How Somatic Experiencing Works: Understanding Your Body's Path to Healing

You might look like you're doing well on paper, but inside it feels very different. Your body is tight, your shoulders ache, and you either snap at the smallest thing or shut down completely. Sometimes you get through the day only to crash afterward, then feel ashamed about how you reacted.

You've probably tried everything. Talk therapy, self-help books, journaling, podcasts, or affirmations. Some things may have helped for a while, but that deeper sense of being stuck remains. Your body still holds tension that won't let up, and you're wondering if this exhausted, overwhelmed state is becoming your new normal.

If this resonates, you're not alone. The strategies that used to get you through may not be working anymore, especially when it comes to handling daily pressures or those strong reactions that seem to come out of nowhere. It can feel unsettling, exhausting, and confusing when the old ways of coping don't bring the relief they once did.

What if the missing piece isn't in your mind, but in your body's wisdom?

Understanding What Your Body Has Been Trying to Tell You

Somatic Experiencing (SE), developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine, starts with a simple but profound understanding: difficult experiences aren't just something we think about. They live in our bodies, in our nervous systems, shaping how we respond to life right now.

Here's what Dr. Levine discovered: it's not really about what happened to you. It's about the survival energy that got trapped when you couldn't complete your body's natural protective responses. When something overwhelming happens, your body mobilizes huge amounts of energy to help you fight, flee, freeze, or shutdown. But in our complicated human world, that energy often doesn't get to complete its cycle. It gets stuck.

Think about this for a moment. Animals in the wild face life-threatening situations regularly. But they don't develop chronic anxiety or tension. Why? After escaping danger, they naturally discharge that survival energy by shaking, trembling, or running it off. Then they go back to grazing like nothing happened.

We humans? We tell ourselves to "get over it" or "push through." We override what our bodies need to do because we have bills to pay, meetings to attend, people to take care of. That energy stays trapped, and your body keeps reacting as if the danger never passed.

Your Nervous System: Why You React the Way You Do

Let me explain what's actually happening in your body when you have those reactions that feel too big for the moment, or when you shut down when you really want to engage.

Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) works like your body's security system. The sympathetic branch is like the gas pedal, getting you ready for action when you need to fight or flee. The parasympathetic branch has two parts: the ventral vagal system, which supports a sense of safety, calm connection, and engagement with others, and the dorsal vagal system, which can act like an emergency brake that shuts things down when stress feels too overwhelming.

But sometimes, when things feel overwhelming, you might go into a freeze response. This is like hitting the gas and brake at the same time, a combination of fight/flight AND shutdown happening simultaneously. All that mobilized energy has nowhere to go, so it stays trapped in your system.

This stuck energy shows up in ways you probably recognize:

• That constant tension in your shoulders or jaw
• Snapping at someone you love, then immediately feeling guilty
• Emotional outbursts that surprise even you
• Shutting down in conversations when you want to connect
• That embarrassment when you have a big emotional response to something small
• Lying awake at night, unable to turn off your mind
• Stomach issues that flare up before stressful situations

Here's what I want you to understand: these aren't character flaws. They're not signs you're weak or broken. These are intelligent responses from a nervous system that's trying to protect you based on past experiences. The guilt, the shame, the embarrassment about these reactions? That internal emotional turmoil is exactly what drives people to seek something different.

Why Talking About It Isn't Always Enough

Traditional talk therapy can be incredibly valuable. Understanding your patterns, processing experiences, gaining insights, these things matter. But sometimes, just talking about what happened doesn't shift what's happening in your body right now.

Here's why: when you're in the middle of an overwhelming experience, the thinking part of your brain actually goes offline. Your survival brain takes over. So later, you can intellectually understand everything perfectly, but your body is still reacting like you're in danger.

That's where Somatic Experiencing comes in. Instead of starting with the story of what happened, we start with what your body is experiencing right now. We might notice that flutter in your chest when you feel anxious, or that heavy feeling in your limbs when you start to shut down. We work with these sensations directly.

And here's the beautiful thing: emotional processing happens naturally WITH the somatic work, not separately. As your body finds its way back to regulation, those intense emotions that felt unmanageable start to feel workable. You're addressing both mind AND body together, because they were never really separate in the first place.

How Somatic Experiencing Actually Works

Let me be clear about something: Somatic Experiencing isn't a bag of tricks or techniques I apply to different problems. It's an art and science of tuning into what each person needs in any given moment. It's deeply individual, a moment-to-moment attunement process where I'm tracking your nervous system and responding to what's happening right now.

The Essential Elements We Work With:

Finding Your Resources We always start with what already feels okay or even good in your experience. Maybe it's the feeling of your feet on the ground, the view outside your window, or a memory of your pet. These become anchors, reminding your nervous system what safety feels like. Without this foundation, the rest of the work wouldn't be possible.

Taking It Slow (Titration) This is one of the most important elements of SE. We work with tiny amounts of activation at a time. Instead of diving into the deep end of difficult feelings, we might just notice a slight tightness in your chest. We stay with it just long enough for your nervous system to learn: "Oh, I can feel this without being overwhelmed." This prevents flooding and builds your capacity gradually.

The Natural Rhythm (Pendulation) Your nervous system is built to move between activation and calm. Trauma or overwhelming stress can interrupt this rhythm, leaving you stuck in fight or flight or dropping into shutdown instead of returning to balance. In our work, we gently practice moving between what feels safe and what feels uncomfortable so your system learns it doesn't have to get stuck and can find its way back to balance.

