Somatic Facilitation

Somatic facilitation is an invitation to explore the body's natural way of adapting, the contractions that produce maladaptive moments, and the restoration of a felt-sense of wholeness and capacity.

The word “somatic” is derived from the Latin word “soma” which means “living body”. There’s wisdom, creativity and expression that lives in the body, as well as our conditioned responses, trauma, and patterns. Your body and your somatic system is the library to your own true wisdom.

With guidance and compassion it is an honor to guide people back towards a felt sense of embodiment.

What is somatic facilitation?

As stress occurs and produces maladaptive moments, the body is the container that holds that charge. The body is a being and not a thing, yet it is often treated as something separate from the mind. When we engage with somatic practices, we are working 'bottom up,’ nurturing curiosity and compassion around the language of the body to help expand the body’s natural capacity for healing, often meeting old charges in the body with a different energy in which they were created in the first place which allows the body to metabolize those responses.

Oftentimes, spirituality treats exploration of healing solely from a top down approach, engaging in practices like breath work or meditation under the executive function of the cerebral cortex. Somatic healing takes into account the bottom up approach to foster relationship with all branches of the nervous system and not just the parasympathetic response (rest and digest).

When we talk about stress, we usually focus on the storyline or emotion of it, often discounting the body’s natural intelligence.

The work in any session is influenced from many sources including Focalizing, Somatic Stress Release, embodied coaching, attachment work, movement and/or voice. But each session is always dictated by the clients I work with. You decide the pace in which we work, which is always in a compassionate and supportive manner. We use a non linear way of working to resolve what has previously been unresolved (physiological and emotional trauma).

In this work, I go by the wisdom that “slow is smooth and smooth is fast,” meaning that it takes time to build trust and safety in the body. Overriding resistance in the body or providing a cathartic experience can lead to overwhelm, which prohibits any kind of healing work, which is why we go at your pace.

The work of somatic facilitation isn’t about fixing or getting “healed,” but it’s more about living with more awareness, ease and choice.  

Through this modality, clients have experienced

  • connection to a deeper sense of purpose, rebuilding how they contribute and exist in the world

  • a deep and long lasting sense of their own internal compass and connection to the felt sense of their whole being

  • a sense of stepping into more authenticity

  • an increase in their vitality and energy

  • a new appreciation of their body and freedom from body shame

  • an increased sense of flow and creativity

  • insight into what it truly means to be embodied in spirituality

  • freedom from old patterns and conditioned ways of thinking

The Investment

From my experience as a teacher and client, a minimum of 4-6 sessions is recommended to develop a supportive relationship with the body and to allow your nervous system to come into some level of coherence to support sustainability. More than 6 sessions is advisable for dealing with more complex and childhood trauma.

$500 for six sessions, or two monthly payments of $250

further sessions can be bought individually at $80 per session or more block purchases can be made.

Want to learn more? Schedule a free 20-minute call to see if this work is right for you.

(this would be a calendar to schedule — I’ll just need a link to this appointment type in Acuity)