What is Somatic Counselling? | What is Somatic Therapy?
- Alice McNeil
- Jul 8
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 29
What is Somatic Counselling?
Somatic Counselling sometimes known as Somatic Therapy (although Somatic Therapy can sometimes include a 'hands-on' approach) is a integrative approach to Counselling. It considers the body, mind and even the environment you are in as very important in the therapeutic process.
For centuries in the West, the body and mind have been treated as separate. This idea, known as mind-body dualism originated largely from the work of 17th-century philosopher René Descartes. In this view, the body and mind are separate; the body is more like a machine, the mind the base of our consciousness - there is little, if any interaction.
This framework of separation allowed science to develop with reduced political and religious interference, and many world changing developments and discoveries ensued; but it also left a marked gap in our understanding of being human and our integrated systems. The ability to use the body of a source of insight and wisdom has been diminished as has the ability to trust our own intuition. We all know how important the ‘gut instinct’ is, but so often it is over-ruled by our cognitive mode of being. In contrast, many Eastern systems of medicine and movement know the body and mind to be deeply intertwined. Interestingly, western research in neuroscience, pain science and trauma research now strongly supports this integrated concept too. Unfortunately the cogs of the medical/health ‘machine’ can be slow to adapt.
Somatic Counselling or Somatic Therapy is part of a movement which has adapted to recent research and supports tuning into both the body and mind for increased awareness, sustainable change and healing. It brings the body into the therapeutic process, recognising that emotional and psychological experiences are held not just in the mind, but also in the nervous system, the breath, the muscles and the body’s (and brains’) patterns of response.
Somatic Counselling is a body-oriented form of therapy that works with physical sensations, movement, and nervous system awareness as key parts of the therapeutic journey. A cornerstone component of this is nervous system regulation, which is useful not only in everyday life, but it enables us safety operate within the therapeutic container.
As well as talking about the lived experience, whether that be recent events, or way back in childhood; we also build the awareness to be able to tune into what is happening in the body. Often physical responses such as breathing patterns, muscle tension, body sensations and movements can give important clues which help to guide us towards insight and healing.
Somatic aspects of a session might include:
Exploring physical sensations or areas of tension
Understanding and gently altering habitual nervous system states (like fight, flight, freeze, or collapse)
Exploring and learning about breath and movement patterns
Grounding and resourcing tools to support regulation
Once we have reached a level of nervous system regulation, we might also explore
Emotional processing just as bi-lateral processing (EMDR is an example of this)
parts work and ‘demon feeding.’
Somatic expressions
You don’t need to come with a clear explanation or specific diagnosis. It might also be that you have tried other therapies and need something different; it might be that you’re not sure where to start as physical and psychological symptoms overlap and the choice is overwhelming. It might be that you can hear your body ‘speaking’ and want to explore why. You might just feel stuck in a rut, and that you’re missing out on life. For this work, being curious and being open to what may arise are the only pre-requisites.
How is Somatic Counselling different from traditional therapy?
Talk therapy tends to focus on thoughts, beliefs, and behaviours. While this can be hugely valuable, it sometimes leaves out the body especially when it comes to trauma or chronic stress. In Somatic Therapy/Counselling we also do talking, but we like to strengthen the nervous system and emotional regulation systems too, so that we are no simply just re-living the trauma. As we explore memories, habits and experience, we will relate with to the body, building confidence in our body, our intuition, and teasing out where the body is holding onto emotional trauma/stresses.
Somatic work also offers a different entry point. Many people come to this approach when they feel “stuck in their heads,” or when they understand something logically but still feel overwhelmed, anxious, disconnected, or emotionally reactive. That’s often because the body hasn’t caught up with the mind. Somatic Counselling helps process what’s been held physically, often for years. It allows for integration as well as insight.
Why work with the body?
In my work as a Physiotherapist, I’ve rarely seen a purely physical injury that didn’t have emotional or behavioural layers behind it. Stress, disconnection, or old trauma can affect how we move, how we heal, and how resilient we feel. The nervous system plays a central role in all of this.
We now understand that trauma, whether physical, emotional, or relational, can leave lasting imprints in the body long after an event has passed. You may recover from the injury, but still feel on edge. You may move on from a difficult experience, but still carry tension, numbness, or a sense of being shut down.
Somatic work helps us process these held responses, often gently, often quietly, and reclaim a sense of safety, energy, and presence in the body.
Who is this for?
Somatic Counselling may support you if:
· Feel like you’re living in autopilot
· Feel stuck in talk therapy or “understand everything” but nothing’s changing
· Experience anxiety, low mood, or chronic stress
· Struggle with recurring physical symptoms, but have no answers to why
· Want to feel more grounded, present, and empowered
· Want to reconnect with your body, intuition, or creativity
What’s the aim of somatic work?
It’s not about “fixing” you, you’re not broken. It’s about helping you to reconnect. It’s about coming back to a sense of wholeness. Of feeling at home in yourself. When we connect to ourself again, we realise we connect again to the world. This work is subtle but powerful.
A final note
My practice is rooted in a whole-person approach, drawing on my background in physiotherapy, yoga, mindfulness and somatic therapy. These modalities interlink but converse with the understanding that: the body is part of our emotional world, and learning to work with it, rather than around it is where healing tends to happen.
If you’re curious about this, I offer both 1:1 Somatic Counselling sessions and training for health practitioners who want to bring more body-mind integration into their clinical practice. This is available as face-to-face counselling in the Highlands, near Dingwall, but also as online somatic counselling in my virtual clinic, from wherever you are.
If you're curious about working with me, please click the link to find out more about how this work might be beneficial for you.
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