Somatic
Therapy

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA & ONLINE

What is Somatic Therapy?

If you're struggling with somatic or mind-body symptoms, you are not alone. It is one of the top reasons people seek therapy.

Treatable symptoms include chronic pain, muscle tension, digestive issues, migraines, anxiety, depression, burnout, grief, trauma, avoidance, emotional reactivity, & addictive patterns. Each of these issues is encoded at the body level.

Somatic Therapy, or Somatic Experiencing, is a radical treatment approach developed by Dr. Peter Levine in California in the 70s. Somatic Therapy draws on neuroscience, psychology, and physiology based on the revolutionary idea that the body keeps the score, or in other words, the best way to resolve psychological distress, or trauma, is through body-awareness practices.

“No matter how much insight and understanding we develop, the rational brain is basically impotent to talk the emotional brain out of its own reality.”
- Bessel van der Kolk

Whereas talk therapy often feels like circling a deeper issue, somatic therapy gets right to the root of the problem, the underlying nervous system. While somatic work can be challenging at times, when you heal at the body-level, it tends to stay healed. You create safety in the body which forms a lasting foundation for your authentic identity, or who you are beyond your trauma.

This foundation supports unexpected benefits like better sleep, energy, relationships, and motivation. Before long, your brain and life have become fundamentally more coherent and satisfying.

Somatic Experiencing Polyvagal vagus nerve

How Somatic Therapy Really Works

Somatic work is famously hard to describe. You truly have to experience it to get it. But here goes!

Unprocessed material from shock or developmental traumas can become stuck in the mind and body causing a trauma vortex, or split-off system where part of the mind-body is now acting outside of your awareness.

Not getting what you needed as a child, like safety, love, and support, may be the biggest trauma of all and is sometimes described as “death by a thousand cuts.” Medical traumas and car accidents can also completely disrupt a life, even though physically the body may have “recovered.”

somatic experiencing therapy for trauma river of life model Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Trauma leads to dysregulation, or a pattern of the nervous system where stress is unable to clear the body. This unresolved stress, or survival energy, becomes bound up in tension and many other patterns. There may be a feeling of “offness” or “not being fully yourself” or intense rumination, or depression, or fixating on a particular symptom.

What is happening, is that there is something going on at a deeper unconscious and embodied level that is causing trouble, and the brain has separated itself from this process. Instead, the thinking brain latches on to all kinds of stories about what the issue is, and may be very active in trying to solve it. Unfortunately, this excessive thinking is itself an effect of the trauma and instead of helping to resolve things, it just makes them worse.

somatic therapy for trauma river of life trauma vortex healing

What a mess!

Thankfully, somatic work gets right to the core of the matter, the body. Through a gentle yet profound awareness process, clients are guided to gradually reconnect with their bodies and engage in a controlled integration of challenging material. This could be described as interactive mindfulness or reflective attunement. We are nudging the nervous system to reconnect and re-member the body.

somatic therapy embodiment

By processing and releasing implicit body memories and increasing body-awareness, somatic therapy heals the original trauma and restores equilibrium. This helps to widen the window of tolerance, which enables the client to stay with discomfort for longer and allows the stress wave to naturally clear in a process known as self-regulation.

Generally, Beyond sessions involve a 50/50 split between awareness work and regular talk therapy. This helps to bring in context and integrate what is surfaced from the body and bring it into narrativized and explicit memory. For example, following somatic work, important meanings and insights may emerge that need to be talked through in order to be fully digested and implemented.

window of tolerance somatic therapy santa monica

What Dysregulation and Regulation Look Like

Dysregulated Nervous System

somatic therapy embodiment dysregulation
somatic therapy embodiment regulation

Regulated Nervous System

  1. Titration: Trauma is processed emotional pain in manageable doses, a pace that is comfortable for the client and prevents retraumatization.

  2. Pendulation: Clients learn to move from activation and distress through to deactivation, discharge, and relaxation.

  3. Completion: Traumatic experiences that were once interrupted or unprocessed can be revisited and brought to a natural resolution, freeing the mind and body from their lingering effects.

Key Principles of Somatic Therapy:

Local Somatic Therapy in Los Angeles California

Body Signs of Activation

Somatic Experiencing Therapy Pendulation Activation Wave Polyvagal Theory

Effect of Somatic Therapy on Social Relating

Effect of Somatic Experiencing Therapy on Social Relating

Meet Peter Levine, Founder of Somatic Experiencing

Peter Levine demonstrating Somatic Experiencing with Ray, a veteran who experienced combat trauma.

FAQs

  • Somatic therapy works from the position that the body keeps the score. Like thinking, talking can circle endlessly without shifting underlying patterns. Somatic Therapy slows things down and surfaces information that the deeper nervous system is trying to communicate. This information comes in the form of pain and sensation, emotions, anxiety and energetic shifts, body language, facial expressions, tensions, bracing patterns, and micro changes in breathing, heart rate and other physiological markers. With a good somatic therapist, you feel deeply felt and attuned to and absent parts of the nervous system come online. It can feel like coming back to life or getting your bounce back or being high on life. Often the work is slow, meditative, and uncomfortable at first, but the changes are undeniable and soon your body looks forward to it.

