You’ve probably noticed it. The tightness in your chest when something stressful happens. The way your stomach drops before a difficult conversation. The sense of bracing, holding, or shutting down when things get hard.
These aren’t just physical sensations. They’re your body’s signals, carrying information about your history, your nervous system, and what you need.
Somatic therapy takes those signals seriously. Rather than moving past them or treating them as separate from the “real” work, we bring them into the center of the conversation. Often, that’s where the deepest change happens.
Why the Body Matters in Therapy
Talk therapy works by helping you understand your experiences through language and insight. That matters. But insight alone doesn’t always translate into change, especially when what you’re carrying is held in the body rather than in conscious thought.
Trauma, chronic stress, and early relational wounds leave traces in the nervous system: in patterns of tension, in how you breathe, in whether you feel safe in your own skin. Somatic therapy works directly with these traces, helping the body find its way back to regulation and ease rather than trying to reason it there.
How I Work Somatically
In a somatic session, I might invite you to pause and notice what’s happening in your body as we talk: a shift in breath, a tightening somewhere, a sense of opening or constricting. We work with these signals gently, following what arises rather than pushing through it.
This isn’t bodywork or exercise. You’re always seated, always clothed, always in control of what you engage with. Somatic work is subtle, and powerful because of that subtlety.
I integrate somatic approaches with EMDR, mindfulness practices, and depth-oriented exploration. These modalities work together: somatic awareness gives EMDR a body-level anchor; mindfulness deepens the capacity to stay present with what arises; depth work connects body experience to the larger patterns of a life.
Who Somatic Therapy Helps
Somatic therapy tends to be especially valuable when:
- Talk therapy alone hasn’t produced the change you’re looking for
- You carry stress or anxiety physically: tension, shallow breathing, fatigue
- You’ve experienced trauma that feels stuck or hard to put into words
- You feel disconnected from your body or your emotions
- You find yourself reacting in ways that don’t match what you actually want
- You want a more embodied, integrated sense of yourself
What to Expect
Somatic work often starts slowly. In early sessions, we’re mostly building your capacity to notice: to pause and check in with your body rather than moving quickly past its signals. Over time, that capacity becomes a resource you carry with you: a way of regulating yourself that doesn’t depend on anything outside of you.
Sessions are 50 minutes. Somatic work integrates naturally with other approaches, so a session might move between conversation, EMDR processing, and body-based exploration depending on what’s present and what you need.
How These Approaches Work Together
Somatic Psychology
Build awareness of how experience is held in the body and support the nervous system toward greater ease
EMDR
Reprocess traumatic memories with the body as an active participant, not just the mind
Mindfulness Practices
Strengthen your capacity to stay present with bodily experience rather than bypassing it
Depth-Oriented Approaches
Connect body-level experience to the deeper patterns and meanings of your life
Questions About Somatic Therapy
What is somatic therapy?
Somatic therapy is a body-centered approach to psychotherapy that recognizes the body holds emotional experiences, particularly trauma and chronic stress. Rather than working only through conversation, somatic therapy invites you to notice physical sensations, patterns of tension or holding, and the body’s responses as part of the healing process. The goal is to help the nervous system find greater regulation and ease.
How is somatic therapy different from regular talk therapy?
Talk therapy primarily works through insight and language. Somatic therapy includes the body as an active participant. You might be invited to notice what happens in your body as you talk: a shift in breath, a tightening, a sense of opening. These signals often carry information that words alone can’t access. This is especially helpful for trauma, which is often stored in the body rather than as a coherent narrative that can simply be talked through.
Is somatic therapy right for me?
Somatic therapy tends to be especially helpful when talk therapy alone hasn’t produced the change you’re looking for, when you carry stress or anxiety in your body, when you’ve experienced trauma that feels stuck or hard to articulate, or when you feel disconnected from your body or emotions. A free consultation is the best way to explore whether this approach fits what you’re working through.
What does a somatic therapy session actually look like?
Sessions are conversational. You’re always seated and fully clothed. This is not bodywork. I might invite you to pause and check in with your body as we talk, noticing sensations, breath, or areas of tension or ease. We work with whatever arises gently, at your pace. Somatic work often integrates naturally with EMDR and mindfulness practices within the same session.
How to Get Started
Getting started is simple. Here’s how the process works.
Schedule a Free Call
Book a free 15-minute phone consultation. We’ll talk about what you’re experiencing and whether somatic therapy feels like the right fit. No obligation.
Build Awareness
Early sessions focus on helping you develop the capacity to notice and stay with bodily experience. This foundation supports everything that follows.
Deeper Integration
Over time, somatic awareness becomes a resource you carry into your life: a more grounded, regulated, embodied sense of yourself.
What Clients Say
Aaron changed my life. He always had a way of calming me down. A master at breaking things down, he is truly the best of the best.
Peter F. · Portland, OR
Within 90 seconds of meeting Aaron, I knew there was an impalpable connection. He has this incredible way of making me answer my own questions. He really custom tailors each session in a natural way.
Kylie R. · Portland, OR