What Is Somatic Therapy? Reconnecting to Your Body to Heal Emotionally
Somatic therapy is a body-based approach to emotional healing that recognises the wisdom of the nervous system. While traditional talk therapy focuses on thoughts and insights, somatic therapy invites you to feel into your body, where trauma, stress, and emotional experiences often live. It helps shift healing from intellectual understanding to embodied integration.
At our North Sydney therapy practice, we integrate somatic therapy into both individual and couples sessions to support deeper self-awareness, emotional regulation, and connection. Many clients come to us saying, "I understand why I feel this way, but I still can’t shift it." Somatic therapy helps bridge that gap.
Why the Body Matters in Therapy
Many of our emotional patterns are rooted in physiological responses. Chronic anxiety, emotional shutdown, hypervigilance, and even people-pleasing can reflect a nervous system that’s been stuck in survival mode for years. Somatic therapy helps you:
Recognise when you're in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn
Track physical tension, holding patterns, and energetic blocks
Access safety from within using grounding tools and breath
Rewire old emotional reactions by integrating body and mind
What to Expect in a Session
Somatic therapy is gentle, non-invasive, and highly attuned to your pace. Sessions may include:
Breathwork and grounding exercises
Mindful awareness of physical sensations
Exploring triggers through movement or visualisation
Emotional processing through body dialogue
The goal is not to push through, but to create safety and regulation so your system can finally release what it's been holding.
Somatic Therapy in Couples Work
Couples often get stuck in patterns of shutdown, reactivity, or disconnection that aren't just emotional—they're somatic. One partner might feel overwhelmed and retreat, while the other feels abandoned and panics. These patterns are not failures—they’re nervous system responses.
Somatic therapy in couples sessions helps both partners:
Recognise when they are dysregulated in conflict
Pause and regulate together in the moment
Become more attuned to their own bodies and to each other’s signals
Rebuild a sense of safety and presence in the relationship
Sometimes the most powerful repair isn’t in what you say, but in how you breathe together, stay present, and co-regulate through difficult moments.
North Sydney Somatic Therapy
If you feel like you’ve done the talking but still feel stuck, somatic therapy may be the missing piece. Whether you come on your own or with your partner, we offer a trauma-informed space to help you come home to your body—and to each other.
Book a session Somatic therapy is available in-person and online for individuals and couples.
