Somatic Experiencing® + Touch Therapy
When you understand what happened, but your body still feels stuck.
You may understand your history and recognize your patterns, yet your body may continue responding as though danger is still present.
Somatic Experiencing® offers a way of working with what words and insight alone may not always reach.
What Is Somatic Experiencing®?
SE is a body-oriented approach to trauma and chronic stress that works with the nervous system's natural capacity for regulation and resilience.
These responses may show up as:
Feeling constantly on alert
Overthinking
Shutdown or disconnection
People-pleasing
Difficulty with boundaries
Feeling unsafe despite knowing you're safe
Emotional or sensory overwhelm
Rather than forcing these responses away, we become curious about what your nervous system is communicating
Somatic Experiencing® Touch Therapy
Sometimes the body needs another way to be heard.
SE Touch is an additional way of working with the nervous system through gentle, intentional, consent-based therapeutic touch.
It is different from massage or traditional bodywork. The intention is not to manipulate muscles or physically repair the body, but to support experiences of:
Support · Containment · Boundaries
Regulation · Coherence
Supporting Coherence in the Nervous System
Trauma can leave the nervous system feeling fragmented, braced, frozen, disconnected, or chronically activated.
Through gentle touch and careful tracking, we may notice changes in breath, muscle tone, temperature, movement, and other internal sensations.
We aren't forcing the body to change.
We are listening to what the nervous system is communicating and supporting its capacity to reorganize.
Touch, Consent & Choice
You are always in the driver's seat.
Touch is never required to participate in Somatic Experiencing therapy.
If we decide together that touch may be supportive, you can pause, change, or stop at any time.
With your permission, I may offer gentle support with my hands. At other times, you may place your own hands on your body while I guide you.
The goal is not to teach your body to tolerate touch.
The goal is to create opportunities for choice, boundaries, support, connection, and safety.
You are always in the driver's seat.
Who May Benefit From SE Touch?
Birth + Perinatal Trauma
Medical Trauma
Accidents + Vehicle Trauma
Shock + Freeze
Attachment + Relational Trauma
Boundary Difficulties
Appeasement / Fawn Patterns
Grief + Loss
Chronic Stress
Disconnection From the Body
Healing That Includes the Body
Sometimes you already understand your story. You understand what happened and why it affected you.
And still, your body responds.
Somatic Experiencing allows us to listen differently and explore what your nervous system may still be communicating.
Healing doesn't have to happen only through the mind.
Your body can be part of the conversation, too.
Somatic Therapy at Soma Heart and Mind
As a Certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP), I integrate Somatic Experiencing into trauma-informed psychotherapy and offer SE Touch Therapy when clinically appropriate and desired by the client.
