Somatic Therapy for Trauma Stored in the Body
Talk therapy alone can't always reach what your body is still holding.
Somatic therapy helps release trauma stored in the body, so healing goes deeper than just understanding what happened. I offer online somatic therapy for adults across Virginia, Michigan, Texas, and Florida.
Somatic Therapy ~ Signs Trauma Is Stored in the Body
You've done the work. You can explain your story clearly, you know where the patterns started, you've even had the insight moment in therapy before.
But your body never got the memo.
It doesn't always look like anxiety.
It can look like:
Taking a full breath and realizing you'd been holding it, without noticing
Your shoulders creeping up toward your ears during a totally normal conversation
A stomach that drops before you consciously register what just happened
Going through your whole day feeling like you're watching it from a few feet outside your body
A clenched jaw and tongue at the top of your mouth, right now, reading this
You might notice:
Talking about something painful in a calm, even voice, while your chest feels like it's being crushed
A jaw that aches by the end of the day from clenching you didn't know you were doing
Waking up already tense, like your body braced itself overnight
Detaching from your emotions and staying in your head instead, something therapists call an intellectualization defense mechanism
A racing heart in situations that shouldn't warrant one: a text notification, a certain tone of voice, a door closing too loud
Feeling completely fine one moment and flooded the next, with no clear trigger you can point to
Rest that doesn't actually feel restful, like your nervous system never fully powers down
Especially when:
You understand your story intellectually but nothing has actually shifted in how your body responds
Trauma happened young, happened repeatedly, or happened so long ago it feels like it shouldn't still matter, but does
You feel disconnected from your body, like you're living from the neck up
You've done talk therapy and gotten real insight, but the physical symptoms haven't moved
If any of this feels familiar, you're not alone.
Somatic therapy can help your body finally release what it's been holding onto, not just your mind understand it.
What Kind of Trauma Somatic Therapy Can Help With
Grief and Loss
The body holds loss the same way it holds fear: tension, exhaustion, bracing that doesn't lift.
Grief that's only been processed in your mind often stays lodged somewhere in your body.
Relational or Attachment Trauma
Trauma that happened in relationships, with a parent, a partner, someone who was supposed to be safe.
Your body may still brace around closeness, even with people who've never hurt you.
Childhood or Developmental Trauma
Trauma that happened before you had words for it, or before anyone helped make sense of it.
Your body learned to brace early, and old patterns can be slow to update.
Betrayal Trauma
The discovery, the deception, the moment trust broke. Your body may still be bracing from it.
Even after the facts settle, your nervous system can stay on high alert.
Growing Up With Emotionally Immature Parents
Years of reading the room, managing everyone's moods, and shrinking to stay safe.
Your body learned to brace early, and it may still be bracing, even now that you're safe.
High-Functioning Trauma & Caregiver Burnout
You hold it together, for your family, your job, everyone but yourself.
Being capable was never the same as being okay, and your body has taken the impact.
Somatic Therapy ~ How Therapy Helps
This isn't about pushing through, controlling your emotions, powering down, or forcing yourself to relax.
It's about helping release trauma stored in the body, so calm becomes something you actually feel, not something you perform.
First, we understand where trauma is stored in the body
Instead of intellectualizing, we start by noticing what's happening in your body right now, in this moment.
So you can understand:
Why certain moments trigger a physical reaction before your mind catches up
Why rest doesn't always feel restful, even when nothing is wrong
Why you can explain your story calmly and still feel tension in your body
We support nervous system regulation and healing
Survival mode kept you safe once. It doesn't know the danger has passed.
Together, we work on nervous system regulation so your body can learn:
The difference between then and now
How to release body tension without forcing it
What it actually feels like to rest, not just stop moving
We work with what's stored, not just what's remembered
Trauma doesn't stay stuck because you haven't thought about it enough. It stays stuck because your body never finished the response it started, and that trauma gets stored in the body itself.
The tension. The bracing. The moment your body knew it wasn't safe and took action to save you.
We work with that directly, using somatic therapy techniques to help release trauma stored in the body so it can finally settle instead of staying frozen in place.
Somatic therapy works really well with folks who tend to intellectualize, reason, or “think logically” because it doesn’t rely on words.
We rebuild trust between you and your own body
When your body has been on alert for a long time, it stops feeling like a place you live in and starts feeling like something you're managing.
We work with that directly so safety becomes something you feel, not just something you know.
Over time, you'll notice:
Less body tension you're not even aware you're holding
Sleep and rest that actually feel restful
Fewer moments of unexplained flooding or shutdown
A felt sense of safety in your own body, not just an idea of it
This isn't about becoming a different person, or pretending your body doesn't remember what it's been through.
