Frequently Asked Questions

Somatic coaching uses a body-based approach to healing and personal growth. Most of us spend the majority of our time connected to our minds, noticing sensations in our body only when aches and pains arise. What we sometimes forget is that our mind is not separate from our body—it is part of our body. And just as our mind conveys messages to our body, so too does our body convey messages to our mind. We may understand this on a physiological level but often haven’t been taught to recognize the wisdom in our body and how understanding that wisdom can help us heal and grow.

The residual energy of stress can be stored in the body for years, which frequently leads to a number of physical and mental symptoms that can negatively impact our lives. Somatic practices can help process and release this stored energy, providing relief from the unpleasant symptoms that plague many of us.

As a certified trauma-informed somatic coach, I’ll guide you to re-connect with the sensations and wisdom within your own body. I’ll help you connect with stress and emotions in order to foster healing and personal growth that will allow you to evolve into the version of yourself that fulfills your purpose.

Somatic coaching can help you connect with the wisdom of your body to move toward personal growth, emotional well-being, and a greater sense of balance in life. It’s a holistic approach that integrates the mind, body, and emotions, helping you become more grounded, empowered, and aligned with your true self. Developing a steady, compassionate, trusting relationship with your body can reap benefits in many areas of your life, including relationships, career, parenting, and resilience when faced with life’s stressors.

Psychotherapists often work with people who are experiencing emotional or psychological challenges that are significantly impacting their lives, and tend to focus on the impact that past experiences may be having on current emotions and behaviors. Therapy typically relies more on talk-based methods to explore thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Psychotherapists who specialize in trauma can help people recover from various traumatic experiences.

In contrast, somatic coaches work with clients who are generally functioning well day-to-day but who want to improve certain areas of their lives. Somatic coaching is not intended to address deeper psychological issues or process trauma. Instead, somatic coaching focuses on the present and helps clients connect with their physical sensations, emotions, and intuition to create change for the future.

Traditional coaching primarily focuses on cognitive processes, such as setting goals, analyzing situations, and developing strategies. Somatic coaching is centered around the premise that the body contains and communicates to us valuable wisdom as we experience life. Somatic coaching focuses on body awareness and physical sensations to help clients access deeper insights and facilitate change.

Somatic coaching can help in addressing a variety of challenges, including:

• Stress

• Anxiety

• Disruptive relationship patterns

• Emotional regulation

• Aligned decision-making

• Improving self-confidence

• Learning to connect with and trust your intuition

• Improving overall well-being

• Overcoming limiting beliefs

• Life transitions

Somatic coaching offers a gentle, non-clinical approach to embodiment. While somatic coaching is not intended to help clients actively process trauma and is not a replacement for psychotherapy, it can be a supportive modality in addition to past or current trauma therapy. Somatic coaching emphasizes creating a sense of safety in the body. By focusing on grounding techniques, breathing exercises, and body awareness, it helps individuals reconnect with their bodies in a way that feels secure and non-threatening.

As a certified trauma-informed somatic coach, I’m trained to be attuned to my clients’ energy and nervous systems, and my top priority is to ensure that, in every session, we proceed at a pace that feels safe for you. My training has provided me with the skills to gently guide clients back to the present moment if they begin to experience sensations or emotions connected to past traumatic experiences.

Successful somatic work that will lead to body-mind integration requires us to go at the pace that the nervous system has capacity for in each moment. My job as a somatic coach is to honor and hold space for the emotions, sensations, and state of your nervous system at all times, acknowledging that traumatic experiences can impact those elements differently on any given day.

The number of somatic coaching sessions needed to see results can vary widely depending on the individual and the specific goals and issues being addressed. In order to attain long-lasting benefits of somatic work, the process of collaborating needs to go at the pace that feels safest for you.

During the first few sessions, we’ll build the foundation of our coach-client relationship, providing your nervous system with time and space to become familiar with the safety of our coaching container. At the start, tuning into your body might feel unfamiliar, and that's okay. We will take time to help you connect with your body in ways that feel comfortable for you—and at a pace that suits your body. Beyond that, we can work together for as long as you’d like at the frequency of your choosing.

To offer maximum flexibility for clients, I offer individual sessions, as well as longer-term containers at a discounted per-session rate.

Absolutely. Somatic coaching is a modality that can be supportive in addition to deeper psychotherapy work or more cognitive-focused mindset coaching. The body-based approach of somatic coaching can help you more deeply integrate the insights you discover during mind-based therapy or coaching.

During a free 15-minute discovery call, we’ll connect via Zoom and chat about your interest in somatic coaching. I’ll answer any questions you have, and together we’ll see if our energies align and if my approach can best support your needs and goals.