Somatic healing has had a more transformative role in mental health practices in recent years. Since it allows people to form a stronger mind-body connection, it can help professionals explore the physical and physiological aspects of trauma within patients.
So, if you’re ready to learn more about the role of Somatic healing in health practices, keep reading.
What is Somatic Healing?
First, you’ll want to know a bit more about Somatic healing. This form of therapy is focused on your body and how you feel. You practice becoming present, then remain away from your emotions and bodily reactions to them.
Somatic healing is substantial among mental health practices, so you’ll want to consider using it daily. Many people have felt a difference, mainly when used alongside therapy and other techniques.
You can use Somatic healing in a variety of different therapies. In doing so, you open up, making it easier for your professional therapist to help you. Using Somatic treatment, alongside other things, will give you the best possible results.
In short, Somatic healing focuses more on mind and body than other therapies, although this makes it much more helpful to use alongside traditional therapies.
It Improves Traumatic Care and Treatments
Let’s start with how Somatic healing has helped with treatments for PTSD. Somatic therapy and techniques are excellent for helping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s very effective since it focuses on using a mind-body connection to treat trauma.
PTSD causes a person to store stress in their body, leading to pain and anxiety. Somatic healing skills can help people release the trauma comfortably so they feel improvements over time. It also teaches breathwork, which is crucial for overcoming some PTSD symptoms.
Additionally, patients can practice body awareness, allowing them to feel where they hold the most trauma in their bodies. Once located, they can work on easing tension from those areas, helping them to relax.
Overall, Somatic healing techniques have their place in PTSD treatments. They’ve transformed the field by giving patients more resources to work with to ease trauma symptoms. In addition to working with a professional, many Somatic healing techniques are excellent tools.
It Allows for More Healthy Physical Expression
Next, Somatic therapy uses many forms of healthy expression to work out stress. Dance, Tai Chi, Yoga, painting, and drawing are all available options. Patients can practice moving in safe, healthy ways, allowing them to build strength and release some of their stress. These activities can also be a method of self-expression for many people.
Patients learn how to become aware of their body and how it moves. Focusing on the body can help lead to improved Somatic healing skills. Plus, many treatment programs already use these forms of expression, plus more, in their routines.
Healthy physical expression is excellent in any mental health practice. It can make you more comfortable exercising in front of others with practice, which can also be an enriching experience. Patients also learn to turn to positive physical expression when feeling anxious or frustrated so that it can be a reliable tool.
Many practices are using these forms of expression in their treatment programs today. They can be very effective, especially when paired with other forms of therapy and Somatic healing. So consider adding some of them to your routines if your mental health professional recommends them.
It Teaches Awareness
Somatic healing is a good strategy for learning to be more aware of your thoughts, feelings, and body. Because of this, many different mental health practices will use it to teach their patients how to become more aware of themselves.
The patients can use these awareness skills during therapy sessions, helping keep them in tune with themselves and better communicate with the professional. They’ll also learn to be more aware of their breathing, which is an excellent skill to have when attempting to manage and heal from PTSD and anxiety issues.
A good Somatic technique to teach awareness would have to be grounding. Grounding can help patients create a moment of peace for themselves. To do this, you bring attention to physical sensations, allowing you to engage both your mind and body.
It can even teach self-awareness, which is outstanding for your mental health. The therapist guides you in Somatic tracking, helping you pick up on and describe all of your body’s sensations and reactions related to your varying memories.
In short, mental health practices and grounding go hand-in-hand. You can use these awareness skills to help keep you present when struggling with PTSD and anxiety.
It Can Be Applied During Traditional Therapy
Some therapists combine Somatic healing techniques with their traditional therapy sessions. These techniques can make the patient feel more at ease, especially in a new setting. It can provide a holistic understanding so the patient feels connected to all parts of their mind and body.
Using Somatic therapy during traditional sessions can help patients feel more comfortable because they’re working on grounding themselves simultaneously. Plus, the therapist can tailor the Somatic healing techniques to the patient, making them much more effective for a broader range of people.
Many therapists ask their patients to cover their bodily feelings during sessions in detail, so already having some of these skills to locate precisely how you feel is essential. You can use awareness to locate the stress and then explain your feelings in detail. That way, the professional can easily work with you.
Lastly, therapists will watch your body language closely during sessions. Exploring this in more detail can bring hidden feelings to light, allowing the therapist to work more effectively with the patient.
Somatic Healing is a Part of Mental Health
In short, somatic healing has become a part of the mental health scene today. It has plenty of benefits, allowing those practicing it to thrive and grow. If you’re interested, you’ll want to make sure that you practice several techniques and think about how you can use them during a standard therapy session.
