how to regulate, rest, and feel safe again.
You Might Notice:
- Fewer panic attacks or shutdowns
- A greater ability to respond, not react
- Deeper sleep and calmer digestion
- A return to pleasure, presence, and emotional ease
A grounded, trauma-sensitive space
I work with adults navigating somatic therapy for trauma, somatic therapy for anxiety, chronic stress, grief, and the sense of being disconnected from yourself or your life. Whether you're someone who's always felt on edge, someone recovering from specific traumatic experiences, or simply someone who wants to feel more present and whole, this work can meet you where you are.
I work with adults of all genders, with a particular attunement to spiritual and religious seekers who want to grow spiritually. If you've ever found it hard to name your emotions or felt stuck in your head during therapy, Somatic Experiencing® offers a new way in, one that doesn't require perfect words, only a willingness to notice what your body is already telling you.
You don't have to come in with a clear trauma history. Many people I work with simply know that something feels off, and that talking about it hasn't been enough.
What to Expect: What Working With Me Looks Like
First sessions often begin with something simple: learning to orient to your body and build awareness of what's happening in your nervous system in the moment. Some people can name sensations right away. Others spend most of the first session saying "I don't feel anything" or "I don't know what you mean." Both are completely normal, and both are part of the process.
Over time, the work tends to move through recognizable stages:
- Building a relationship with your nervous system and finding internal resources that feel steady
- Learning to stay regulated even when activation or intensity arises
- Accessing states of genuine calm and ease, what's sometimes called the ventral state
- Noticing those skills showing up in daily life: more awareness, less reactivity, a greater ability to respond rather than just react
This isn't a linear process, and it looks different for everyone. But the direction is always the same: more capacity, more presence, more you.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. One of the key distinctions of Somatic Experiencing® therapy is that you don't need to retell your story or revisit traumatic memories in detail. The work focuses on what's happening in your nervous system now, which means we can move toward healing without requiring you to relive the past.
This is very common, especially for people who have experienced trauma or who have learned to cope by staying "in their heads." Not feeling body sensations isn't a barrier to this work. It's often the starting point. I'll meet you exactly where you are, and we'll build that awareness together, at whatever pace feels safe.
Anxiety is often a nervous system response rooted in patterns of hyperactivation or chronic threat-readiness. Somatic therapy for anxiety works by gradually helping the nervous system learn that it's safe to come down from that heightened state. Over time, the body's baseline level of arousal shifts, and anxiety becomes less overwhelming and less frequent.
It varies. Some people notice shifts in the first few sessions. For others, especially those with complex or long-standing trauma, meaningful change may take longer. What tends to be consistent is that the work builds on itself. Each session adds to your body's growing capacity for regulation and ease.
