Our bodies have their own unique story to tell.

No matter how hard we try to outsmart it or the level of insight we may possess— our bodies have their own way of processing trauma. This is because our fight, flight, freeze and collapse responses are pre-programmed within all of us to keep us safe. In the event of trauma (or following a series of traumatic experiences), these automatic physiological responses can sometimes go into overdrive and, after the event occurs, continue to work hard to keep us safe despite there being no actual real threat present anymore.

What does this look like?

We usually have a sense of these physiological responses going into “overdrive” when we end up experiencing an emotion, physical response or belief pattern that doesn’t match the level of intensity of the presenting situation. We know that we’re “spiraling” or “shouldn’t be so mad,” for example, but we can’t stop ourselves from feeling that way. As a result, we end up physically shutting down, pleasing others (in turn, over flexing our boundaries), lashing out or getting stuck in an anxious spiral.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Experiencing strong physical and emotion responses are just a few of many examples of how past traumatic experiences or relational wounding can manifest into presenting problems. While insight is important in promoting change, it is not enough alone to create long-lasting, meaningful change. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy can help bridge the gap when traditional “talk” therapy has not helped. By drawing awareness to your nervous system in therapy, we can together develop new resources to repair trauma or relational wounding.