Somatic Body Work
What is it?
Somatic bodywork is a part of somatic therapy and somatic experiencing® therapy: body-centred therapies that look at the connection between mind and body, using both psychotherapy and touch for a holistic, inclusive healing process. Practitioners of somatic (experiencing®) therapy believe thoughts, emotions, and sensations are interconnected and influence one another. When you talk about chronic pain, their approach is that the pain could be influenced by what you think or feel.
Somatic bodywork describes the physical treatment: the practitioner focuses on the patient's physical discomfort, using that as the basis of the treatment. With specific techniques, the practitioner aims to release pent-up tension that negatively affects physical and emotional wellbeing. From this physical foundation, the practitioner will bring in verbal skills to encourage a bigger release of emotion and tension.
How does it work?
We know it’s common that when you feel stressed, shocked, or scared certain hormones are released which results in muscle tension. I find this article helpful in understanding more about stress, anxiety and muscle tension. However, what is not common, is that this muscle tension doesn't always subside or heal, no matter the physical treatment or duration of rest.
Enter somatic bodywork.
Somatic bodywork is based on the understanding that the energy of your emotions can get ‘stuck’ in your physical body. Healthline wrote an interesting article on ‘emotional baggage’ as they call it, what it is, and how to release it.
In plain English: Somatic bodywork takes the approach that ‘stress’ you experience and ‘store’ keeps muscles contracted and blood flow obstructed.
If the tension in a specific spot is too strong, your body will not be able to fix it and will need help.
During the treatment, the therapist will (much like a massage therapist) look for ‘sore spots’ or ‘knots’. These areas are then manipulated and stimulated, increasing blood and lymph circulation, as well as relaxing soft tissue, this, in turn, releases nerves and deeper connective tissues. The ultimate goal is to locate and release tension.
Once the areas of tension are found, it's down to the patient to complete the release in whatever way feels appropriate. This could be crying, screaming, wailing, yelling or anything else that comes up.
Bodywork can bring up a lot.
During a somatic bodywork session, the therapist might ask things like, "Do you know why you're crying", or "Do you see or feel anything?".
In practice, it means that to release energy, you need to work through it.
Is this for you?
Imagine this: you’ve had an incredible scare because your house got burgled when you were home alone and your whole body went still and stiff hoping nothing would happen. The burglars leave and you are safe again, aside from some administrational distress, you’re ok.
However, there’s a tension turning to pain in your shoulders that you cannot get rid of; you’re months down the line and it only seems to get worse, no matter the number of therapies and treatments.
The doctor says it’s stress and you should take more massages and take it slow, however, you’re already taking it as slow as you can (and much slower than before) and there’s no number of massages that made any difference.
Somatic body work could be worth a try.
Much unlike physical therapy, dry needling, massage, Rolfing, and many other treatments focused on the physical aspect of the tension, Somatic body work focuses on the energetic aspect that could be part of the problem.
That is also why it might be of interest for people with chronic pain. If physical therapies don’t seem to make a difference, perhaps working on the somatic side could give reprieve.
Please note: this treatment is not yet scientifically proven on a big scale, so it might not be up your street. There is however more and more research available on this topic. The conclusion of the linked literary review calls the the positive impact of key factors of Somatic Experiencing® (a specific approach to somatic therapy) on post traumatic experience promising, with more research needed.
What is my experience?
Somatic body work seems to be one of the key reasons to my recent improvement. I have been going on a weekly basis for 8 months, so it’s a big investment, and definitely not a walk in the park.
As the treatments can get quite intense, the key to success is to have a therapist you trust and are comfortable with, and, who based on her skills/gifts/experience, is able to connect and check-in with your body and find the different spots of pain that you feel. In my case, my pain moves around a lot. One day it’s my hips, the next day it’s my neck, the following all in my lower back. I’m a little bit stuck everywhere therefore in order for the treatment to be most impactful, I need to work with someone who understands what I am going through.
I have this rule of thumb about a therapist being able to locate my pain very early on. If after the intake/first treatment the therapist cannot connect to it, it’s probably a flag not to continue. This is because it’s so easy for the right therapist to feel and understand your pain. And I learnt from my experiences, when they don’t, it’s hard for them to find a solution for you.
Especially in traditional health care I experienced this as a bottleneck, my pain was not well understood and hence the right doctor, treatment etc. could never be found.
How it worked for me:
The therapist I work with connects with me before she starts the treatment, and without touching me could feel where I have pain. For the critical thinkers here: yes - this was definitely also pushing my boundaries, (though no reason yet to stop immediately). After that, and with checking with me, she chose her areas of focus for that day. From here, much like a massage, she touches and manipulates my body. The big difference: when she gets to an area of high tension (a knot) it will go beyond the strongest massage you’ve ever had.
Then the work was all up to me. I had to recognize what emotion was coming up when an area of tension was manipulated and release that emotion by reliving it, by leaning in the total force of the experience. This could be crying, wailing, yelling, screaming, but just as much a soft whimper or an uncontrollable sobbing. After the manipulation of multiple points and hence working through different emotions, it’s time for a 15 minute rest to integrate and process what just happened, and then the treatment is over.
Having gone numerous times, and with my critical, cynical self never far away, I’m still blown away each treatment that this works. That just by pushing a spot I get incredibly emotional, and by working through that emotion, I actually feel better afterwards.
I understand reading this can be a lot to take for some people.
I was also hesitant to try at first. Though if your pain is anything like mine, you’re open to try just about anything. As well, in the past years, science and academic research are more and more backing up this approach to chronic pain, and further investigating the correlation between trauma and the body. A good (recent) book to read on this topic is: the body keeps the score by Bessel van der Kolk.
I believe there are other somatic practitioners or treatments that potentially are less intense than the one I’ve gone through, as somatic healing is becoming a staple for people having gone through traumatic experiences, but who are unaware, or unable to talk about it. For me, now 8 months later, this treatment has done wonders, not just to my body, but much so to my mental state. I feel lighter, I have more resilience, and absolutely less pain.
How can I try this?
If you’re interested in this treatment, and you have no one in your network that can recommend you someone, Google is your best friend. With the above key-words and desired area you should get quite a lot of result. Please check out my article on How to book a treatment for the first time here.
Disclaimer:
This blog provides general information and discussion about health, treatments and related subjects. I try to shine light on a vast and often ambiguous arena by sharing my own experiences. The words and other content provided in this blog, as well as any linked materials, are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice. I’m not a medical expert. If the reader or any other person has a medical concern, he or she should consult with an appropriately-licensed physician or other health care worker.