Why You Can't Do This Alone SE requires professional guidance. It's not something you can do by yourself, and there's a good reason for that. As a trained practitioner, I'm noticing subtle shifts in your nervous system that you might not even be aware of, a change in your breathing, a slight shift in posture, a different quality to your voice. This relational aspect is actually part of the healing. Your nervous system learns to regulate through co-regulation with another regulated nervous system.

What It Feels Like When Things Start to Shift

Everyone's system releases trapped energy differently. You might experience:

• Your legs suddenly wanting to push or run
• Spontaneous shaking or trembling (totally normal and actually helpful)
• Waves of heat or coolness moving through your body
• Deep sighs, yawns, or breathing that suddenly feels easier
• Unexpected tears or even laughter
• A feeling like something is moving or flowing inside

As this work unfolds, you begin to feel more choice. Instead of reacting in ways that don't feel good, you can respond in ways that line up with your values and the life you want to live.

Who This Work Really Helps

I often work with people who look successful from the outside but feel exhausted and overwhelmed on the inside. You've built a solid life, you're responsible and capable, but lately your reactions feel bigger than situations call for. Those old coping strategies that used to help just aren't working anymore.

SE can be particularly helpful if you're dealing with:

• The aftereffects of specific overwhelming events
• Chronic stress that's accumulated over years
• That midlife feeling of "I can't keep going like this"
• Anxiety that lives in your body as much as your mind
• Burnout that rest doesn't seem to touch
• Big emotional responses that leave you feeling guilty or ashamed
• The sense that something from your past is still affecting you

Research backs this up. Studies have shown significant symptom reduction, with some showing that nearly half of participants no longer met certain diagnostic criteria after SE. But beyond the research, I've seen how this work helps people feel genuinely different, more present, more themselves, more able to handle what life brings.

How Emotions and Body Sensations Work Together

One thing that makes this approach unique is how naturally emotional processing happens alongside the body work. We're not trying to make emotions happen or go away. Instead, we create conditions where whatever needs to move through can do so safely.

Let's say you carry guilt about lashing out at your family, or shame about shutting down when things get intense. Instead of only talking about these feelings, I might ask, "As you share this, what do you notice in your body?" From there, we stay with the experience and notice what your body needs, whether that's space, comfort, or support in a new way.

This is how emotions that once felt overwhelming become workable. They become information rather than something that hijacks your whole system. And you start to reconnect with parts of yourself you may have pushed away because they felt too intense or too vulnerable.

What Working Together Actually Looks Like

I work with clients throughout Florida, including Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach, as well as across Illinois, including Chicago. Everything happens online, so you can do this work from a space where you already feel comfortable.

Getting Started

Your first step is a free 15-minute consultation that you can schedule through my website. This is just a chance for us to connect, for you to ask questions, and to see if it feels like a good fit. No pressure, just a conversation.

If we decide to work together, you'll fill out some paperwork online. Our first session is about getting to know each other and giving you a taste of how this work feels. We don't dive into heavy history unless you feel it would be helpful for me to know something specific.

I work with clients weekly because this consistency is what allows the therapy to be effective. Meeting every week gives your nervous system steady support, so we're not starting over each time but actually building on the progress you've made. Between sessions, I might suggest simple practices, things that actually feel good, like noticing when your body feels settled or practicing that grounding technique we tried. Nothing intense or homework-like.

The Science That Makes This Work

When you're under stress, whether it's at work, in relationships, or just trying to keep up with daily responsibilities, you may react more strongly than the situation calls for. That's because your amygdala, the brain's alarm center, sometimes reads present-day stressors as reminders of past overwhelming experiences. Your rational brain can go offline, and you may find yourself snapping, shutting down, or freezing without fully understanding why.

SE helps bring your brain and body back into communication. Instead of trying to force yourself to think your way through stress, we work with your body's natural patterns to restore a felt sense of safety. Over time, this helps recalibrate your internal alarm system so it does not keep reacting as if you are in danger when you are actually safe.

Finding Your Way Back to Yourself

If you recognize yourself in what I've described, if you're tired of feeling exhausted despite looking successful, if you're ready to address the guilt about emotional outbursts or the shame about shutting down, this work might be what you've been looking for.

Snapping, shutting down, or feeling constant tension doesn't mean something is wrong with you. These are signs that your nervous system is still protecting you from dangers that have passed. And while that protection once served you, it might now be keeping you from feeling truly alive and present in your life.

Through Somatic Experiencing, we work together to help your whole self come back into balance. Not through force or pushing harder, but through gentle attention to what your body has been trying to tell you all along. Both mind AND body get to be part of the healing, because that's how real, lasting change happens.

You can reach a place where there's more room for joy, more presence, and more capacity to handle what life brings. You deserve that. You deserve to feel at ease in your own skin and to respond from choice instead of reactivity.

If you're ready to explore how Somatic Experiencing might help you reconnect with your body's wisdom and find relief from that internal turmoil that's been driving you to seek help, I invite you to reach out. Schedule that free 10-minute consultation through my website. Let's see if this might be the missing piece you've been searching for.

I'm Amy Hagerstrom, a licensed therapist specializing in Somatic Experiencing, Safe and Sound Protocol, and other integrative approaches. I provide online sessions to people throughout Florida and Illinois who are ready for something different.