About Integrative Somatic Therapy
Our emotions, at their core, are bodily sensations that inform the mind about our inner state. As infants, our first and primary understanding of the world came through sensations of comfort or discomfort, safety or fear. From them, we formed our earliest impressions, not only of the world, but also of ourselves. As we grow, the shaping continues through upbringing, the culture we are immersed in, education and specific life experiences. All of this forms the foundation of who we are, the base on which our nervous system is built, where beliefs, behavioural patterns, thought processes, and emotional responses take root.
Who we are today is a complex mixture of all our experiences. And even when we were not yet self-aware, all of them happened - in the body. This is why, in somatic psychotherapy, the body is considered a significant reference point. It often serves as the place holding the key for deeper understanding and fundamental change.
Through the language of our body we get larger image of ourselves: who we are, why we react the way we do, what are the patterns that our body is holding onto, and finally what are our true needs and desires. This way, we create closer, more intimate and authentic relationship with ourselves.
As a result of direct work with the body, sensations, and emotions, we learn and get access to new ways of being - different ways of inhabiting our own body, or own self. Our internal state shifts, our body chemistry changes, which in turn changes the story our mind creates.
Nevertheless, we include and support the mental processes. Awareness and cognitive understanding are important part of transformation and change. By gently guiding our mind toward new ways of thinking, we also influence our bodily experience.
"Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain."
Carl G. Jung
By bringing the body into therapy, we move closer to ourselves.
Instead of analyzing feelings and understanding them at the mental level, we explore them through bodily sensations, breath, movement, touch or voice, learning the language of our own body.
These two principles, the so-called top-down and bottom-up approaches, are equally important in somatic therapy, and together they create a sense of integrated and whole self. The body and mind are part of an insparable whole.
When the body and mind work together, we can more easily attune to our heart.
Heart is the space of intuition and profound connection to ourselves and, oftentimes, something bigger than ourselves. All of this together helps us to easier navigate our life choices and circumstances, and creates a possibility for life to be much more meaningful, joyful and fulfilled.