Talk Therapy” Sometimes Isn’t Enough
Have you ever talked about a traumatic event for years but still feel the physical symptoms—tight chest, racing heart, or chronic fatigue?
That is because trauma doesn’t just live in the brain; it lives in the body.
Somatic Therapy (from the Greek word soma, meaning “body”) is a “bottom-up” approach. Instead of trying to think your way out of anxiety, we use the body to send safety signals up to the brain.
Core Concepts You Can Try at Home
1. Pendulation (Moving Between Pain and Safety)
- The Concept: When we feel pain or anxiety, we fixate on it. Pendulation teaches us to swing our attention to a safe place, then dip back into the pain, then back to safety.
- Try it:
- Focus on where you feel anxiety (e.g., tight chest).
- Now, find a place in your body that feels “neutral” or “okay” (e.g., your left big toe or your earlobe).
- Shift your focus to that safe spot for 10 seconds.
- Shift back to the chest for 2 seconds.
- Return to the safe spot.
2. Titration (Slowing Down)
- The Concept: Trauma is “too much, too fast, too soon.” Healing happens when we slow things down to a speed our nervous system can handle.
- Try it: When you feel an emotion rising (anger, sadness), try to watch it in “slow motion.” Don’t fix it. Just notice the physical sensation (heat, pulsing) one tiny bit at a time.
3. Grounding (The 5-4-3-2-1 Technique)
- The Concept: Anxiety pulls you into the future. Grounding pulls you back to the physical reality of now.
- Try it:
- 5 things you can see.
- 4 things you can touch (texture of your jeans, the cool table).
- 3 things you can hear.
- 2 things you can smell.
- 1 thing you can taste.
Somatic Exercises 