Somatic Experiencing therapeutic touch
Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) touch is a bit different from other kinds of bodywork. Instead of trying to fix or change anything, the focus is on helping your system settle and find a little more ease and comfort.
SE touch can help your body feel a bit more supported, especially when you're moving through fear or shock. It's about giving your system what it needs to meet whatever arises.
What happens in a Somatic Experiencing touch session?
Your comfort and consent always lead the way in SE touch sessions. Touch is offered to areas of the body that might be holding extra energy or tension.
Sometimes that looks like learning gentle self-holding, or you might choose to receive supportive touch.
You stay fully clothed, either sitting or lying down, and the touch is calm and steady. This is not a massage or manipulation of the body in any way.
Why is touch used?
Touch can gently reach places in the body that hold old patterns or tension, especially after difficult or overwhelming times. Sometimes these areas are hard to notice through talking or sensing alone, and touch can bring them into awareness.
What might I notice?
Many people notice feeling more present, relaxed and grounded, with an increased sense of vitality. People report feeling more trusting and open to connecting with others, improved digestion, fear and anxiety easing, feeling emotionally regulated, breathing more expansively, and generally experiencing more spaciousness and balance in the body.
Is Somatic Experiencing touch used in every session?
Some clients come just for touch work, while others do not use it at all, or the session simply may not call for it. Touch will always be an option and is introduced by talking it through first. You can decide if and when you are ready.
We may also start by getting a sense of it through learning self-holding techniques or exploring boundary work.
I offer SE touch work to women, in person at my Newtown practice, as part of my wider Somatic Experiencing practice. Sessions are 50 minutes and $200.
If you'd like to know more about how I came to this work, I wrote about it in what Somatic Experiencing touch taught me.