Why Understanding Isn’t Enough
Traditional talk therapy focuses primarily on understanding the mind.
The belief is that if we can better understand our thoughts, behaviors, and patterns, we can create change.
This is often referred to as a top-down approach because it starts with thinking and works its way down to the body.
This approach can be incredibly valuable. It can help us make sense of our experiences, understand where our patterns come from, and recognize why we react the way we do.
Understanding something and changing it are not always the same thing.
This is where somatic therapy comes in.
What I do during sessions is help people slow down enough to notice what their nervous system is doing in real time. Rather than only talking about emotions, we learn to recognize how anxiety, grief, anger, fear, or old wounds are showing up in the body.
When the body changes, people often find their emotions, relationships, and behaviors begin to change as well.
Many people can clearly explain why they struggle with anxiety, people-pleasing, perfectionism, or relationship difficulties, yet continue to find themselves repeating the same patterns.
That’s because lasting change often requires more than insight alone. Sometimes the problem isn’t that we don’t understand ourselves.
The problem is that our nervous system hasn’t yet learned a different way of being.
When I explain why somatic therapy is used, I often refer to this Albert Einstein quote:
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Said differently: sometimes we can’t think our way out of a pattern because the pattern isn’t happening only in our thoughts; it is typically the very state we’re in that limits our ability to see new possibilities.
When we learn to work with the body and nervous system, we create the conditions for new perspectives, new choices, and lasting change.
Why Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy, also known as a bottom-up approach, recognizes that our experiences don’t just live in our thoughts—they also live in our bodies and nervous systems.
By paying attention to physical sensations, tension, movement, breath, and nervous system responses, we can begin to work with patterns at their source.
Rather than simply understanding why a pattern exists, we help the body experience something new.
When the nervous system learns a new experience, change often becomes easier, more natural, and more lasting.
What this might look like:
• Noticing tightness in your chest during a difficult conversation
• Paying attention to changes in breathing when discussing a painful memory
• Learning to recognize early signs of overwhelm
• Practicing ways to help your nervous system settle
An analogy:
Imagine someone who’s terrified of public speaking. They know logically they’re safe, but their heart races, their chest tightens, and their stomach flips. Knowing you’re safe and feeling safe are often two very different experiences.
Somatic therapy helps to bridge that gap so the body doesn’t keep reacting as if there’s danger.
The mind can help us understand where we’ve been.
The body often helps us discover where healing wants to go next.
What is one pattern in your life that you understand well, but still find difficult to change? Bring it to session!