Transformative Healing: Where to Get Somatic Bodywork Near Me
- 🍃The Body Sanctuary🍃
- Sep 12, 2024
- 9 min read
In our busy lives, finding ways to genuinely care for our bodies, emotional wellbeing and minds is essential. As is finding spaces to connect back to our Self. If you've been curious about, and searching for "somatic bodywork" you're likely seeking a therapeutic approach that goes beyond conventional massage.
You may be curious about how somatic bodywork therapy can help you not only relax but also heal on a deeper level. This blog will guide you through what somatic bodywork is, how it differs from traditional massage, and why it’s a powerful tool for trauma-informed healing. We’ll also introduce you to The Body Sanctuary in Gozo, Malta, where you can experience this transformative therapy in a nurturing and supportive environment.
What Is Somatic Bodywork?
Somatic bodywork is a holistic approach to healing that gently invites you to connect more deeply with your body. The word "somatic" comes from the Greek "soma," meaning "body." But it is more about how the body and mind intersect. Our body is seen not as merely our physical body, but as the sacred vessel that opens doorways into our deeper mind - our unconcious, subconcious, collective conciousness, ancestral and supraconcious realms.
Somatic Therapies are an ingenious, highly effective weaving of psychotherapies and bodywork. Bringing the mind and body back together. Asking - where and how does this painful pattern in my life show up reflected in my body? And, what is this tightness and contracted pain in my shoulder, or this persistant grief, trying to tell me? It facilitates a bridge between what are sometimes two often opposing worlds, and fields of practice.
In Somatic Bodywork, this form of therapy goes beyond just the physical aspects of traditional massage by addressing this deeper mind-body connection, allowing for the release of stored emotions, trauma, and stress that may be impacting your overall well-being - on any level of your being.
How Somatic Bodywork Differs from Traditional Massage
While traditional massage focuses primarily on relieving muscle tension and promoting relaxation, somatic bodywork therapy offers a more comprehensive approach. It not only soothes away tension in the muscles, but also engages with the body’s deeper layers, such as the fascia (connective tissue), the nervous system, and even the emotional and energetic aspects of the body.
Here are some elements of what makes Somatic Bodywork unique:
Myofascial Release: These techniques work with the fascia of the body, which is like the protective glove or web the body and all its organs are held within, helping to ease restrictions and improve your body’s mobility. Our habitually repressed emotions are often stored in our fascia.
Gentle De-Armoring: Over time, we often build up emotional "armor" as a protective mechanism against past hurts. This process gently helps to release these layers, allowing you to access, feel and heal deeper emotional wounds.
Organ Clearing: Our organs often hold onto specific emotions—such as anger in the liver, grief in the lungs, or fear in the kidneys. Over time, these trapped emotions can block the natural flow of energy, leading to physical and emotional imbalances. Organ clearing works to release these stored emotions, freeing up your life-force energy and restoring balance, vitality, and a deeper sense of well-being.
Guided Somatic Practices: These practices help you tune into your body’s wisdom, offering insights into how past experiences are stored in your tissues and how they can be released. It also helps you to learn deeper neurological tools that can help to realign and heal your nervous system - such as inner resourcing.
Sound and Breathwork: These modalities calm the nervous system, stimulate the vagus nerve, opens the subconcious doorways within you, helps you access deeper mind-body states, and promotes deep relaxation, facilitating the healing process.
Movement: By encouraging natural, instinctual, inner movement, somatic bodywork helps release pent-up energy and emotions, and helps to disscharge 'survival energy' throughout your nervous system ( for example to thaw the traumatic freeze response, or allow the release of flight or fight energy that may still be activated within your nervous system from traumatic events ) fostering a sense of freedom, and ease within your body.
Chakra & Energy Activation: When we clear residual trapped energy from our system and use somatic tools to dive deep into our bodies, we open the pathways for our sacred energy to flow freely. This activation can awaken an abundance of life-force energy, leading to a profound sense of vitality. As the chakras align and energy flows smoothly, you may experience this as a fountain of inner vitality, or even as ecstatic, bliss-filled states of union and peace within yourself. This deep connection fosters a state of harmony, balance, and expansive well-being.
