Somatic Therapy
Rich Doyle, LCSW-C | Trained in The body in Mind: Somato Symbolic Processing
Sometimes the body knows before we have words for it.
We don't experience life only through our thoughts. We also experience it through sensation, emotion, movement, tension, impulses, and the subtle ways our bodies respond from moment to moment.
Somatic therapy brings those experiences into the therapeutic process.
Rather than relying only on talking about what is happening, we may slow down and become curious about what is happening in your body as we talk about it. A sensation may become more noticeable. An image or symbol may emerge. You may notice an impulse to move, pull away, reach forward, brace, soften, or take up more space. Sometimes a memory or emotion comes into awareness. Other times, simply noticing what is already there can offer new information.
My approach to somatic therapy is strongly informed by The Body in Mind: Somato Symbolic Processing (SSP), an experiential approach that uses direct body awareness, sensation, imagery, symbolism, movement, and expression to explore what may be happening beneath or alongside what is already consciously known.
The goal is not to interpret every sensation or assume that the body always has a hidden answer. It is to widen the conversation—to include information that may not be available through thinking and words alone, and to see what becomes possible when we listen more closely.