An invitation into the intelligence of your body

Somatic therapy is a form of psychotherapy that includes the body as well as the mind.

Rather than focusing on ideas alone, it explores how emotions, sensations, and patterns live in the nervous system, and how, through attention and presence, the mind and body can begin to find one another again in compassionate connection.

What a Session Might Include

We slow down and listen to the body’s language - tracking sensations, movements, and impulses as they arise.  These may show up as waves of sensation, sighs or yawns, trembling, or a sense of settling.  When met with curiosity, the nervous system may begin to complete something that was previously left unresolved.

You may be guided into gentle embodied exercises, visualisations, or symbolic placements of objects to represent relationships, internal parts, or ancestral dynamics.  This kind of work can offer surprising clarity and relief.

Sessions may also involve:

• Sitting together in conversation

• Movement or sound

• Exploring developmental themes and attachment patterns

• Reconnecting with inner and outer resources

• Psycho-education about the nervous system

• Lying on a treatment table for somatic touch

Touch

Sometimes, talking isn’t enough - especially when early or developmental wounding is involved.

SomaticMaps™ sessions may include respectful, consent-based touch as a way of reaching the parts of us formed before words or hurt beyond words.

With supportive touch to areas such as the back, head, or feet, we invite a sense of contact, safety, and co-regulation. This kind of touch can awaken deep layers of the nervous system that are longing for repair and recognition. You remain fully clothed and in charge at all times.

The body is wise.

We work with what’s ready - no forcing, no fixing - just listening to what’s unfolding and trusting our body’s innate healing mechanisms.

Please also see Info and resources for more

Why Touch May Be Included in Somatic Therapy

SomaticMaps™ offers gentle, consent-based touch informed by Somatic Experiencing® and NeuroAffective Touch as part of somatic psychotherapy.

Our earliest experiences - especially those involving safety, connection, or stress - are stored not just in our thinking memory, but in our body’s memory. These patterns often form before we have language, and they can shape how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world around us.

In somatic therapy, gentle, consent-based touch may be offered to support integration at this deeper level. Touch can help bring life back into areas of the body that feel numb, tense, or disconnected. It can support the nervous system to settle, help you feel more grounded, and offer a secure base, especially if we have experienced neglect or times we felt alone or overwhelmed.

Touch supports rest instead of collapse.

This type of touch is not the same as massage or other forms of bodywork, however, many people say it is more relaxing than a massage!

It is subtle and relationally focused, offering the body–mind the opportunity of co-regulation, rather than manipulating muscles or tissue.

Therapeutic touch is about creating a space where your body feels met, supported, and listened to in a new way. You are always in charge, and touch is only included when it feels right.

For many people, this kind of attuned, non-intrusive contact can open up new pathways of repair - when words just aren’t enough.

Please also see Info and resources for more