Somatic Therapy (Body Centered)

Every experience we have affects us on a bodily level. We feel emotions in a physical way, thoughts make us cringe or tense up, memories can make us feel like we are physically back in the past. Traditional talk therapy ignored the body and tried to change our patterns by only engaging our thinking mind. Somatic therapy is a powerful new tool we have for healing. When we engage the body, we engage and heal all parts of our experience. I use sensorimotor psychotherapy, yoga, and meditation.

I'm a provisional Somatic Experiencing Practitioner--which means I've completed three years of advanced training and am working to complete my required consultations. I've also received additional training in other body-based approaches with Kathy Kain and Stephen Terrell. I'll work with you to develop nervous system awareness and self regulation skills, supporting your capacity to identify, tolerate, and regulate activation and overwhelm.

For over 20 years I taught and practiced a body/mind centered neuromuscular re-education technique and as a result, I am intimately aware of the power that being aware of, and using your body sensations, has on the release of tension, grief, trauma, anxiety, fear, and more. I bring my unique experience to the therapy room to help you embody and integrate your sense of well-being between body and mind.

When your rational mind understands something clearly, but another part of you just won't get on board, the frustration is real. Maybe you know you need to leave a relationship but just can't. Or, you know you need to break a bad habit but feels almost like an addiction. Or, there is something from the past that you want to let go of, but no matter what you do you can't get over it. Somatic therapy is what we use to get your brain and body on the same page, so that war inside your mind stops.

Our bodies hold important information, when we're able to listen. I've done trainings with Peter Levine and Bessel van der Kolk , and integrate their valuable lessons into my therapeutic work. We will get "centered" at the beginning of every session, slowing down and noticing the important experiences that we have in our core, in that "place without words." By listening closely to our emotions, paired with our thoughts, we find greater clarity and the energy we need for change and growth.

Rita draws from her yoga teaching experiences to help clients become more attuned to their bodies.

I could have spent my whole life talking about trauma instead of moving it through. As a student who stumbled into the field, I was its biggest critic. I wanted evidence that the body mattered. In my most profound relationships now as client or healer, we don't talk a lot & the evidence is right there in the ability to process & release pain without analysis paralysis. I lead folx to learn from their own body how stress shapes the way they walk the world & they let it lead them toward freedom

If you're prone to over-thinking, somatic therapy can help you get off of the "hampster wheel", get clear, and move through what is keeping you stuck so you can feel better. By learning how to process your emotions and settle over-thinking, you can create a greater sense of peace.

I don't think that talk therapy alone is enough. In my work we will integrate the mind with the body. What does this mean? We will focus on sensations in your body, exploring your feelings and where they live within the body. We will look at how the body communicates with the brain. You will learn how to manage emotions, allowing them to exist in your body, while not letting them run every moment of your life, and how to attend to them with grace.

I am a BIG believer that trauma and emotions get stored in the body! I have a strong background in physiology, but what informs me the most is my prior career as a full-time Massage Therapist, my own extensive experience with body-focused forms of meditation and my enrollment in Peter Levine's 3+ year Somatic Experiencing® Professional Training Program. This particular sect of my work is such an incredIble passion of mine because it weaves together everything that I love and I see that it WORKS.

During a Somatic Experiencing session, we will slowly revisit the trauma while taking the time to notice what arises in the moment. I will support you to notice sensations, images, behaviors, affect or emotions, and thoughts or meaning that naturally arise during sessions. Through each response from your body, we will find areas that hold unprocessed energy and to release as needed, slowly and gently. Through the release of this energy, your body’s nervous system will return to its normal flow.

I believe that most mental health issues are the result of our limbic brains working to keep us safe. Limbic brains don't understand logic, but they do understand stories and metaphors. I believe that change, at the limbic level, must include connecting to our bodies in new ways and that the most direct pathway of communication to the limbic brain is through bodily sensations. I use my training in tantric healing and in Somatic Experiencing to help guide you to healing.

Most of the trauma-resolution modalities I work in are body based, and supporting my clients to return to their bodies as a safe place and secure base are integral in my work. I love supporting my clients to increase their capacity to track their bodily awareness and integrate this information into their more global self-awareness.

Peter Levine's "Somatic Experiencing" work is the core from which most of my interventions extend. I continue to assist these trainings around the country and have taken various master classes with Peter. (www.traumahealing.org) Additionally, I'm trained in Somatic Resilience & Regulation work which is a touch based model for developmental trauma developed by Kathy Kain & Steve Terrell and their book is called "Nurturing Resilience". My graduate training was in "Somatic Psychotherapy" from JFK

Essentially what Somatic Therapy does is offer us a gateway to connect with feelings in our nervous system. When we feel threatened, anxious, depressed, angry, etc., there is a somatic or embodied quality of that feeling. Anxiety may feel like a hot wave moving up through the next and head, or a tightness in the chest. When we are aware of how our nervous system is responding to our thoughts and feelings, we can engage in body based and behaviorally enacted therapy techniques to be regulated.

I have expertise in somatic therapy, an approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of the mind and body in the healing process. I understand that trauma, stress, and emotional difficulties can become stored in the body, leading to physical tension, discomfort, and imbalances. Through somatic therapy, I help clients develop awareness of bodily sensations, emotions, and patterns of tension. Together, we can regulate the nervous system, and promote overall well-being.

Emotions are a body-based process and I teach and guide clients through figuring out how to tap into the superpower of our bodies. I'm anti-diet and body positive and believe that strengthening the mind-body connection is available for all body sizes and abilities.

I use methods which will support your nervous system in accessing safety and releasing distress at the most foundational levels in the body. I integrate wisdom from somatic experiencing, polyvagal theory, sensorimotor, and attachment-focused approaches which will support you in healing, transforming, and releasing distress at the deepest levels of your being. This process will allow you to leverage the wisdom already present in your body to generate lasting change.

Somatic therapy is a type of mind-body therapy. It is body-centric utilizing physiology and the nervous system to regulate symptoms of anxiety, panic, fear, anger and dissociation. It can include deep relaxation exercises, mindfulness, body movement, imagery, somatic therapy (bottom-up) techniques such as Blinders-Off or Grounding In the 5 Senses.