Releasing Stress with Somatic Therapy
When you're stressed, your body feels it—even when your mind is trying to keep it all together. Maybe it shows up as tension in your shoulders, discomfort in your stomach, headaches, or feeling like you're constantly on edge. That’s because stress doesn’t just live in your mind. It lives in your body too.
Somatic therapy is a body-centered approach that helps you tune into these physical signals and gently work through them. It goes beyond traditional talk therapy by including the body in the healing process—because the body holds onto stress and overwhelm even when we can’t put it into words.
Let’s explore how somatic therapy helps release stress, what it looks like in practice, and why reconnecting with your body can be such a powerful step in your healing journey.
How Does Somatic Therapy Help Release Stress?
We often think of therapy as a place to process our thoughts and emotions. And while that’s true, your body plays an essential role too. Stress can be stored physically—in our muscles, posture, breath, and nervous system responses. Sometimes we don’t even realize we’re carrying it until we start to slow down and check in.
Somatic therapy helps you understand how your body reacts to stress, and how to support those reactions in a way that promotes calm and regulation. That might include movement, breathwork, grounding exercises, or simply learning to notice sensations without judgment.
It’s not about forcing yourself to "let go" of stress. It’s about learning to create enough safety in your system so that your body can begin to soften and release what it no longer needs to hold.
Somatic Tools for Stress Relief
Here are a few core practices used in somatic therapy to support stress relief:
• Breathing Exercises:
Gentle, intentional breathing can help regulate your nervous system, bring you into the present moment, and slow down racing thoughts.
• Grounding Techniques:
These exercises use your five senses or contact with your physical environment (like feeling your feet on the floor) to bring you back into your body when stress pulls you away.
• Movement:
Movement can be anything from stretching to walking to shaking out tension. It helps discharge built-up energy in the body, especially after prolonged periods of stress or anxiety.
• Mindful Awareness:
This means becoming more curious about your body’s sensations, impulses, and needs without trying to change or judge them. Over time, this builds trust between you and your body.
Somatic Experiencing: A Gentle Approach to Processing Stress
One specific somatic therapy approach is called Somatic Experiencing (SE). It focuses on helping your nervous system find balance by slowly working with the physical effects of stress and trauma.
Here are a few key elements of SE:
Resourcing
This involves identifying things that bring you a sense of calm, strength, or safety—like a favorite memory, a calming image, or a supportive relationship. These "resources" act as anchors when you start to feel overwhelmed.
Titration
Rather than diving headfirst into difficult emotions, SE breaks them down into small, manageable pieces. You explore a little bit at a time, allowing your body to stay grounded and avoid re-traumatization or overwhelm.
Pendulation
This is the gentle rhythm of moving between sensations of discomfort and sensations of safety. Over time, this back-and-forth movement helps your body release stress without becoming flooded by it.
Stress Isn’t Just in Your Head
If you’ve tried to manage stress by thinking your way through it but still feel stuck, somatic therapy offers another way in. By including the body in the healing process, you create space for real, lasting change.
You don’t have to carry the weight of chronic stress alone. With the right support, you can learn to listen to your body, respond to its needs, and begin to feel more grounded, calm, and connected again.
If you’re curious about how somatic therapy might support you, I’d be honored to walk alongside you. Reach out today to schedule a free 15-minute consultation.