Conventional talk therapy is powerful, but it works primarily through language and cognition. Somatic therapy adds another dimension: the body itself as a site of healing.

Somatic approaches draw on the understanding that trauma, stress, and emotion are held somatically. Tight shoulders. A chronically braced core. A sense of dissociation or numbness. These aren't just metaphors; they're real patterns in the nervous system and the body that can be worked with directly.

At Tanglewood, somatic work is integrated with other therapeutic approaches rather than applied in isolation. Your provider will help you develop awareness of body sensations, recognize the link between physical patterns and emotional states, and gently work with the nervous system toward more regulated, embodied presence.

Who This is For

People who feel "stuck" in talk therapy, those with trauma histories where verbal processing has felt retraumatizing or insufficient, clients dealing with chronic stress or physical tension that seems connected to emotional experience, or anyone who wants to integrate the body more fully into their healing.

What to Expect

Sessions are primarily conversational but include invitations to notice bodily experience, make small movements, or work with breath. Your provider will never touch you without explicit consent. Somatic work tends to feel slow, but the slowness is the point; it's building new pathways.