When Words Aren’t Enough: Somatic Psychotherapy - A Holistic Approach to Healing
- Nina Isabella
- Oct 30
- 5 min read
Somatic Psychotherapy Complements Traditional Counselling
Are there times when times when you feel that just talking isn’t enough? I work with women and gender-diverse folk who feel deep within, their bodies are still holding tension, pain or trauma. They might have made sense of their story intellectually, yet their nervous system, their body, still says “something’s not quite resolved”. In my practice of holistic women’s counselling and somatic psychotherapy, I’ve seen how healing can deepen when we honour not just what’s in the mind - but what’s in the body. Here I want to gently walk you through what somatic psychotherapy is, why it matters, and how it might fit beautifully with your path toward healing.
What Is Somatic Psychotherapy?
Somatic simply means “in the body”. In this work, we recognise that emotional experiences are not only “up here” in our heads - they are often embedded in the body’s physiology, nervous system, and felt-sense of being. Perhaps you recognise small whispers of this:
A tight chest when you’re anxious
Shoulder tension rippling through your body during conflict
A gut-feeling when something isn’t aligned
In somatic psychotherapy, we invite you to turn toward those bodily signals: to tend them, to explore them, and to work with them. We might combine traditional talk therapy with tools such as:
Breathwork - easing the nervous system into greater regulation
Grounding practices - connecting you to your felt presence here & now
Mindful movement - small embodied tasks that invite the body’s voice to speak
Body scans or somatic inquiry - listening to the subtle messages your body might carry
By doing this, you are invited into a deeper layer of healing - one where insight meets embodiment.
How It Complements Traditional Counselling
Recognising deep wisdom that has been held within us - that mind, spirit, body, feelings are intimately connected, it is now well understood that somatic psychotherapy doesn’t replace talk therapy - it enhances it. In one of our sessions you might:
Start with verbal dialogue to explore trauma or grief, your story, what you’re carrying
Then shift into breath awareness or a grounding exercise to stabilise the nervous system
Notice how your body responds: “What happens when you say that line? What sensations arise?”
Through that noticing, gently invite more information from your body - the place where so much is held.
This integrative approach tends to work especially well for folks who:
Feel stuck in talk therapy, like “I know what happened but I still don’t feel free”
Live with trauma responses that don’t respond entirely to verbal processing
Experience body-based symptoms of emotional distress (chronic tension, pain, dissociation)
It’s a way of accessing the body’s wisdom - the part of you that has been holding, protecting, enduring - and inviting it into the healing conversation.
Reclaiming the Mind-Body Connection
One of the most beautiful shifts I witness is the return of self-awareness. With somatic work, you begin to know:
“Ah — my body is giving me a cue here: fatigue, tightness, a flutter of restlessness.”
“This is how my anxiety shows up physically; now I know how to respond.”
“I can give my nervous system a tool - a breath, a movement, a pause - to restore balance.”
This isn’t about perfection. It’s about being in relationship with your body, your experience, your lived life. For women, and gender-diverse folk especially, this can feel profoundly empowering: reducing overwhelm, building resilience, reclaiming your responses rather than being swamped by them.
Who Is Somatic Psychotherapy For?
While this work can support many, here’s when I most often see it make a meaningful difference:
Women and gender-diverse individuals navigating hormonal changes, chronic pain, reproductive trauma
People who feel disconnected from their body, or that their body is “just a thing that happens to me”
Anyone living with anxiety, depression, PTSD - especially when the talk-only approach hasn’t quite freed the body from the past
Survivors of trauma who need a gentler, body-aware pathway toward healing
If any of this resonates, you’re not alone - and you don’t need to keep relying solely on words.
A Broader Path to Healing Trauma
Whether you’re navigating trauma of emotional overwhelm, chronic pain, reproductive grief, or simply feeling out of touch with your body - somatic psychotherapy offers a compassionate, integrative way forward. It helps you reconnect - not just with your thoughts, but with your whole self.In summary, the benefits include:
A deeper awareness of the body’s role in emotional wellbeing
An enriched toolbox for healing, beyond words
Increased emotional resilience and self-knowledge
Liberation and relief for trauma survivors, for those living with chronic stress, and for those feeling simply stuck
About Me
I’m Nina Isabella - holistic women’s health counsellor, childbirth educator, and somatic psychotherapist, working from Melbourne, Kyneton & online. My approach is trauma-informed, person-centred, inclusive and grounded in body-attuned practices.
If you’re curious about exploring this integrative approach, let’s connect:
Healing doesn’t always begin with words - sometimes, it begins with breath, a sensation, or simply noticing what’s happening within.
What the Research Says
And yes — the research is catching up to support what many of us have known deep in our bones, that traditional counselling integrated with somatic psychotherapy, breathwork, and mind-body integration are a menainful pathway to healing:
Brom, D., Stokar, Y., Lawi, C., Nuriel‐Porat, V., Ziv, Y., Lerner, K., Ross, G., & Lerner, P. (2017). Somatic experiencing for posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized controlled outcome study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 30(3), 304–312. https://traumahealing.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Somatic-Experiencing-for-Posttraumatic-Stress-Disorder-2017.pdf
Payne, P., Levine, P. A., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2015). Somatic experiencing: Using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 93. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00093
Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., Gemignani, A., & Pistoia, F. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353
Lalonde, A., Chen, S., & Haller, C. S. (2023). Effect of coherent breathing on mental health and wellbeing: A randomized controlled trial. Scientific Reports, 13, 14265. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-49279-8
The Lancet Psychiatry. (2021). Tracing somatic therapies: Integrating body and mind in trauma treatment. The Lancet Psychiatry, 8(7), 539. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(21)00086-9/fulltext
International Psychotrauma Training Institute. (2025). Somatic and sensorimotor psychotherapy: Empirical evidence and clinical applications. https://iptrauma.org/docs/evidence-based-trauma-therapies-and-models/somatic-and-sensorimotor-psychotherapy
Thank you for taking the time to read. If you feel called to this work - to listen to your body’s wisdom, to free what’s been held - I’d be honoured to hold space for you.
With warmth,
Nina Isabella
Master of Counselling
