Tried Therapy Before and It Didn't Stick? Here's Why Somatic Work Might Be Different
If you've been to therapy before and felt like it helped up to a point but something still felt stuck, that experience is more common than you might think.
I hear some version of this often in consultations. Someone has done real work in therapy. They understand their patterns, they've named things, they've made genuine progress. And yet there's still something that doesn't quite shift. A tightness that shows up in the same situations. A way the body goes into a particular mode that insight alone hasn't been able to touch.
That's not a failure of the work you've done. That's the nervous system doing what it learned to do. And that's often where somatic work comes in.
As a licensed therapist and registered yoga teacher, I've spent years working at the intersection of mind and body, both in my own life and in the therapy room. What I've come to understand is that talk therapy and somatic work aren't competing approaches. They work on different channels. And for a lot of people, bringing the body into the conversation is what allows the work they've already done to land somewhere deeper.
What Is Somatic Therapy, Exactly?
Somatic therapy is an approach to mental health that includes the body in the healing process. The word "somatic" just means "of the body." Somatic therapy is a form of body-centered therapy that looks at the connection of your mind and body and uses both psychotherapy and physical techniques to help release the tension that affects your emotional wellbeing.
The underlying idea is that stress, difficult experiences, and trauma don't only live in our memories and thoughts. They get stored in the nervous system, in the muscles, in patterns of breath and posture and physical bracing that can persist long after the original experience has passed.Somatic therapy helps release your pent-up tension and emotions, fostering healing through techniques that encourage both physical and emotional release.
This isn't a woo-woo concept. It's grounded in decades of research from trauma specialists like Peter Levine, Pat Ogden, and Bessel van der Kolk, whose research has fundamentally shifted how the mental health field understands trauma and stress.
Somatic therapists come from a range of training backgrounds. Some specialize in Somatic Experiencing, a trauma-focused approach developed by Peter Levine that works with the body's natural impulse to complete stress responses. Others are trained in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, which integrates body awareness with attachment theory and cognitive approaches. EMDR also incorporates somatic awareness and is sometimes practiced within a somatic framework. Hakomi is another body-centered approach that uses mindfulness and gentle inquiry to surface unconscious patterns held in the body.
At Middle Way Wellness, our somatic work is rooted in trauma-informed yoga , which draws on breathwork, intentional movement, and body awareness practices to help the nervous system build safety and capacity from the inside out. It's particularly well suited for people who are drawn to yoga or movement as part of their wellness practice and want to bring that same mind-body orientation into their therapeutic work.
Why Talk Therapy Sometimes Isn't Enough on Its Own
Talk therapy is a top-down approach. It works from the mind downward, using insight, language, and cognitive processing to create change. For a lot of people and a lot of presenting concerns, this works really well. I use talk therapy in my own practice and believe in it. Our minds are very powerful, and it helps to learn skillful ways to think.
But there are situations where it runs into limits.
When someone experiences trauma, something specific can happen neurologically. As trauma-informed yoga therapist Paula Brown explains in her work with the Cleveland Clinic, trauma can disconnect the brain pathways that normally allow people to find words for their experience. When those pathways are disrupted, someone might sit in a therapy session genuinely trying to process something and feel like they can't access it, not because they're resistant, but because the trauma response has made verbal processing harder to reach. In those cases, those pathways often need to be reconnected before verbal processing can really work.
Somatic therapy takes a different route. Rather than starting with language and working down, it starts with the body and works up: a bottom-up approach. It asks: what is your nervous system doing right now? What sensations are present? Where in your body do you notice something shifting when we talk about this? By following those physical cues and working with them directly, somatic approaches can access what talking sometimes can't reach.
This doesn't mean talk therapy is wrong or that somatic work is better. It means they work on different channels, and for many people, combining them produces even better results in therapy.
What Somatic Therapy Actually Looks Like in Session
People often expect somatic therapy to look very different from regular therapy. In practice, it's usually not as unfamiliar as people anticipate.
Sessions still involve talking. There's still a relationship, still exploration of what's going on in your life, still space to process and reflect. The difference is that the body is included in that conversation. I might notice a shift in your posture or your breath while you're talking about something and gently ask about it. I might invite you to pause and notice what you're feeling physically rather than just mentally. We might work with a grounding practice, a breathing exercise, or some gentle movement as a way of engaging directly with what the nervous system is holding.
Somatic therapy helps people develop the ability to self-regulate their emotions and move out of the fight, flight, or freeze response into a state where they can think more clearly. The goal is to help free people from what's preventing them from fully engaging in their lives.
My training as a registered yoga teacher shapes how I bring this into sessions. Trauma-informed yoga and somatic practices are designed not to take you back to the source of pain, but to help you become more aware of what's going on in your body, and to work on releasing built-up emotions, stress, and tension in a way that feels safe.
Signs Somatic Work Might Be a Good Fit for You
You don't have to have a trauma history to benefit from somatic therapy. It's useful for anyone whose nervous system has learned to stay in a heightened state of stress, which honestly includes a lot of people navigating modern life.
Some signs it might be worth exploring:
You've had talk therapy and felt like you understood your patterns but still couldn't change how you felt in your body.
