What to Expect in a Somatic Therapy Session: Body-Based Healing for Trauma and Stress What Is Somatic Therapy? Somatic therapy is a body-based approach to healing trauma, chronic stress, and emotional overwhelm. The word somatic means “relating to the body.” Unlike traditional talk therapy, somatic therapy focuses on the physical sensations, nervous system responses, and movement patterns that often live below conscious awareness. In sessions, these unconscious patterns are gently brought into awareness so they can be worked with directly—allowing the body to release stored tension, resolve trauma, and return to a state of internal safety. Somatic Therapy vs. Talk Therapy: What's the Difference? Traditional talk therapies like CBT, DBT, ACT, or psychodynamic therapy use a top-down approach—working through thoughts and verbal insight in the hope of influencing emotional and physical states. Somatic therapy uses a bottom-up approach, starting with the body: noticing breath, posture, heart rate, muscle tone, and other internal signals that are shaped by underlying emotions and belief systems. These subtle body cues give us direct access to the nervous system, where trauma is often stored and unconsciously repeated. These patterns are often difficult to identify in traditional talk therapy alone, and many talk therapists don’t have the specialized training to work with the nervous system in this way. Modalities I Use in My Palo Alto Somatic Therapy Practice I integrate several body-based and trauma-informed methods, including:
What Happens in a Somatic Therapy Session? Whether you're working with me in-person in Palo Alto or online, sessions usually begin with conversation. But unlike traditional therapy, I’ll invite you to track what’s happening in your body as you speak. For example, if you're experiencing chronic anxiety, we won’t just talk about it—we’ll explore how it shows up in your body: maybe as tightness in the chest, shallow breath, numbness, tingling, or frozen stillness. These are signs that your nervous system may be stuck in a fight, flight, freeze, or dissociative response. Somatic therapy gently helps the body complete these survival responses, freeing you from being stuck in the past and allowing your system to return to present-time safety and regulation. This is where real healing begins. What Is “Tracking” in Somatic Therapy? One of the core skills we build in somatic therapy is tracking—bringing focused, nonjudgmental attention to internal body sensations. Tracking involves noticing physical signals—like warmth, tension, pressure, movement, stillness, or even the absence of sensation. These cues reflect both protective survival states and the body’s natural self-regulating capacities. As you become more skilled at tracking, you begin to interrupt fear-based patterns, regulate your nervous system, and build a deeper sense of embodiment and resilience. Why Do We Get Stuck in Fear or Anxiety? Fear originates in the lower parts of the brain—specifically the brainstem and limbic system—which react faster than the thinking brain. When your nervous system detects a threat (even a subtle one), it sends signals to mobilize the body for survival. This can manifest as:
With somatic support, these patterns can be gently unwound. As we work together, your prefrontal cortex (thinking brain) re-engages, helping you feel calm, clear, and in control of your experience. Why Experience Matters in Somatic Work With over three decades of experience in somatic healing and trauma recovery, I’ve developed a nuanced ability to track and interpret complex nervous system patterns. My training in the Feldenkrais Method®, somatic psychology, and hands-on bodywork allows me to support clients in resolving long-held patterns of fear, disconnection, or dysregulation—often more efficiently than talk therapy alone. I specialize in working with:
What I Track in Sessions Each client is different, but some of the key areas I track include:
Ready to Learn More? If you're curious about how somatic therapy can help you resolve trauma, regulate your nervous system, and reconnect with yourself, I offer a free 20-minute consultation. Let’s talk about what you're facing—and what might be possible through body-based healing.  Why Freeze Isn't Failure: Understanding the Wisdom of Stillness in Trauma When Fight and Flight Aren’t Options, Freeze Steps In. If you’ve ever felt like your body just shuts down under stress—like you’re frozen inside—it’s not because you’re weak. It’s because your nervous system is incredibly wise. The freeze response is not passive. In fact, it’s one of the most logical and active survival states the body can choose when faced with overwhelming danger. As a Somatic Experiencing practitioner (SEP), I see this often: clients come in not running from threat or trying to fight it, but instead holding themselves in an incredibly still, watchful state. Hyper-aware of everything and everyone, they remain frozen - not because they don’t care, but because calling attention to themselves feels dangerous. It’s the classic "don’t poke the bear" strategy. They wait for the trouble to pass. But it never seems to pass. As logical and objective you are about how there is no danger in the environment - you may notice that your body can often care less about how smart or logical you are. To change this body state, you need to give the body an experience of safety to update all its predictions and action plans. I regularly work with people that have been do talk oriented therapy for many years with some positive results , but many of their body oriented symptoms like freeze will still remain. Often talk therapy alone cant update and communicate in a language that makes sense to our bodies. Freeze patterns often begins in childhood, especially in environments where a child repeatedly felt unsafe or overwhelmed. Over time, the nervous system learns to stay in a version of this freeze state - not just in moments of crisis, but as a baseline way of moving through the world. When Freeze Becomes a Chronic State Freeze can become hardwired. When the body believes that danger is always lurking—even when life looks calm on the outside, it can lead to:
In more extreme cases, when freeze alone doesn’t feel sufficient, the nervous system may shift into forms of dissociation:
The Utility of Freeze—and Its Cost The freeze response evolved to save us. Think of a deer caught in a predator’s gaze—it stays completely still. Every system in the body is simultaneously on high alert and shut down. Muscles braced, breathing slowed, heart quieted. Waiting. The problem comes when your body never gets the message that the danger is over. Over time, chronic freeze wears down your body and mind. Cortisol and adrenaline remain elevated. The adrenal glands, thyroid, and cardiovascular system become taxed. Your body becomes a battlefield of protection—always anticipating the next ambush. What Creates the Freeze Pattern? In my practice, I see freeze patterns often form from events that had some or all of these qualities:
So, How Do You Unlock Freeze? Through Somatic Experiencing, we learn to bring slow, compassionate attention to the body’s freeze state which begins to unlock freeze. We don’t force it open. We don’t override it. We learn to listen. I guide clients in:
You might start to notice that on a deep subconscious level, your body had been perpetually predicting trouble and chronically waiting for something to go wrong.” That’s the beginning of change. As you gain more access to your sensations and internal signals that are often veiled, your nervous system starts to learn: "I’m not stuck in the past anymore. I’m here now. And I’m safe.” , and gradually sees it can let go of holding patterns that may have served a purpose in the past but are no longer relevant today Over time, the soldier in the bunker—who’s been crouched for decades after the war ended—gets the update. The war is over. You can come out now. It’s Not Just SE While Somatic Experiencing is the foundation of my work, I also weave in other modalities that bring additional depth and nuance:
These approaches work together to help unlock the freeze response and support integration at every level—body, brain, and being. Brad Beldner, SEP Somatic Experiencing | Trauma Recovery | Nervous System Regulation Serving clients in Palo Alto, CA and online throughout the U.S. and worldwide Ready to Reclaim Your Nervous System? If this resonates with your experience, if you’ve felt frozen, disconnected, or chronically on alert, I invite you to take the next step. I offer a free 20-minute consultation where we can talk about how somatic work might support your healing. You can ask questions, get a feel for how I work, and explore whether Somatic Experiencing is right for you. Click here to schedule your free consultation Your body isn’t broken. It’s brilliant. And it’s ready to come back to life. |
Brad Beldner SEP, GCFT, NCTMB
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