New to Somatics? A Resource Roundup from a Trauma Therapist in Sacramento
/I’m a trauma therapist in Sacramento and somatic therapy is one of the top modalities I use to help my clients heal. As psychiatrist and leading trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk says, the body keeps the score. Trauma gets stored in the body and we can’t simply think our way out of it.
So what are somatics? “Somatic” simply means of the body, or to be embodied. Somatic practices are exercises and activities that help you attune to yourself, be more present in your body, and regulate your nervous system.
Nervous system regulation is really trending right now! I think it’s great that there’s more awareness and more information readily available now.
The somatic info that pops up in the short-form content of social media may pique your interest, but it might also leave you at a loss for knowing where to begin or how to incorporate these practices yourself.
In today’s post, I’m sharing some suggestions and some of the resources I share with clients most frequently, to help get you started.
Learn some basics of polyvagal theory.
Most of the somatic work I’ve learned and practice is based in polyvagal theory. Polyvagal theory is a neuroscience-based framework that explains how our nervous systems respond to threats through fight, flight, and freeze responses, and also how we respond and engage in conditions of relative safety.
If you want to feel better through regulating your nervous system, it helps to know a little bit about polyvagal theory and the science of how your body works. Rather than going on about it myself, I’ll direct you to a couple of videos from folks who can explain it a lot more clearly and succinctly than I can:
Irene Lyon is a nervous system expert and her popular YouTube channel has a wealth of free educational resources on how to heal your nervous system to improve your mental and physical health. In this video, Irene explains what the vagus nerve is and outlines the different branches of our nervous systems and what they do for us. She also speaks about the effect of trauma and how it keeps us stuck in stress responses for longer than we need to be.
In this video, Seth Porges (son of Stephen Porges, the psychologist who developed polyvagal theory) explains neuroception (the process of our nervous systems scanning the environment for cues of danger or safety), the different nervous system states, and he defines trauma from a polyvagal perspective.
Practices for Embodied Living: Experience the Wisdom of Your Body
Practices for Embodied Living: Experience the Wisdom of Your Body is a book by Hillary L. McBride, PhD, which I frequently recommend to my trauma therapy clients.
(Also available at Sacramento Public Library)
I recommend this book so often because it’s a quick and easy read with many suggestions for practices, reflection questions, and journaling prompts. It’s a book to do, not just a book to read.
One of my favorite practices in the book is a body check in exercise that’s great for beginners. (I love it so much that I even have it bookmarked! It’s on page 22.)
McBride walks you through it all, step by step. She explains what embodiment is, how we become disembodied, and how stress and trauma manifest in the body. There are chapters on body image, feeling your feelings, pain, illness and injury, pleasure and enjoyment, and more.
I reference this book frequently during my trauma therapy sessions as it has a great, simple illustration and explanation of what she calls the “stress-response staircase” (which is also related to polyvagal theory, and can be found on page 50).
The Numinous Network
The Numinous Network is an online community lead by somatic trauma recovery practitioner (and so much more) Carmen Spagnola. Carmen describes this online space as a cross between a YMCA and a public library. I’m a member of the network and I’ll share about just a few of my favorite offerings there:
Live Group Somatic Practice Sessions
The group somatic practice sessions are by far my favorite offering from the network and the main reason I subscribe.
These practice sessions are offered 5 times a week and consist of 45 minutes of polyvagal exercises and nervous system stabilization. The classes take place on Zoom and you can have your camera on or off, whichever feels best to you.
Group somatic practice helps you practice self-attunement (i.e., the ability to recognize your own physical and emotional state and needs). Practicing self-attunement is like building a muscle and it’s something you’ll get better at over time.
If you would like to, the teacher guides you through a therapeutic tremoring practice. All of the practices are optional, so you get to pick and choose what feels right for your body, and that will change from day to day.
I can feel a noticeable difference in my mind and body from taking these classes. They help me regulate my nervous system and get to a more grounded state when I’m feeling activated, or freeze-y.
The Safe & Sound Protocol
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is an evidence-based listening therapy developed by Dr. Stephen Porges. It may sound too good to be true, but just by listening to music that’s specially filtered, you can rewire your nervous system and this can aid in the healing of anxiety, depression, and trauma. Typically, you would need to work with a therapist to use the Safe and Sound Protocol, but The Numinous Network gives you access to SSP.
