What Is Somatic Psychotherapy?
Somatic psychotherapy is an approach to mental health treatment that considers the relationship between the body, mind, emotions, and lived experience. The word somatic comes from the Greek word soma, meaning body. In psychotherapy, it refers to an understanding of the person as an integrated whole, rather than treating thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and behavior as entirely separate experiences.
While many forms of psychotherapy primarily engage through conversation, reflection, and cognitive exploration, somatic psychotherapy also brings attention to what a person is experiencing physically and emotionally in the present moment. This may include noticing changes in breathing, muscle tension, posture, movement, sensations, impulses, or shifts in emotional experience.
These experiences are not separate from the stories people tell about their lives. They can offer additional information about how someone is experiencing a situation, what feels familiar or unfamiliar, and how they have learned to respond to the people and environments around them.
For example, someone may understand intellectually that they are safe in a relationship, while still noticing that their body becomes tense during conflict, that they have difficulty expressing a need, or that they instinctively withdraw when a conversation becomes emotionally vulnerable. Another person may have difficulty identifying what they feel or want, particularly when navigating intimacy, boundaries, or physical touch.
In these moments, somatic psychotherapy offers an opportunity to become curious about the experience itself. Rather than immediately trying to change a response or explain it away, the therapeutic process may involve slowing down, noticing what is happening, exploring what the experience means to the individual, and developing a greater understanding of the patterns that influence their responses.
The body becomes another avenue for understanding our experiences, not a replacement for our thoughts, memories, or stories.
Somatic psychotherapy is more than paying attention to physical sensations
It is important to distinguish somatic psychotherapy from simply practicing mindfulness, relaxation, or body awareness exercises. Although these practices may be incorporated into treatment, somatic psychotherapy involves a broader clinical framework.
The work takes place within an intentional therapeutic relationship and considers a person's history, current circumstances, emotional experiences, relationships, and individual ways of responding. The therapist is not simply asking someone to notice what is happening in their body. They are helping the person explore the relationship between bodily experience, emotional meaning, learned patterns, and behavior.
This may involve attending to a physical sensation, exploring an emotional response, noticing an impulse to move closer or pull away, or becoming aware of a familiar pattern that emerges in a relationship. The process is collaborative and responsive to the individual. There is no expectation that someone should be able to identify, tolerate, or remain connected to every internal experience.
For some individuals, turning attention inward may initially feel unfamiliar, uncomfortable, or overwhelming. Others may experience limited awareness of physical sensations or have learned to disconnect from their bodies as a way of navigating difficult experiences. These differences matter. Somatic work should be approached with consideration for a person's history, capacity, preferences, and sense of agency.
The relationship between the body and psychological experience
Research in neuroscience and psychology increasingly recognizes the importance of understanding how bodily processes contribute to emotional experience, perception, cognition, and behavior.
One area of research that helps us understand this relationship is interoception. Interoception refers to the processes through which the nervous system senses, interprets, and integrates information about the internal state of the body. This includes information such as heartbeat, breathing, temperature, hunger, discomfort, and other internal physiological signals.
These signals contribute to how we experience and interpret ourselves and our surroundings. They are involved in emotional experience, physiological regulation, and the ways we respond to our environment.
In psychotherapy, developing awareness of internal experiences can help people recognize patterns that may otherwise be difficult to identify. For example, someone might begin to notice that a particular conversation brings tension to their chest, that uncertainty creates an urge to seek reassurance, or that emotional closeness is accompanied by an impulse to withdraw.
The sensation itself does not tell us exactly what a person is feeling or why. Rather, it provides an opportunity for exploration. Together, the therapist and client can begin to understand how bodily sensations, emotions, thoughts, memories, and relational experiences may be connected.
This is an important distinction: somatic psychotherapy does not assume that the body holds a complete or unquestionable record of someone's history. Bodily sensations are meaningful experiences, but they require context, curiosity, and thoughtful interpretation.
An integrative approach to psychotherapy
Somatic psychotherapy is not one single technique or standardized treatment protocol. It encompasses a range of body-oriented psychotherapeutic approaches, with differences in their theoretical foundations, training, and clinical methods.
In contemporary practice, somatic approaches may be integrated with other established psychotherapeutic frameworks, including attachment-informed therapy, trauma-focused treatment, mindfulness-based approaches, and Internal Family Systems (IFS).
At Rooted Healing Sanctuary, we are interested in the ways these approaches can complement one another. Our work considers not only what a person thinks and feels, but also how they experience themselves physically, how they have learned to protect themselves, and how their experiences influence their relationships.
We believe that understanding ourselves involves more than identifying where a pattern began. It also involves developing a relationship with the experiences that are present now, recognizing the ways we have adapted, and exploring what might become possible when we have greater choice in how we respond.
Somatic psychotherapy creates space for this kind of exploration. It invites us to become more curious about the relationship between our internal experiences and the lives we are living.
Works Cited
Khalsa, Sahib S., et al. “Interoception and Mental Health: A Roadmap.” Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, vol. 3, no. 6, 2018, pp. 501–513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.12.004.
Khalsa, Sahib S., et al. “The Emerging Science of Interoception: Sensing, Integrating, Interpreting, and Regulating Signals within the Self.” Trends in Neurosciences, vol. 44, no. 3, 2021, pp. 182–196.
Rosendahl, Sara, et al. “Effectiveness of Body Psychotherapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 12, 2021, article 709798. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.709798.
United States Association for Body Psychotherapy. “Learn About Body Psychotherapy and Somatic Psychology.” United States Association for Body Psychotherapy, https://usabp.org/.
