Somatic Experiencing® for Trauma, Stress & the Pain Your Body Still Carries

Your body holds the story—Somatic Therapy helps it finally exhale.

Relationship and couples therapy in West LA for deeper connection, conflict resolution, and emotional repair

When talk therapy isn’t enough, Somatic Experiencing® helps your nervous system unwind what’s still stuck.

If you’ve ever walked away from a therapy session with insight but still felt tension in your chest, a pit in your stomach, or like your body didn’t get the memo—you’re not alone.

Somatic therapy works with those very sensations. It’s a body-based, trauma-informed approach that helps you gently track and release the survival energy trapped in your nervous system. Using breath, awareness, and subtle movements, we support your body in completing what it never got to finish—so you can feel more present, grounded, and free. You don’t have to relive everything to heal—you just have to start listening to what your body’s been trying to say.

When your body finally feels safe, everything begins to shift—your anxiety softens, your sleep deepens, and life no longer feels like something you have to brace against.

What Is Somatic Experiencing®?

A gentle, body-based approach that helps release stored trauma and restore your nervous system’s natural rhythm of safety and regulation.

Somatic Experiencing (SE™) is a body-centered trauma therapy developed by Dr. Peter Levine. It’s based on the idea that unresolved trauma gets “trapped” in the nervous system. This can show up as hypervigilance, chronic anxiety, fatigue, pain, or even numbness. SE helps thaw those frozen fight-flight-freeze responses and restore your body’s natural capacity to regulate and feel safe again.

In somatic sessions, we pay attention to where stress shows up in your body. That might be a tight jaw, shallow breath, stomach tension, or a sense of floating or numbness. Together, we track those sensations—noticing them without judgment—and support your body in releasing what it’s been holding.

Licensed therapist Chloe Bean offering somatic trauma therapy and EMDR for clients seeking embodied healing in Los Angeles

How a Somatic Therapy Session Works

Sessions are guided by your body’s pace—blending conversation with gentle awareness, so stuck stress can safely begin to unwind.

Somatic therapy is gentle. You don’t need to stretch, perform, or be physically “fit.” A session might begin with you talking about your week. As you describe a stressful moment, I may gently ask, “Do you notice anything happening in your body right now?” If you feel tension in your shoulders or a flutter in your chest, we simply stay with that sensation. Sometimes it shifts, sometimes it softens, sometimes it moves.

I may guide you through grounding practices like noticing your feet on the floor, breathing into your belly, or imagining pushing away something that once overwhelmed you. You might notice small waves of release—like tingling, tears, or warmth. These are signs that your body is completing something it couldn’t finish in the past.

We always work at your pace. No diving into trauma before you're ready. Somatic work is titrated—we dip into discomfort in manageable doses, always keeping one foot in the present. Slow is fast when it comes to healing.

Over time, you may find yourself breathing more easily, responding instead of reacting, and feeling a quiet sense of safety where there used to be tension.

Imagine feeling safe inside your own body again.
Being able to slow down without panic.
Letting go of the tension you didn’t realize you were carrying.

Your body holds the wisdom. These approaches help you listen.

Somatic and Trauma-Informed Therapy Methods I Integrate with Somatic Experiencing®

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Gently explore your inner protectors, critics, and wounded parts through body-aware dialogue that supports nervous system regulation.

EMDR

Pair somatic tracking with eye movements to reprocess memories that your body still holds—safely and at your pace.

Mindfullness

Use breath, presence, and compassionate awareness to track sensations and stay grounded in the moment—even when emotions arise.

Even the parts you’ve silenced have something to say.

Somatic Experiencing® is most effective when your full system—body, mind, and inner emotional landscape—is included in the process. I integrate multiple modalities not for complexity’s sake, but because lasting change requires more than insight alone. Whether we’re unraveling chronic tension, supporting your nervous system to release a freeze response, or helping you rewire deep-rooted patterns, we’ll use the right combination to help you feel steady, safe, and whole again.

When Talk Isn’t Enough, Your Body Holds the Missing Piece

If you’ve done talk therapy but still feel anxious, shut down, or stuck in stress patterns, your body may be holding on to what your mind already understands. Somatic therapy helps you gently notice where tension, panic, or numbness lives—and supports your system in releasing it, without needing to relive everything in detail.

Sessions are slow, grounded, and collaborative. You stay seated, breathe, and track sensations. Some moments feel calming, others bring up emotion, but the goal is the same: helping your body move from survival to safety. No forced movement. No pressure. Just listening, with curiosity.

Somatic therapy supports the release of trauma and anxiety by helping your nervous system remember what safety feels like.

FAQs

  • Most sessions feel grounding, not intense. You’ll be seated, breathing, and gently tuning into your body. Sometimes sensations come up—like tension, warmth, or emotion—but we stay with it slowly. Many clients say they feel calmer, lighter, and more connected after sessions.

  • No. You don’t need to share every detail for healing to happen. In somatic therapy, we focus on what’s happening in your body right now. If memories surface, we’ll approach them with care, but your story doesn’t need to be retold for your nervous system to release what it’s been holding.

  • Yes. Somatic Experiencing® is especially effective for anxiety, panic, and body-based stress symptoms. If you’ve experienced racing heart, tight chest, or chronic tension, this work helps regulate your nervous system and reduce those physical responses—without forcing anything.

  • That’s actually a common response to trauma—and a completely valid starting point. We’ll gently build body awareness together. Even noticing that numbness is part of the process. Over time, you may begin to feel more present and safe in your body.

  • Not at all. Most of the work involves noticing, not doing. No movement or physical touch is required. If we ever incorporate grounding tools like light pressure or movement, it’s fully optional and based on your consent in the moment.

  • Somatic therapy includes your body in the healing process. We still talk—about emotions, relationships, stress—but we also slow down to notice what your body is communicating. That awareness often leads to shifts that talking alone couldn’t unlock.

  • That’s part of the work—and I’ll guide you through it. Somatic therapy is built around staying within your “window of tolerance.” If things feel too intense, we pause, ground, and return to safety. You’re always in control, and we move at your pace.

  • Clients often report better sleep, less anxiety, fewer panic symptoms, reduced physical pain, and a greater sense of ease in their body. You may also feel more emotionally resilient, connected, and able to respond instead of react.

Somatic Experiencing® Resources

Explore these expert-backed tools and readings to deepen your understanding of body-based trauma healing.