Somatic Therapy
When trauma lives in the body and mind, it can impact how we feel, think, and show up in the world. EMDR offers a path forward, helping you process painful experiences and reclaim a sense of safety.
Somatic Therapy Kelowna
Trauma does not return as a memory.
It returns as a reaction.
Shallow breath.
Heart racing.
Tight chest.
Sweaty palms.
Your body responds first. Only afterward does your brain try to make sense of it.
Somatic therapy offers a way to work directly with these physical responses so healing can happen where trauma actually lives.
What Is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy is a body-centered approach to healing that integrates physical and psychological processes to address trauma, stress, and emotional overwhelm.
Unlike traditional talk therapy, which focuses primarily on thoughts and emotions, somatic therapy recognizes that the body stores experience. When trauma is not fully processed, the nervous system remains on alert long after the event has passed.
By working with bodily sensations, breath, and movement, somatic therapy helps regulate the nervous system and release stored stress responses.
For example, someone who experienced physical or emotional abuse may still feel tension, hypervigilance, or reactivity years later. Somatic therapy helps process those lingering responses through body awareness rather than only verbal analysis.
Trauma Lives in the Nervous System
We cannot treat nervous system dysregulation as a thinking problem.
We have to treat it as an alarm system that got stuck.
When something overwhelming happens, your system adapts to survive. That adaptation might look like anxiety, shutdown, irritability, people-pleasing, or emotional numbness.
Healing begins when we stop trying to manage symptoms and start listening to the deeper signal underneath the noise. The alarm in the body. The part that says something hurt me and I have not felt safe since.
You do not need to fully understand your experience to heal it. You just need to meet it where it lives.
In your body.
What Somatic Therapy Looks Like in Session
Somatic therapy at Heart Centered EMDR is gentle, collaborative, and paced with care. You will not be pushed to relive trauma. Instead, we build awareness and capacity gradually.
Sessions may include:
Mindful awareness
Noticing physical sensations, tension, or discomfort without judgment.Breathwork
Using intentional breathing to calm and regulate the nervous system.Grounding techniques
Connecting with the present moment through sensory awareness.Movement and release
Gentle physical shifts to discharge stored tension.Self-compassion practices
Developing kindness and patience toward yourself during the healing process.Inner child connection
Supporting younger parts of you that may still be holding fear, shame, or unmet needs.
Healing does not happen by managing symptoms. It happens by meeting the root with care and consistency. One breath. One moment at a time.
How Somatic Therapy Integrates With EMDR
Somatic therapy and EMDR work beautifully together.
EMDR helps reprocess traumatic memories. Somatic therapy helps regulate and restore the nervous system between and during that work.
Together, they allow us to:
Increase nervous system resilience
Reduce reactivity and emotional flooding
Build internal safety and self-trust
Create lasting change instead of short-term coping
This integrated approach is available in-person at our Kelowna office and online across British Columbia.
Reconnect With Your Body. Rebuild Safety.
You do not have to live disconnected from yourself. Your body is not the enemy. It is the messenger.
Somatic therapy in Kelowna offers a grounded, compassionate way to reconnect with your body and move toward balance, regulation, and growth.