You notice physical symptoms of stress, anxiety, or low mood that don't resolve even when things in your life are going well.
You tend to disconnect from your body or feel numb, or conversely, feel easily overwhelmed by physical sensations.
You have trouble accessing emotions in conversation or feel like you go blank when trying to talk about difficult things.
You're drawn to practices like yoga, meditation, or breathwork and want to bring that orientation into your therapy work.
Somatic therapy can also be a great fit if you're newer to therapy and want to try something integrative from the start, or if you're doing well overall but want better tools for stress and emotional regulation in daily life.
This Doesn't Have to Replace What You're Already Doing
One of the most important things to know about somatic work is that it doesn't have to be either/or.
Many of the clients we work with at Middle Way Wellness continue seeing their existing talk therapist and add individual somatic-informed sessions here to supplement what they're doing in traditional therapy. Others come to us for somatic-focused individual therapy on its own. Some join group offerings as a lower-commitment and lower cost starting point for exploring this kind of work.
Wherever you are in your healing journey, there's likely a way to bring body-based work in that fits. If you're working with another provider and want to add sessions here, we are glad to coordinate care. That kind of collaboration across providers is something I think matters for clients, and something I'm genuinely happy to be part of.
What to Expect If You're New to This
If you've never done somatic work before, the first few sessions are mostly about building awareness and safety. We go at your pace. Nothing is forced. You are always in control of what you engage with and how much.
Somatic therapy helps build resilience so you can cope better with future challenges. But the foundation of that is feeling safe enough to actually be present in your body, and that's something we build together, not something you're expected to arrive with.
You might notice things in session like warmth or tingling as tension shifts, a spontaneous deep breath or yawn, an urge to move, or an unexpected emotional release. These are all normal signs that the nervous system is responding. They're not things to push through or perform. They're just information, and we work with them at whatever pace makes sense for you.
Working with Middle Way Wellness
I'm Caitie Fey, a Licensed Professional Counselor and Registered Yoga Teacher and the founder of Middle Way Wellness. My approach to therapy draws from attachment theory, Gottman Method, somatic and yoga-informed practice, mindfulness, and Eastern philosophy. I work with individuals and couples navigating a wide range of concerns, from anxiety and life transitions to relational patterns that have been hard to shift through insight alone.
My yoga training isn't a side interest I bring into sessions occasionally. It's central to how I understand people and how I practice. I believe the body holds wisdom that the thinking mind doesn't always have access to, and that slowing down to listen to it, with the right support, is often where real change becomes possible.
I'm currently waitlisted for new individual therapy clients. If you're interested in working together individually, you're welcome to get on the waitlist and I'll be in touch when space opens. In the meantime, my colleague Caitlin Estep, LLPC, RYT is also a somatic and yoga-informed therapist here at Middle Way Wellness and is currently accepting new clients. Caitlin brings the same mind-body orientation to her work and has afternoon and evening availability, both in-person in Ferndale and virtually throughout Michigan.
Learn more about Caitlin | Book a free consultation
Frequently Asked Questions
Is somatic therapy the same as talk therapy? No, though the two often overlap. Talk therapy works primarily through language and cognitive insight. Somatic therapy includes the body in the process, using breathwork, movement, grounding, and physical awareness alongside conversation. Many people find somatic work reaches things that talking alone doesn't fully address.
Can I do somatic therapy if I'm already seeing a talk therapist? Yes. Many clients at Middle Way Wellness work with both a talk therapist and a somatic therapist at the same time. Somatic sessions can complement and deepen what you're already doing in traditional therapy. We're happy to coordinate care with your existing provider.
Do I need a trauma history to benefit from somatic therapy? No. Somatic therapy is helpful for anyone who wants to work with the nervous system more directly, including people dealing with anxiety, stress, depression, life transitions, or a general sense of feeling stuck or disconnected from themselves.
What does a somatic therapy session feel like? Sessions involve talking, but also pausing to notice physical sensations, practicing breathwork or grounding, and sometimes gentle movement. It's usually less unfamiliar than people expect. The pace is always guided by what feels safe and manageable for you.
Where can I find a somatic therapist in Michigan? Middle Way Wellness in Ferndale, MI offers somatic and yoga-informed individual therapy for adults and teens (15+), in-person and virtually throughout Michigan. You can also use search tools like Psychology Today or Zen Care and select “somatic therapy” as a modality.
Middle Way Wellness | 359 Livernois #202, Ferndale, MI | In-person and virtual throughout Michigan
Sources
van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
Levine, P. A. (1997). Waking the tiger: Healing trauma. North Atlantic Books.
Psychology Today. (2022). Somatic therapy. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/somatic-therapy
INTEGRIS Health. (2024, October). Somatic therapy: Signs your body is releasing trauma. https://integrishealth.org/resources/on-your-health/2024/october/somatic-therapy-signs-your-body-is-releasing-trauma
Cleveland Clinic. (2022, April). How yoga can help heal trauma. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/trauma-informed-yoga
van der Kolk, B. A., Stone, L., West, J., Rhodes, A., Emerson, D., Suvak, M., & Spinazzola, J. (2014). Yoga as an adjunctive treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 75(6), e559-e565. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.13m08561
