Somatic Healing
Somatic healing is ideal for addressing heightened stress responses and chronic states of fight, flight, or freeze. During a somatic coaching session, the client engages in an interactive exploration of their inner states to facilitate embodiment and mind-body awareness through trauma-sensitive, polyvagal-informed nervous system regulation techniques. Throughout the session, the client is gently encouraged to verbalize or otherwise express anything that arises to consciousness, while fostering a sense of agency and choice.
From a Western perspective, both Somatic Yoga Therapy and Somatic Coaching consist of practices aimed at facilitating a gradual healing of the nervous system through trauma-sensitive, polyvagal-informed, natural vagus nerve stimulation techniques. These safe practices promote self-regulation, vagal tone, and resilience, while supporting the immune system and balancing overall physiology. This helps to set the conditions in the body and mind that are most conducive to healing. The tools used are sourced in both yogic tradition and Western somatic healing modalities.
The foundation of all somatic therapeutic methods lies in the principle that Body and Mind (Soma and Psyche) are part of a continuum and constantly reflecting each other. Our stories are stored in our body’s tissues, and body-centered therapies are an essential complement to top-down approaches in addressing the effects of traumatic experiences, as exhaustively explained by psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk in his book, The Body Keeps the Score.
Somatic, Body-Mind therapeutic modalities primarily rely on interoception, our internal sense modulated by the autonomic and central nervous system and housed in the fascia, deeper tissues, and visceral depths, including the gut.
Most of the work aims at exploring and releasing the emotions stored in these body tissues. Our stories can be tracked in the state of our Autonomic Nervous System and its patterns. What kept us safe in the past might be now restricting our vitality and potential, or even harming our physical body, flooding our system with untimely stress hormones, and keeping us in a state of dysregulation that is depleting our immune system.
Each individual’s nervous system has specific dynamics that were intelligently devised in reaction to our personal, unfolding story. The somatic approach involves a skilled assessment methodology to prepare for the work of healing the nervous system and set ourselves free from the effects of a painful, limiting past.
Developing interoceptive awareness is the core aspect of our practice, and it involves the willingness to feel the uncomfortable, what we have been running from and tried hard to repress. This work deeply resonates with Carl Jung’s psychology of the unconscious and the concept of shadow integration. Jung recognized divination tools such as the Tarot as useful methods for understanding the currents of life, adding layers of depth to the exploration of archetypes, and facilitating the process of individuation. He also viewed astrology as a conduit for shedding light on both the individual and collective unconscious, and for understanding the purpose of our current incarnation.
My personal work is guided by the wisdom of both Tarot and evolutionary and karmic astrology as tools for self-knowledge, personal healing, and growth. Observation and study of our personal natal chart can give us deep insights into life challenges as related to individual dharma.
Jungian theory is profoundly influenced by Eastern philosophies. The following section goes deeper into the philosophical roots of Yoga Therapy.
The Eastern Perspective
The introspective attitude of the somatic approach brings the precept of Svadhyaya (self-study) to life, one of the yogic observances in the ancient Hindu sage Patanjali’s sacred text, the Yoga Sutras. By learning to rest our attention on the inner, ever-changing flow of sensation and emotion as a felt-sense in the body, we can explore existing symptoms, emotions, or beliefs as they manifest as sensation, and become aware of new information stored in the tissues of our physical body or in the more subtle layers of our being. This process is gentle and compassionate and never forced or rushed. Material that is ready for release will arise of its own accord.
Attention and embodied awareness (the practice of being present in our bodies, feeling what is) have the potential to change what is present, and to bring any subconscious material to consciousness for release, sometimes even before it has a chance to become somatized.
Our work is guided by Ahimsa (non-harming), another ethical precept from the Yoga Sutras: physical tension and emotional blocks build over time as part of an intelligent self-protective mechanism, and it can take just as long to safely let them go.
Release is a gentle, gradual process that happens in absolute respect of personal boundaries, and it is never to be pushed to happen before we are ready. Sudden release is possible, but not always desirable.
