In-person in woodinville, WA & online

Somatic psychology

Specialized therapy for teens & adults

You’ve tried traditional talk therapy, but something still feels unresolved.

Despite trying therapy in the past,

You’re still struggling with:

  • Stress and overwhelm.

  • Emotions and physical symptoms.

  • Unprocessed trauma.

Feeling stuck in patterns of stress and overwhelm; no matter how much you try to change your mindset, your body remains tense.

A disconnect between your emotions a physical sensations, struggling to feel or express your emotions, often sensing numbness, dissociation, or physical discomfort with no clear emotional cause.

Unprocessed trauma that lingers in your body. Past experiences continue to show up as chronic tension, pain, or sudden emotional triggers, even when you consciously understand they are in the past.

Somatic psychology can help you reconnect with your body’s innate wisdom, allowing you to process emotions, release stored trauma, and cultivate a deeper sense of safety and presence within yourself.

By integrating body awareness, movement, and breath, this approach helps bridge the gap between the mind and body, offering a holistic path to healing that goes beyond traditional talk therapy.

Through somatic practices, you can learn to recognize how stress, anxiety, and past experiences are held in your body, often manifesting as chronic tension, fatigue, or emotional overwhelm. By gently tuning into these sensations, rather than suppressing or intellectualizing them, you create space for healing and transformation. Somatic psychology empowers you to regulate your nervous system, shift unconscious patterns, and develop a felt sense of safety and self-compassion.

Additionally, somatic therapy supports resilience by helping you cultivate greater body awareness and emotional regulation skills. Whether through mindful movement, breathwork, or grounding techniques, these practices teach you how to stay present with difficult emotions without becoming overwhelmed. Over time, this deepened connection with your body fosters a sense of wholeness, allowing you to move through life with more ease, confidence, and inner balance.

  • Somatic psychology is grounded in neuroscience and psychophysiology, exploring the intricate relationship between the mind and body. Research shows that trauma and stress are not just stored in the brain but also in the nervous system, muscles, and fascia. The body's fight-flight-freeze responses can become stuck when overwhelming experiences are not fully processed, leading to chronic tension, dissociation, or emotional dysregulation.

    Somatic approaches leverage neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to rewire itself—by using body-based techniques such as breathwork, movement, and touch to release stored trauma and restore balance to the nervous system. Studies in polyvagal theory and interpersonal neurobiology highlight how somatic therapy helps regulate the autonomic nervous system, promoting emotional resilience and deeper healing. By working with the body’s innate intelligence, somatic psychology offers a scientifically supported path to lasting well-being.

  • Somatic psychology sessions offer a safe and supportive space where you can explore the connection between your body and mind. During sessions, your therapist will guide you through various techniques such as breathwork, mindfulness, movement, and sometimes light touch, to help you tune into physical sensations and emotions that may be difficult to access through words alone. The focus is on increasing body awareness and gently releasing stored tension or trauma, allowing you to process emotions and experiences in a holistic way.

    Each session is unique and tailored to your needs, whether you’re addressing stress, trauma, or simply seeking deeper self-awareness. As you explore sensations, you’ll be encouraged to move at your own pace, with an emphasis on creating a sense of safety and empowerment. Over time, this approach helps you build emotional resilience, restore balance to your nervous system, and cultivate a greater sense of well-being and connection to yourself.

  • Somatic psychology can help you address the underlying physiological manifestations of emotional and psychological struggles that often remain unprocessed through traditional talk therapies. By integrating body-focused approaches, this modality empowers you to identify and release deeply stored stress, trauma, and unresolved emotional patterns that may be held in the nervous system, muscles, and connective tissues. These unresolved experiences can manifest in physical tension, chronic pain, anxiety, or emotional dysregulation.

    Through guided techniques such as breathwork, mindful movement, and body awareness practices, somatic therapy offers you the tools to shift your physiological and emotional states. This process helps recalibrate your nervous system, promoting emotional resilience and a sense of groundedness. Over time, somatic psychology can foster a deeper mind-body connection, restore balance to your emotional and physical health, and support healing at the root level, enabling you to experience lasting change, greater self-regulation, and a heightened sense of well-being.

somatic psychology

“

surrendering to change takes courage.

Dr. Arielle Schwartz

who it’s for

somatic Psychology is for you if…

  • Individuals with chronic stress or trauma who feel physically stuck or overwhelmed by unresolved emotions and want to release tension held in the body.

  • Those seeking a holistic approach to healing that goes beyond talk therapy, integrating both mind and body to process emotions, build resilience, and restore balance.

  • People navigating life transitions who feel disconnected from their body or struggle to regulate their emotions and want to reconnect with their inner sense of safety and self-compassion.

together, we will:

explore

the connection between your body and mind.

uncover

the hidden emotional patterns and trauma stored within your physical sensations.

Regain

a sense of safety, resilience, and balance, empowering you to release old wounds and move forward with greater clarity and self-awareness.

Please know this:

Healing is a journey that involves both courage and compassion.

  • Somatic psychology differs from other therapeutic approaches by its focus on the body’s role in healing emotional and psychological wounds. While traditional therapies often focus primarily on cognitive or verbal processing, somatic psychology integrates body awareness, breathwork, movement, and touch to address the physical manifestations of stress, trauma, and emotional patterns. It recognizes that emotions are not only experienced in the mind but are also stored in the body, influencing your physical state, behavior, and overall well-being.

    This approach taps into the body’s innate wisdom, using techniques to release tension and trauma that may have been held in the nervous system and muscles for years. Somatic therapy works to re-regulate the nervous system, which is often dysregulated after traumatic or stressful experiences. In contrast, other therapies may rely more on talking through issues or focusing on thought patterns, without directly engaging with the body’s sensations. This mind-body integration makes somatic psychology particularly effective for those who feel "stuck" or have difficulty processing emotions through conventional methods alone.

  • The timeline for seeing results in somatic therapy can vary depending on individual factors such as the nature of the issues being addressed, how long they’ve been present, and your personal openness to the process. Some people begin to feel shifts after just a few sessions, especially in terms of increased body awareness, reduced tension, or a sense of emotional release. For others, it may take several weeks or months to experience deeper changes, particularly if working through complex trauma or long-standing patterns.

    The key is consistency and patience. Somatic psychology works gradually, allowing your body and nervous system to recalibrate at a pace that feels safe and sustainable. Over time, with regular sessions, many individuals experience lasting improvements in emotional regulation, physical well-being, and overall resilience. The process is deeply personal, and progress can often be felt in subtle, but powerful ways that build over time.

  • Schedule a 15-minute video consultation to see if therapy is right for you.

frequently asked questions