form & flow

Soma is Greek and can be defined as the body in its wholeness – i.e., the body and all the outside influences that affect us. Consider the buoyant aliveness of a small child, responding to their feelings and impulses with their entire being, naturally connecting with the whole world from moment to moment!

Life events or oppressive structures and systems can lead us away from that ease of connection with ourselves and the world. We may override our bodies’ needs and expressions and take on adaptive strategies to restore a sense of safety and survival –  trying to be invisible or running away, fighting against the world, serving others’ needs and shrinking the importance of our own, and more. These strategies are intelligent and useful for a time, but if we get stuck in them, we can lose touch with who we really are.

When we silence the outside noise, reconnect with the body and listen to what comes from inside, we can lean into the soma’s wisdom and lay down new pathways for ourselves. We can examine the patterns that have taken root, envision what we want differently for the future, and actively move towards it, practicing new ways of being that bring us closer to our true selves, increase resilience and keep our dignity intact.

Perhaps we never had the space to dream, imagine, or experience being in our full power, self-determination and vitality. Perhaps a sudden turn of events rearranged our whole lives in a minute. No matter how our challenges have altered us, know that we can reshape ourselves yet again.

Somatic Experiencing

When we have great stress, shock or trauma, it generally means that events have happened too fast, too much and/or too soon for our nervous system, and it has become destabilized or dysregulated. In somatic therapy, we slow down, focus on becoming aware of both the natural and learned responses in our body-mind, and let the soma tell us what it needs to restore regulation and safety.

Somatic therapy is not the same as talk therapy. We work “bottom up” first – feeling into the body, paying attention to the sensations inside us that tell us about our inner state, allowing the body to release or recharge as needed, and giving it new practices to expand our capacity for change. We can practice new ways of holding our bodies, and we can bolster this internal, somatic learning with “top down,” cognitive practices such as observing and retraining our narratives, thinking and behavioral patterns.

Strozzi Somatic Coaching

In Strozzi somatic coaching, I offer you a 3 month / 12 session journey in which we work together toward a specific goal that aligns you more with your values and vitality. In the first sessions, we will explore what shape you and your life are in, determine your goal and specify the commitment to yourself that you intend to achieve through and beyond the sessions. In order to change our shaping, we need to allow the old shape to give way to the new, and then practice what it feels like in the new desired shape, so our sessions will include these somatic practices. As homework, you will be invited to challenge yourself by trying out new actions and behaviors in daily life that move you toward your commitment and the new shape you want to embody.

Somatic Bodywork

Sometimes words and meaning create a barrier to feeling. We can use somatic bodywork to get directly into what is happening in the tissues. It is a way of communicating slowly and sensitively with the nervous system that can both release accumulated tensions and renegotiate our relationship to our bodies and to touch. It may include very light touch or deeper pressure. Somatic bodywork is not massage, and it is done fully clothed. It may be utilized within the coaching work or separately on its own. Done regularly, it can support the processing of life events.

What to expect in a session?

When you come into the office, you are invited to get as comfortable as you can, perhaps through stretching or movement, lying, sitting or standing. We move into focused awareness on your inner state – how do you feel? What are the emotions, moods, sensations, impulses arising within? These help us discover what theme is important for you to work on in the session. We go deeper. We may incorporate both somatic (felt sense) and physical (movement) practices into the work; you may be offered options that utilize balance, object manipulation, movement, role playing, storytelling, touch, visualization or voice. Everything is at your choice – we curate the work together.

Somatics can:

• Allow us to feel our emotions as they are and separate feelings from thought cycles;
• Bring more love and care into our relationships with ourselves and others;
• Center and ground us so we can live in the here and now;
• Contribute to resolving psychosomatic ailments;
• Disrupt old patterns in our bodies, behavior and thinking, and strengthen new synaptic paths in our neuroplastic brain;
• Give us access to our authentic inner voice, so we can learn to distinguish it from  we have learned that protect us, and trust it;
• Help us identify, understand, respond to and clearly express our emotions;
• Lead us to our true intentions – and where intention goes, attention goes;
• Provide evidence based, practical strategies for re-regulation of the nervous system – calming anxiety or waking up from freeze;
• Refine our awareness and understanding of all the parts of ourselves;
• Stimulate authentic expression, creativity, health, playfulness and vitality;
• Strengthen new synaptic paths in our neuroplastic brain;
• Teach us how to stay with and protect our dignity, safety and belonging.