It's about feeling settled again. In your body, your breath, and your life.
Hi, I'm Carly ~
I used to think somatic therapy meant "take a deep breath in and out." Then I actually learned polyvagal theory, nervous system science…how trauma actually gets stored, and it changed how I practice completely.
Somatic therapy isn't about relaxation techniques. It's working with sensation, our body's own language, to reach what talking sometimes can't. That matters most for the clients I see who can explain their trauma perfectly, who've read the books and done the analysis, but still feel stuck in their body no matter how much they understand in their head.
We build something underneath all that insight: a felt sense of safety, and compassion for yourself that doesn't require the right words to access it.
Common Questions About Somatic Therapy
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Somatic therapy is a body-based approach to healing trauma. Instead of only talking through what happened, we work with what's still happening in your body, the tension, the bracing, the nervous system responses that talk therapy alone doesn't always reach. It's rooted in the understanding that trauma isn't just a memory, it's something stored in the body.
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Yes.
Talk therapy, or cognitive therapy, works primarily with your thoughts and your story. Somatic therapy works with your body, your sensations, your nervous system, alongside the story, not instead of it.
Many clients do both. If you've done talk therapy and understand your trauma intellectually but still feel stuck physically, somatic therapy is often the missing piece.
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No.
Somatic therapy doesn't require you to relive every detail out loud. We can work with what your body is holding right now, in the present moment, without needing a full narrative first. For many clients, that's actually a relief.
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That's more common than you'd think, and it doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you.
Feeling disconnected from your body is often itself a trauma response, a way your nervous system learned to cope. We start slow, rebuilding that connection gently, at a pace your body can actually tolerate.
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Not everyone's trauma response looks like anxiety. Some people freeze instead of activate, going numb, foggy, or checked out rather than wired and reactive.
That's a nervous system stuck in a freeze response, and somatic therapy uses grounding techniques and other body-based tools to work with that directly, not just the more visible anxious responses.
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Yes.
Trauma often shows up as literal physical tension, a tight jaw, tense shoulders, a stomach that won't unclench, feet that flutter.
Somatic therapy works directly with the body to release that tension, not by talking about it more, but by helping your nervous system actually let go of what it's been holding.
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You don't need clear memories for somatic therapy to help. Childhood trauma is often stored in the body precisely because it happened before you had words for it. We work with what your body is holding now, not with piecing together a timeline.
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Yes, online somatic therapy is just as effective as in-person work for most clients.
We track sensation, breath, posture, and nervous system responses through video, and I'll guide you through noticing what's happening in your body in real time, no different from what we'd do in an office.
Many clients actually find being in their own space, on their own couch, in clothes they're comfortable in, helps them settle into the work faster than an unfamiliar office would.
Online somatic therapy also means you don't have to add a commute on top of an already activating day, which matters more than people expect.
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It depends on what you're carrying and how long it's been stored.
Some clients notice shifts within the first several sessions, more ease in their body, better sleep, less unexplained tension. Deeper patterns, especially from childhood or long-term stress, take longer to fully settle. We'll go at a pace your nervous system can actually handle.
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I'm an out-of-network provider, which means I don't bill insurance directly.
Many clients use out-of-network benefits to get partially reimbursed. I'm happy to talk through what that could look like for you.
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There are several approaches within somatic therapy, including nervous system regulation techniques, breathwork, and body awareness practices.
I draw from what actually fits your body and your history rather than a single rigid method, so the work stays specific to you
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To find the most updates fees, please visit my Rates & FAQ page.
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Start with a free 15-minute consultation.
We'll talk about whats going on and whether this feels like the right fit, no pressure, no commitment.
Step 1:
Consultation
We'll start with a 15-minute phone call to talk about what's going on and what you want out of therapy. You don't need to explain everything perfectly, or already know what's wrong. This is a no-pressure way for us to see if it feels like the right fit.
Step 2:
First Session
We'll slow things down and get a clear picture of what your body is holding. We can explore where you feel tension, notice sensations, or build resources for staying grounded. We'll go in the direction that makes the most sense for you.
Step 3:
Ongoing Work
From there, we'll work at a pace your nervous system can actually handle. Over time, you'll notice less tension, better internal communication, more ease in your body, and the ability to feel calm without having to force it.
Understanding isn't the same as healing.
You can explain it perfectly. You've done the reading, you know the theory, and you even recognize your own intellectualization defense mechanism in real time.
But your body is still bracing, still holding, still waiting for a danger that's already passed.
Insight alone was never going to be enough. Your body needs its own kind of healing.
Somatic therapy for adults in Colorado, Michigan, Florida, Texas and Virginia.
