Exploring Somatic Practices and IFS Therapy for Healing and Trauma Recovery

In the journey of healing trauma, many people find themselves stuck in their heads—replaying memories, analyzing thoughts, or trying to "think" their way into feeling better. While cognitive approaches like talk therapy are incredibly valuable, they don't always reach the deeper layers where trauma lives: the body. In my travels, I often reflect on the sacred connection I sense to the ocean, sky, and earth beneath me. Thinking about the beauty of the shoreline in La Spezia, Italy cannot capture the essence and profound harmony embodied on a walk there.

Somatic healing offers a different path—one that begins not in the mind, but in the felt experience of the body.

What Is Somatic Healing?

“Somatic” comes from the Greek word soma, meaning “body.” Somatic healing is an umbrella term for therapeutic practices that focus on the body’s role in storing and processing trauma. Instead of asking, "What are you thinking?" somatic practices ask, "What are you sensing?"

The core belief behind somatic healing is that trauma isn't just a memory; it's a physiological imprint left on the nervous system. Our bodies remember what our minds try to forget. Tension in the shoulders, a tight chest, shallow breathing—these can be signs that the body is still "holding on" to past stress or traumatic events.

How Trauma Affects the Body

When we experience trauma, our bodies often go into a survival response: fight, flight, freeze, dissociate, or fawn. These responses are driven by the autonomic nervous system and are meant to protect us in the face of threat.

But trauma doesn't always end when the event ends. If the body doesn’t fully process the survival energy, that energy can become "stuck" in the nervous system. This can lead to:

• Chronic pain or tension

• Hypervigilance or anxiety

• Numbness or dissociation

• Emotional reactivity

• Difficulty feeling safe or grounded

Somatic practices help the body complete these stress responses, restore regulation, and reclaim a sense of safety.

Common Somatic Healing Practices

Somatic healing isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. It encompasses a range of modalities that invite the body into the healing process. Here are some of the most widely used practices:

1. Somatic IFS

Somatic Internal Family Systems (Somatic IFS) is a growing branch of IFS therapy that deepens the mind-body connection by anchoring parts work in embodied experience. While traditional IFS often focuses on mental imagery and inner dialogue, Somatic IFS brings attention to how each part expresses itself through physical sensations, posture, breath, and movement.

For example:

• A hypervigilant protector might show up as tight shoulders or shallow breathing.

• A hurt child part might be felt as a lump in the throat, a heavy chest, or trembling hands.

• The Self—your inner wise, compassionate presence—often brings sensations of warmth, spaciousness, or grounding.

In Somatic IFS, you don’t just talk about your parts—you feel them, listen to them, and even move with them. This approach allows the healing to move from insight (in the mind) into integration (in the body). It’s particularly effective for trauma survivors who may have learned to intellectualize or dissociate from painful experiences.

What Happens in a Somatic IFS Session?

A typical Somatic IFS session might include:

• Tracking sensations in the body as parts arise

• Noticing impulses to move, curl, stretch, or gesture

• Breathwork to connect with the Self

• Pausing to fully feel and be with parts, rather than rushing to “fix” them

• Using touch (with consent) or mindful movement to support integration

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2. Breathwork

Trauma can interrupt natural breathing patterns, often leading to shallow or restricted breath. Conscious breathwork helps reset the nervous system, release trapped emotion, and reconnect people with their bodies.

3. Trauma-Informed Yoga

Unlike fitness-based yoga, trauma-informed yoga emphasizes choice, agency, and present-moment awareness. It’s not about poses—it's about building trust with your body and nervous system.

4. Touch Therapy and Craniosacral Work

Some trained practitioners use gentle touch to help the body release stored tension and trauma. These modalities work with the nervous system, fascia, and subtle energy to support deep healing.

5. Movement and Dance Therapy

Movement helps express what words can’t. Therapeutic dance or freeform movement lets individuals embody and release emotions in ways that bypass the analytical mind.

Why Somatic Healing Matters

For many trauma survivors, the body has felt like an unsafe or confusing place. Somatic practices are a way to slowly rebuild trust in the body. They don’t require you to relive or retell your trauma in detail—instead, they offer gentle, body-based ways to feel safe, grounded, and whole again.

These practices can:

• Help regulate the nervous system

• Build resilience and emotional capacity

• Increase body awareness and self-trust

• Deepen mindfulness and present-moment connection

• Support integration of other therapeutic work

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Final Thoughts: Listening to the Wisdom of the Body

Healing trauma isn’t linear, and it isn’t purely intellectual. It’s also sensory, embodied, and relational. Somatic practices give us the tools to listen to the body’s language—sensation, breath, posture, movement—and to respond with compassion rather than judgment.

As Dr. Peter Levine says, “Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.”

Whether you're working with a trained somatic therapist or exploring gentle practices on your own, know that your body holds an incredible capacity to heal. Sometimes, the path forward isn’t about fixing what’s broken—but reconnecting with what’s still whole.