Somatic Therapy — Ottawa

Your body has been
trying to tell you something.

Somatic therapy in Ottawa — bringing the wisdom of the body into the healing process, gently and without force.

Maybe you've talked and talked,
but something still won't shift.

Sometimes insight isn't enough. You can understand why you feel anxious, why you shut down, why certain things are so hard — and still feel stuck. That's because understanding lives in the mind, but the patterns live in the body.

Understanding Somatic Therapy

What somatic therapy actually is.

The body as text

Somatic therapy is body-centred psychotherapy — an approach that recognizes that the body is not a backdrop to our psychological experience, but an active participant in it. Our posture, our breath, the tension we hold without realizing it, the way we contract when we feel threatened — these are not merely physical. They are the language of our inner life.

In somatic therapy, we learn to read that language — not to override the body, but to listen to it. Often, what the body holds is older and deeper than what the conscious mind can access through words alone.

What sessions look like

Somatic therapy sessions often look like talk therapy — but with a different quality of attention. You might be invited to notice a sensation, to track what happens in your chest when you speak about something difficult, or to notice how a memory lives in your body rather than just your mind.

There is no physical manipulation. You do not need to move or perform. Somatic work is subtle, internal, and always guided by your comfort. Some people find it requires an adjustment from the purely verbal — learning a new kind of listening.

Who it helps

Somatic therapy is particularly helpful for those whose difficulties are held in the body — chronic anxiety with physical symptoms, trauma that hasn't responded to purely talk-based approaches, patterns of numbness or dissociation, and the complex body-self relationship that often accompanies eating disorders. It is also valuable for those navigating identity shifts, major life transitions, or a sense of feeling unmoored from themselves — times when the mind searches for answers the body may already be holding.

It is not a replacement for other forms of therapy — it is an enrichment of them. In my practice, somatic awareness is woven throughout the work, rather than being a separate modality.

The nervous system

Central to somatic work is an understanding of the autonomic nervous system — the biological system that governs our responses to threat, safety, and connection. Many of the patterns that bring people to therapy (shutting down, lashing out, hypervigilance, collapse) are nervous system responses, not character flaws.

Part of somatic therapy is developing "nervous system literacy" — an understanding of your own patterns, your own triggers, and your own pathways back to regulation. This is practical, embodied knowledge that extends beyond the therapy room.

"The body keeps the score. But it also holds the map back home — if we learn to listen."

Common Questions

What you might be wondering.

No. Somatic therapy in my practice is not massage, yoga, or bodywork. It involves bringing awareness to bodily sensations while we talk and explore. You remain fully clothed, seated or however you're comfortable, and there is no physical contact.
Disconnection from the body is one of the most common experiences that brings people to somatic therapy. It is not a disqualifier — it is often exactly where we begin. We work gently to rebuild a sense of safety in the body, at whatever pace makes sense.
Yes. The somatic approaches I draw on — including Somatic Experiencing (SE) and sensorimotor psychotherapy — have a growing evidence base, particularly for trauma. The underlying neuroscience (polyvagal theory, limbic system research) is well-established.
Yes, and many people find somatic work particularly effective online because they are in their own familiar, safe environment. Virtual sessions allow for the same quality of somatic attention with the comfort of being in your own space.
No. While somatic therapy is especially well-suited to trauma, it is valuable for anyone who feels that words alone aren't capturing what they're experiencing. People come to somatic work during periods of transition, grief, identity questioning, chronic stress, or simply a felt sense that something is held in the body that hasn't yet found its way into language. You don't need a history of trauma to benefit.