Practice Portal
The Practice Portal is a collection of recorded audio and video practices that members can access at any time. The videos range from 2-5 minutes long and each shows a single somatic exercise that you can follow along with. These are great to use when you’re feeling dysregulated and could use a little support.
Courses
The Numinous Network also gives access to several self-paced, on-demand video courses. Here are a few of my favorites:
Contact Nutrition 101 shares the building blocks and how-tos of secure attachment. (“Contact nutrition” is a term coined by leading attachment therapist Dr. Diane Poole Heller.) You’ll learn how eye contact, tone of voice, and safe touch help us form and maintain healthy bonds with others. The course is full of tips and tricks to form more meaningful connections.
Secure is all about the art and science of attachment. It takes what you learned in Contact Nutrition 101 and dives deeper. You’ll learn about attachment styles, self-regulation, co-regulation, how to heal abandonment wounding, and much more.
Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy is a 5-week hypnotherapy program for disorders of the gut brain interaction and overlapping syndromes. It can be particularly helpful for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, there are a whole range of issues it can help with. I listened to the hypnotherapy tracks to help with insomnia (which I’ve struggled with since I was a teenager) and I found it really helpful!
Another thing I really appreciate about The Numinous Network is that they offer sliding scale pricing for their monthly membership fee. There are 3 pricing options and you’re invited to pick the rate that works best for you based on your income, identity, and privilege.
Somatic Practices to Try on Your Own
Shaking
Shaking is a way to release stress and tension stored in the body. Animals in the wild do this naturally (and so do we!), particularly following a traumatic experience, to come out of a freeze/collapse state. You can try shaking as a coping skill for when you’re feeling activated, but it’s also a great daily practice to maintain emotional balance.
This first video is from Rochelle Schieck, founder of the movement practice Qoya. This practice is only 4 minutes long, so it’s easy to squeeze into your day whenever you need a release. I share this video with clients all the time.
This slightly longer video (10 minutes) from Brain Education TV shows a slightly different shaking technique. I enjoy both styles of shaking and incorporate both of these practices into my self-care routine, alternating them depending on how much time I have or what I’m in the mood for. I recommend you check out both videos and see if you have a preference!
Vagus Nerve Massage/Activation
The vagus nerve is a nerve that runs through your whole body and is a key player in your nervous system and shifting between different nervous system states (e.g., helping you calm down after a stressful situation). The vagus nerve is more superficial in certain areas of our body, like our ears, and by massaging it we can increase our “vagal tone,” which gives us greater ability to recover from stress.
This short (3 minute) video from Dr. Nicole LePera, The Holistic Psychologist, gives a quick how-to and overview of vagus nerve massage and shows clearly which areas of the ear to stimulate.
This video from embodiment coach and educator Sukie Baxter is longer (15 minutes) than the previous video because it’s a follow-along routine that you can do with her in real time.
This vagus nerve massage video from Brain Education TV is another follow-along routine which targets a different area of the body where the vagus nerve is more superficial—your navel. It may sound funny, but when I do this routine I notice clear and immediate signs of downregulation (calming down from heightened nervous system states, like anxiety) from my body.
Struggling to do somatic practices on your own?
Get support from a somatic trauma therapist in Sacramento.
I hope the resources I’ve shared in this post have given you a number of options for places to start with somatic work.
However, if you’re still feeling overwhelmed (or you’ve tried some of these practices on your own but they aren’t helping as much as you would like), you may benefit from more support from a somatic therapist.
I’ve incorporated more and more somatic work into my trauma therapy practice over the past few years because it just works, in a way that, in my experience, talk therapy alone can’t match. With the support of a therapist, there’s more safety and containment to go deeper and unstick what’s stuck.
The somatic exercises I guide clients through in sessions create a shift that sometimes feels like magic to me. I’m really passionate about this work.
In my humble and admittedly biased opinion, we could all benefit from somatic work.
Trauma dissociates us and disconnects us from our bodies. Even if you don’t have a history of trauma, we live in a culture that teaches us to treat our bodies like machines, so you may feel like a floating head and have little awareness of your body. Getting back into your body opens up the full depth of experience, so you can feel more alive and enjoy all that life has to offer.
If you live in the Sacramento area and are interested in somatic therapy, I encourage you to contact me for a free phone or video consultation.