Through the progressive exploration of all layers of being or koshas (physical, energetic, emotional, mental, and spiritual), we access the potential to come closer to the perception of our true nature, our inherent state of wholeness that is always present and always healed.
This process begins to reveal the habitual patterns (samskaras) that have been in the way of our emotional, mental, and physical health, therefore allowing for a natural shedding of the hindrances to well-being (kleshas) according to yogic tradition.
The principles of Yoga Therapy are rooted in Ayurveda and classical yoga philosophy. All practices used are evidence-based and backed by research in contemporary scientific fields, such as neuroscience, psychoneuroimmunology, and all branches backing up modern mind-body medicine.
Through the lens of yoga therapy, the wellness journey is supported in accordance with the teachings of the ancient yogic texts, aiming at the purification of body, mind, and emotions.
Whether we’re working with breath or therapeutic movement, the rule is to be gentle and practice kindness toward our whole being, respecting our body’s timing and honoring its innate wisdom.
This service does not replace licensed medical and mental health care, and it is offered as an available choice in a range of resilience-building lifestyle and behavioral practices within an optional multidisciplinary approach to preventing or managing chronic and acute conditions, facilitating nervous system and emotional regulation, and fostering spiritual growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
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While the two modalities overlap, a somatic coaching session is more interactive, with the client engaging in an active exploration of their inner states. By verbalizing an experience and creatively responding to any content arising to consciousness, the client actively participates and shapes the structure of the session, interacting with the guide as opposed to passively receiving the session.
By contrast, during a Yoga Therapy session the client has a more receptive role, engaging, with the guidance of the therapist, in practices that range from traditional yoga to modern somatics.
In both modalities, the client relies on external guidance and skill without ever surrendering agency and choice.
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During a somatic coaching session, the client engages in an interactive exploration of their inner and outer experience as a felt-sense, to foster embodiment and mind-body integration. Tools used are somatic movement, breath-centric somatic practices, body sensing, orienting, vagal toning, and polyvagal-informed nervous system regulation techniques. Throughout the session, the client is gently encouraged to verbalize or otherwise express anything that arises to consciousness. This type of somatic exploration can often lead to deep personal insight and growth.
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A Yoga Therapy session consists of an initial assessment, followed by appropriate practices to bring the client to a state of physiological and energetic balance. A guided relaxation is often followed by gentle, somatic movement sequence for connective tissue release. Typical interventions include highly prescriptive breath work, therapeutic, restorative flows, sound, and embodiment practices, all skillfully applied based on individual needs and constitution.
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No yoga experience is required: in fact, many of the practices we use involve little or no movement. You can enjoy the benefits of yoga therapy and any somatic therapeutic practice even if you have very limited physical abilities.
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A: No! Y.T. is an opportunity to advance your practice by taking the focus off the more surface approach of form and effort, and delving deeper into the nuances of the inner and outer experience, allowing it to grow in depth and authenticity, perfecting it through detailed, extremely subtle explorations of familiar asana, in a realm where “less is more” and “slower is better”.
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Although both are ideal as a complementary modalities, neither is intended an alternative to mainstream treatment. Although Yoga Therapy is an effective integrative modality to support with some chronic and acute health conditions, just as any other alternative healing method, it is not intended as a substitute for traditional medical care. Please continue with your prescribed treatment as you explore yoga therapy as a safe, beneficial modality with the potential to promote health and support you on your ongoing healing path.
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Noticeable benefits can be experienced even after a single session, yet multiple sessions are usually more effective for obtaining lasting results. Generally speaking, a minimum of 5 to 10 sessions is suggested.
Please consider that a goal-oriented approach can often hinder rather than accelerate progress, and the healing journey is not always a straight line.
It is also important to note that ultimately, improvements are greatly dependent on the client’s willingness to put the learnings to use in everyday life and consistently practice the optional Home Plan.
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No. Yoga Therapy looks at the person as a whole, addressing physical and emotional symptoms, lifestyle, and spirituality, while respecting individual belief systems and never imposing a particular philosophical or spiritual viewpoint.