Somatic therapy is a form of therapy that treats trauma through the body as well as the mind. Alongside talking, it works with sensation, breath, posture, movement and the nervous system, because that is where the effects of overwhelming experiences tend to stay. At Seattle Trauma Counseling every therapist works somatically, in person in Edmonds and Kirkland and online anywhere in Washington State, and every therapist offers a free consultation.
Somatic means "of the body". Somatic therapy starts from a simple observation: you can understand perfectly well what happened to you and still feel your chest tighten, your stomach drop or your mind go blank when something reminds you of it. Those reactions come from the nervous system, not from a lack of insight, so somatic therapy works with them directly instead of only talking about them.
In practice that means noticing what happens in your body as you talk, slowing down when it starts to tip into overwhelm or shutdown, and helping your system finish responses that were cut short at the time. Over time, the body learns that the danger is over, which is something the thinking mind cannot teach it alone.
A session looks more like ordinary therapy than people expect. You sit and talk. The difference is that your therapist will regularly invite you to notice what is happening in your body: where you feel tension, what your breath is doing, whether you feel present or far away. You might be asked to slow down, to notice the ground under your feet, or to stay with a small sensation for a moment before going on.
You stay in charge of the pace. Nothing requires you to retell the worst of what happened in detail, and your therapist will keep checking that the work stays within what your nervous system can handle. Many people find that the first change they notice is not in the memory but in their daily life: sleeping better, startling less, feeling more like themselves.
Somatic therapy is a family of approaches rather than one technique. Depending on your history and what you want from therapy, your therapist may draw on:
Somatic Experiencing (SE), developed by Peter Levine, is a related approach you will often see listed in Seattle. We describe our methods by their own names so you know exactly what you are getting.
Somatic therapy is used for any problem where the body keeps reacting long after the mind has moved on. At Seattle Trauma Counseling that most often means PTSD and single-event trauma, complex PTSD and childhood trauma, anxiety and panic attacks, dissociation, sexual trauma and religious trauma. It is also suited to people who have done a lot of talk therapy, understand their history well and still feel stuck.
When you are under threat, your nervous system mobilizes you to fight or run, or, if neither is possible, shuts you down. Psychiatrist Dan Siegel's idea of a "window of tolerance" describes the zone in between, where you can feel things without being swept away or going numb. Trauma tends to narrow that window. Somatic therapy widens it, session by session, so that more of life fits inside it.
Polyvagal theory, developed by Stephen Porges, is one influential way of describing these shifts, and it informs methods such as the Safe and Sound Protocol. Parts of it are debated by researchers, and we use it as a helpful map rather than as settled science.
Talk therapy works mainly through understanding: putting experiences into words and changing how you think about them. Somatic therapy keeps the words but adds the body, which matters because trauma is often stored as reactions rather than as a story. We have written a fuller comparison of talk therapy and somatic therapy.
You can see a somatic therapist at our Edmonds office (8923 240th St SW, Edmonds, WA 98026) or our Kirkland office (10512 NE 68th St, Suite 202, Kirkland, WA 98033), by appointment. Somatic therapy also works online anywhere in Washington State: your therapist guides you to notice your own body, and many people find it easier to do that from home.
We are a private-pay practice. Each therapist's fee is discussed in the free consultation, with no obligation, and every therapist provides a superbill so you can claim out-of-network reimbursement if your plan includes it. Our practice details page covers how that works.
A somatic therapist helps you notice and work with what is happening in your body, such as tension, breath, posture and shifts between alertness and shutdown, alongside talking about your experiences. The aim is to help your nervous system settle and finish responses that trauma interrupted, so that reminders of the past stop setting off the same reactions.
Some somatic methods have stronger research than others. EMDR is among the best-studied treatments for PTSD, and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and other body-based approaches have a growing but smaller evidence base. Researchers are still studying how and why body-based methods help. We combine these methods within a phase-based approach to trauma and will tell you honestly what is known about any method we suggest.
It is not either-or. EMDR is itself body-aware, and in our practice it is used alongside other somatic methods. Some people do well with EMDR early on; others, especially with complex trauma or dissociation, need more stabilization through somatic work before reprocessing memories. The free consultation is where we work out which fits you.
We are a private-pay practice and do not bill insurance directly. Every therapist provides a superbill, which you can submit for out-of-network reimbursement if your plan includes it. Ask your insurer about out-of-network outpatient mental health benefits to find out what you would get back.
No. Our somatic therapy does not involve touch. Your therapist guides you to notice your own body through attention, breath and small movements, and you stay in control of everything that happens in the session.
Yes. Your therapist guides you to notice your own sensations and responses, which works well by secure video. Many clients start online and come into the Edmonds or Kirkland office later, or mix the two.