Unlike a typical massage, somatic bodywork is about transformation. It helps you connect more deeply with your body, opening doors to your subconscious mind, where long-held emotions and traumatic imprints reside. Through this gentle exploration, you can begin to release what no longer serves you & clear inner space, leading to profound healing and personal growth.
Why Trauma-Informed Care Is Crucial
One of the most important aspects of somatic bodywork therapy is its trauma-informed approach. Trauma is not just an emotional or psychological issue—it’s also a physical one. The body can store memories of traumatic experiences in its organs, tissues, fascia and nervous system, which can manifest as chronic pain, tension, emotional distress such as anxiety, or even illnesses and disease - such as auto-immune disorders and chronic fatigue. Some of the highest acclaimed Chinese medicine practitioner's have said that it is their belief and experience, after many years of practice, that our emotions are the root cause of nearly every physical manifestation of disease.
Our emotions are 'e-motions'. 'Energies in motion' that are meant to flow through our body, like current within water. When they do not, or cannot flow, due to a lot of different reasons, this can lead to internal stagnation.
Trauma-informed care means understanding that these physical symptoms often have deep roots in past experiences. In somatic bodywork, this understanding is central to the therapy.
The sessions are designed to be safe, non-judgmental, and supportive, allowing you to explore and release these deeply held traumas at your own pace. This gentle approach fosters a sense of safety and trust, which is essential for healing.
Trauma Techniques such as creating safety, resourcing, pendulation, tracking and left-right brain hemisphere patterns, help to safely process energy within the nervous system and avoid re-traumatisation or overwhelm.
How Trauma Is Stored in the Body
When we experience trauma, our bodies instinctively go into survival mode. This can lead to the nervous system becoming dysregulated, with unprocessed emotions and traumatic imprints being stored in various parts of the body. Over time, these stored imprints can cause physical and emotional challenges.
For instance, the organs and tissues in the body can hold onto these memories, disrupting the flow of energy and leading to chronic issues. Somatic bodywork helps to release these stored emotions, restoring balance and harmony within your body, and paving the way for greater physical and emotional well-being.
The Techniques Involved in Somatic Bodywork
Somatic bodywork incorporates a range of techniques as mentioned above, designed to promote healing on multiple levels. As an experienced facilitator i learn to listen to a clients body and system through my own body and nervous system, through my hands, and through subtle observations. No two sessions are ever identical, because everybodies body is unique and has a different story to tell. Here’s a closer look again at some of the key methods often used, these may or may not be incorporated in your session:
Massage: While somatic bodywork is more than just massage, it often begins with massage techniques to help relax the body and prepare it for deeper therapeutic work. Its also a great way to sense where body armouring and fascial tightness is.
Myofascial Release: This technique targets the fascia, releasing tension and improving mobility, which can help alleviate chronic pain and stiffness.
Organ Clearing: ( See above )
Gentle De-Armoring: This process assists in releasing emotional armor or protective barriers that have formed in response to past trauma, allowing for deeper emotional and physical healing.
Guided Somatic Practices: These practices help you connect with your body’s inner wisdom, enabling you to explore and release the emotions and traumas stored within.
Sound, Breathwork, and Movement: These gentle yet powerful modalities activate the parasympathetic nervous system, encouraging relaxation and facilitating the release of stored emotions and energy.
What Makes This Work So Special
My journey into somatic bodywork is deeply rooted in my own quest for healing and integration. My background is in teaching Kundalini and Tantric Yoga, Tantra, and various psychotherapies. While these practices offered immense value, I was searching for a way to bridge the gap between them — both personally and professionally. I found that bridge in somatic therapies, which helped me heal myself on a profound level.
After an intensive two-year deep dive into somatic training, I experienced a transformation in my own nervous system that nothing else had been able to achieve. The somatic practices helped me heal deep-seated traumas and issues that had been affecting me for years. This journey of self-healing and discovery led me to integrate these powerful techniques into my bodywork sessions, allowing me to offer something truly unique and transformative to others.
