The word ‘Somatic’ refers to the body, and comes from the Greek word soma. In contrast to psychological approaches which work with the mind and are said to be ‘top down’ methods, Somatic Therapies are ‘bottom up’ approaches that work with the body and the lower unconscious parts of the brain to influence the upper, conscious levels of the mind.

After many years of conscious dance practice in the UK and Europe, I completed Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms™ dance teacher training in 2008, the year I emigrated to Aotearoa. Conscious movement is a wonderful route to embodiment – enjoyable, connected and deeply transformative.

The word ‘Somatic’ refers to the body, and we use ‘Experiencing‘ to mean that the resolution of trauma happens in the present time. Talking therapies such as counselling are a ‘top down’ approach, which uses the evolutionarily newest parts of the brain, while Somatic Experiencing is a ‘bottom up’ approach, with less talking and more attention to information stored in the lower sub-conscious parts of the brain where the emergency responses are based.