    We usually provide a mix of both talk and somatic therapy and find that they complement and support each other. Often the talk therapy contextualizes and maps out your situation and allows you to feel deeply understood. Then at the right point, somatic work helps to shift and transform your nervous system to reach a new more vital, secure, and resilient equilibrium. This transformation in turn feeds back into talk therapy, where new insights and new meanings emerge.

    Book a free consult, and we can discuss your situation.

  • Yes! Here is a summary of the research on Somatic Experiencing.

    "An RCT conducted by Brom and colleagues (2017) indicated that after participating in 15 weekly sessions of SE®, participants reported a significant decrease in the severity of PTSD symptoms and depression."

    And here is a metastudy of the research on EMDR.

    "Twenty-four randomized controlled trials support the positive effects of EMDR therapy in the treatment of emotional trauma and other adverse life experiences relevant to clinical practice. Seven of 10 studies reported EMDR therapy to be more rapid and/or more effective than trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. Twelve randomized studies of the eye movement component noted rapid decreases in negative emotions and/or vividness of disturbing images, with an additional 8 reporting a variety of other memory effects. Numerous other evaluations document that EMDR therapy provides relief from a variety of somatic complaints."

    And here is a summary of the research on IFS.

    “As a clinical treatment, IFS has been rated effective for improving general functioning and well-being. In addition, it has been rated promising for each of: improving phobia, panic, and generalized anxiety disorders and symptoms; physical health conditions and symptoms; personal resilience/self-concept; and depression and depressive symptoms.”

    “The longitudinal randomized clinical study, which involved 70- some patients in an IFS treatment during 36 weeks with periodic follow-ups including 12 months post- intervention, was published in August 2013 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Rheumatology.”

  • Sometimes we just need a little nudge to get onto a better track and we're not that far off coping a lot better and flowing with life. In that case, 6 - 12 sessions may be enough to gain a new piece of insight, have a different experience, and apply this to living in a different way and shifting things onto a better track. Often in these cases, clients find therapy so helpful and enjoyable that they continue even after they've resolved what they came for.

    Other times, due to life adversity, we have become very set in our ways and our personality structure now blocks what we desire most (love, success, happiness, etc). In these cases we may need to work from 6 months to several years to make a fundamental shift in order to turn things around. In these cases, the work usually takes longer than we would like, but the change is more significant than we anticipate. The benefits from long term work reach into every area of life and compound over the years that follow.

    Book a free consult, and we can discuss your situation

  • We think the gold standard for somatic-focused work has to be in-person, given the greater amount of information available and the increased potential for somatic resonance and micro-attunements.

    That said, a surprising amount is conveyed through the screen. We have seen many telehealth somatic sessions get to a deeply transformational space. Virtual sessions are also more convenient and it's easier to maintain a weekly rhythm, which counts for a lot. We do like it when virtual clients are able to come in occasionally for an in-person session. The connection seems to carry over to on-screen work. We would say try whatever works best for your schedule and see how you find it.

    You're welcome to call and do a free consultation to discuss your situation.

  • Some part of you must disagree or you wouldn't be here reading about therapy! That part just needs more support. We become the champion of that part of you that wants things to be a lot better. We've seen many times how getting into the rhythm of therapy and putting an action-reflection loop into place is absolutely transformational. Perhaps the conditions have not been conducive until now. Perhaps the voices of doubt and judgment have just been a little too strong. Perhaps everything you've done up to this point can become the foundation and launchpad for finally breaking through. There's only one way to find out.

    Book a free consult, and we can discuss your situation. There is no ongoing commitment and we'll be honest about what we think could be possible for you.

  • We offer a range of fees based on clinician and modality. You can see our fee ranges here. Our fees are competitive against many private practices in California, particularly for somatic offerings. Many of our clinicians have a few sliding scale spots that can lower the fee somewhat in cases of financial need.

    If you need a substantially reduced fee, we can recommend low-fee training clinics such as Maple Counseling Center, Antioch University Counseling Center, Southern California Counseling Center, Valley Community Counseling Clinic, Airport Marina Counseling Center, or Counseling West. These can be great options to get started. The main issue tends to be therapist turnover, as therapists complete their training and move into private practice. There is also a high variance between therapists, so you may need to go through several before you find a good fit and then you may lose them after several months. There can also be long waitlists depending on the time of year.

    If you would like to discuss your situation and what you can afford at this time, please schedule a free consultation.

  • Yes, we accept insurance as an out-of-network provider for all PPO plans, including: Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Blue Card, HealthNet, United Healthcare, Cigna, Optum, Magellan, Value Plus and many others, depending on your coverage. We are not in-network or included within HMO plans for any providers.

    With PPO, you pay the full fee upfront and your insurance company reimburses you directly.

    Beyond can call your insurance on your behalf in order to find out what your coverage would be.

    If you schedule a free consult, we can discuss how this would work and any other questions you have about insurance.

  • We have a matching process where you first do a free consultation with an intake coordinator. The coordinator listens to your story, provides some information, and helps to select the best therapist for you. You then get another free consultation with the therapist you select.

    Match is based on personality, location, in person or virtual and the approach best suited to your issue. All of our therapists have a foundation in somatic and depth psychologies. Likely you will connect with one more than the others.

    We look forward to hearing from you. Book a free consultation now!

Hear What Clients Are Saying

Embark On Your Healing Journey

Contact us today to learn more about how Somatic Therapy can help you find true relief. We can answer your questions and support you as you take your first steps toward a more balanced and vibrant life.