This somatic therapeutic work doesnt come from a week long or couple of months training ( it is advisable to check the depth of training of your practitioner ) but is firmly grounded and rooted in many years of both professional study and personal practice.
My website, Awakening the Goddess, reflects this sacred work. As we delve into the deeper realms of somatic healing, we not only release stored traumas and emotions but also liberate our life-force energy. This energy connects us to ecstatic and expanded states of consciousness and awakens us to the sacred life-force that is the loving creator of all that exists.
This is not just therapy; it’s a path to awakening and empowerment—a journey I am privileged to guide others on.
My calling led me to the ancient, sacred island of Gozo, home to some of the world’s oldest temples, where I feel deeply connected to this work.
I moved to Gozo two years ago with a deep passion for helping others heal through somatic bodywork. Here, in the serene and nurturing environment of The Body Sanctuary, I offer both in-person bodywork sessions and online coaching tailored to your unique needs.
Whether you’re dealing with chronic tension, curious about exploring somatic practices, or seeking a safe space to process past traumas, The Body Sanctuary is here to support you on your healing journey. Mind, body, and soul.
Specialized Somatic Bodywork Sessions:
In addition to general somatic bodywork, I offer specialized sessions designed to address specific areas of the body and the unique emotions stored within them:
Chi Nei Tsang: This somatic bodywork session focuses on the internal organs, particularly the abdomen, where emotions are often held. By releasing tension and emotional energy in these areas, you can improve the flow of energy throughout your body, leading to a greater sense of vitality and balance. To find out more click HERE
Somatic Womb Work: Specifically for women, these powerful somatic bodywork sessions addresses the womb, cervix, ovaries, pelvis and yoni (externally) which can be a storehouse for repressed emotions, unprocessed energies, and collective and intergenerational trauma. Through somatic womb work sessions, we can release these burdens and help you reconnect with your body’s innate wisdom. I also offer teachings on sacred womb mysteries, empowering women to better care for themselves, honor their cycles, and live more vibrant, empowered lives. To find out more click HERE
The Benefits of Somatic Bodywork
Somatic bodywork offers a gentle yet profound way to heal from within. Here are some of the many benefits you may experience:
Emotional Release: By working through stored emotions and traumatic imprints, you can clear emotional blockages and feel lighter and more grounded.
Nervous System Regulation: Somatic bodywork helps to repair and balance your nervous system, building resilience and capacity for emotional processing and healing.
Increased Body Awareness: As you reconnect with your body, you’ll develop a deeper understanding of its signals and needs, leading to better self-care and well-being.
Somatic Tools for Ongoing Well-being: Throughout your sessions, you’ll learn valuable somatic practices that you can continue to use for ongoing health and emotional balance.
Access to Altered States of Consciousness: Through breathwork, sound and other somatic techniques, somatic bodywork can help you access different states of consciousness, offering new perspectives and deeper healing.
Embrace Your Healing Journey
Whether you’re seeking relief from tension, exploring somatic practices out of curiosity, or ready to address deeper emotional wounds, somatic bodywork offers a compassionate and effective path to healing.
At The Body Sanctuary in Gozo, you’ll find a safe, welcoming space where you can embark on this journey with the support and guidance you need. You can find us easily on google, and read many of the testimonials and reviews we have. And see how close we are to the ferry to Malta. :)
If you’re ready to explore the transformative power of somatic bodywork, I invite you to visit The Body Sanctuary. You deserve to feel whole, connected, and at peace in your body and spirit. Let this be the beginning of your healing journey, where you reclaim your vitality and experience the deep, restorative power of somatic bodywork.
NOT IN GOZO? - If you'd like to begin a somatic healing journey or try out a session, you can access our powerful Somatic Inner-Alchemy Coaching Sessions HERE. These can be held Online from anywhere in the world, and whilst different from Somatic Bodywork Sessions they actually have the potentiality to go much deeper.
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Somatic Bodywork Sessions are all 90 Minutes long & cost €95 ( available until the end of 2024)
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