Choose your next conversation

Somatic therapy: body awareness & trauma

What does “somatic” mean in a therapy conversation? These guests discuss paying attention to bodily sensations, movement, and stress alongside thoughts and feelings. Start with Amy Hagerstrom’s explanation, then explore an expressive-arts perspective. The approaches in these interviews are related in their attention to the body but are not interchangeable treatments.

Conversations hosted by Diana S. Rice, LMHC, CIMHP, QS.

A little context before you listen

What is Somatic Experiencing?

Somatic Experiencing is a body-oriented model developed by Peter Levine that focuses on the experience of stress and trauma in the nervous system. “Somatic” is a broader term, so ask a practitioner which specific approach they use and what their training and professional scope are.

Learn more: Somatic Experiencing International: introduction.

Which episode explains somatic therapy in everyday language?

Episode 50 discusses body awareness, grounding, and the relationship between talking and body-focused work. Episode 86 explores movement and expressive arts. These are educational conversations, not a personalized exercise or trauma-processing plan.

Where would you like to begin?

Episode 50

Start here: body awareness, anxiety, and somatic therapy

Amy Hagerstrom, LCSW, discusses her somatic work, the mind-body connection, grounding, and the Safe and Sound Protocol. She explains how attention to sensations enters her clinical conversations alongside a person’s story.

Original episode: How Somatic Therapy Heals Trauma & Anxiety: A Deep Dive with Amy Hagerstrom, LCSW

Listen to the episode →Read the transcript

Episode 86

Movement and expressive arts as another starting point

Cathy Williams discusses somatic movement, body mapping, music, and expressive arts. Listen for the distinctions between the different practices she describes and for her perspective on how people experience emotion through the body.

Original episode: Somatic Healing & Expressive Arts Therapy for Trauma Recovery with Cathy Williams founder of Intuitive Self

Listen to the episode →Read the transcript

Questions to take with you

What does this practitioner mean by somatic work, and what are their qualifications?
How would consent, pacing, and my comfort guide any body-focused work?

These prompts are invitations to reflect, not a screening tool or a diagnosis.

Keep exploring the archive

The following episodes also mention somatic approaches in their titles, show notes, or available transcripts. Some mentions are brief. They are additional places to explore after the featured interviews.

Browse 19 more episodes mentioning this topic

Search the archive for somatic →