Listening to the Body: A Gentle Introduction to Somatic Healing

In the world of mental health, we’re finally starting to listen—not just to words, but to bodies.

For decades, therapy has leaned heavily on cognition: What do you think about that? Let’s reframe this thought. But what if healing doesn’t begin in the head? What if it lives in the subtle tremor of a hand, the tightness in a chest, or the urge to run when there’s no danger in sight?

That’s where body-based therapies come in—approaches that honor the body as not just a vessel for stress, but a map to resilience. Below, we’ll take a closer look at four powerful somatic modalities that help clients safely reconnect with their bodies and emotions: Somatic Experiencing®, Transforming Touch® (TEB), Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP), and Internal Family Systems (IFS).

🌱 Somatic Experiencing® (SE™): Healing at the Pace of Safety

Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, Somatic Experiencing® is a body-based approach to resolving trauma by focusing on physical sensations rather than reliving traumatic memories. Rather than diving headfirst into a story, SE helps clients “pendulate”—gently moving between states of regulation and dysregulation—so the nervous system learns it’s safe to come out of survival mode.

Think of it as teaching your body to sigh in relief again. Clients may notice subtle shifts: a cooling in their chest, tingling in their fingertips, or a spontaneous yawn. These aren’t random—they’re signs that the body is finally completing stress cycles it’s been holding onto for years.

👐 Transforming the Experience-Based Brain (TEB) Using Transforming Touch®

TEB, pioneered by Dr. Stephen Terrell, focuses on healing early developmental trauma that occurs before we even have words. It’s rooted in the idea that our earliest experiences are held somatically—often before memory, before language, and sometimes before conscious awareness.

Using Transforming Touch®, therapists offer gentle, safe contact (or even imagined touch in telehealth settings) to support nervous system regulation. It’s not about “fixing” clients—it’s about restoring relational trust through co-regulation.

Many clients report profound shifts: feeling grounded in their bodies for the first time, experiencing warmth in typically numb areas, or even discovering a new kind of rest they didn’t know was possible. It’s quiet work—but often life-changing.

🎧 Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP): Tuning the Nervous System with Music

The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP), developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, uses specially filtered music to gently regulate the autonomic nervous system. It’s designed to cue safety to the body through the ear’s connection to the vagus nerve, which governs our fight, flight, or freeze responses.

Clients listen to the music through over-the-ear headphones in a structured way, often noticing shifts in social engagement, emotional regulation, and a heightened sense of safety—even when facing situations that once felt overwhelming.

It’s especially powerful for those with sensory processing differences or chronic states of hypervigilance. And no—this isn’t a playlist from Spotify. This is science-backed sound therapy at its most elegant.

🧠 Internal Family Systems (IFS): Meeting the Inner Team with Compassion

Internal Family Systems (IFS), developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, is based on a simple truth: we’re not one monolithic mind—we’re a constellation of parts. There’s an anxious part, a protective part, a playful part, a skeptical part… all trying their best to keep us safe.

In sessions, we invite these parts into awareness and approach them with curiosity—not judgment. Instead of saying, “Why am I like this?” we begin to ask, “Who inside of me feels this way… and what do they need?”

When integrated with somatic awareness, IFS becomes even richer. Clients learn to sense where parts live in their bodies—maybe a tight jaw holds a perfectionist, or a heavy chest contains grief. The goal isn’t to exile any part but to bring them into relationship with the self—with compassion as the guide.

Final Thoughts: Body Wisdom is Real Wisdom

These modalities aren’t about gimmicks or quick fixes. They’re grounded in neuroscience, attachment theory, and developmental psychology—but they offer something that many traditional talk therapies can miss: a felt sense of safety.

Because when the body starts to feel safe, the mind begins to believe it.

So whether you’re guiding clients toward a long-overdue exhale, helping them reconnect with buried parts of themselves, or introducing them to the power of a gentle tone through headphones—this work matters. And in a world that often asks us to numb out and push through, somatic therapy gently invites us back into presence.