Somatic therapy + bodywork : care for the nervous system.
Somatic therapy works with the wisdom of your body as the primary compass
for your healing.
Trauma and stress live in muscle, fascia, posture, and breath. Somatic therapy and/or bodywork can help bring awareness and release to those patterns so your system can reorganize around safety and vitality.
Somatic therapy + bodywork gives you access to your body’s memory bank.
It offers you tools to witness what the body is still holding.
And space to watch old patterns find new shapes.
This process supports movement from:
Pain ⟶ ease
Grief ⟶ levity
Anxiety ⟶ regulation
Depression ⟶ presence
Exhaustion ⟶ vitality
Impulsivity ⟶ mindfulness
Disconnection ⟶ safety + pleasure
What a Session Looks Like
Somatic therapy + bodywork sessions take place in our Portland office.
We begin with guided conversation on a comfortable couch, exploring what’s happening in your body and mind.
We invite you to follow sensations in your body, giving you access to a map of your nervous system and any holding patterns you may carry.
The map becomes the place of exploration and expansion, allowing you to locate patterns that are often unconscious (i.e. tension in the jaw, chronic pain in the hip, continued GI disturbance).
If and when you’re ready, we move to the bodywork table.
Manual therapy may include gentle contact at the feet, slow fascial work at the abdomen, or supportive holds at the head and sacrum.
Together we determine if you want to continue using somatic conversation during bodywork, or if you prefer to enter a silent conversation with your body.
If you are seeking pelvic therapy, after several sessions of somatic bodywork to establish nervous system mapping and understand your goals, internal pelvic floor therapy can be integrated. This always includes a slow embodied consent process.
Throughout, we listen to your nervous system and attend to emotional layers that may surface: grief, overwhelm, younger parts of self, that are ready to be called back home.
When we provide care to the emotional body, the physical body rearranges, and persistent tension and pain can finally resolve.
We celebrate together as you welcome relief of patterns you were told you were stuck with.
Why Body and Mind Together?
The body carries memory. Tissues and structures often hold frozen states of harm, confusion, or lack. Over time, these constrictions reshape us: a hip chronically holding, a low back burdened by inaccessible pelvic floor muscles, scar tissue that feels like it locks the past in place.
Talk therapy can shift patterns and stories, but without tending to the body, the imprint of pain rarely releases. Likewise, bodywork alone can stir strong emotions - tears in massage, grief in acupuncture - without giving the mind and heart a way to integrate them.
Somatic tools bring both together. The body’s experience is witnessed, tended, and held in safety. This creates lasting release because the body no longer needs to carry the old shape born of rupture. For queer and trans people, this integration is essential, it helps us reclaim our bodies not just as sites of survival, but as places of power, connection, and safety.
For queer & Trans folks holding stress, trauma, or chronic pain
“The pain is real, but the doctors keep saying everything’s normal.”
So many queer and Trans people are dismissed when it comes to their mental health care. In this work, your body’s voice is the compass. Together we listen for what your body needs: rest, acknowledgment, permission. When we meet those needs, patterns of pain can soften, and alongside bodywork, they release.
“My body is always on high alert, even when nothing is happening.”
For many, the nervous system is worn down by years of survival mode, whether from trauma, medical harm, or the demands of contemporary life. In our work, you’ll practice building signals of safety with your body. Over time, this regulation helps you respond to stressors with more ease, grounding you in resilience for everyday life.
“I’ve tried everything and I still feel stuck in my body.”
It can feel discouraging to seek care again and again, only to be left without answers, especially in systems not designed for queer and Trans folks. Here, you don’t have to figure it out alone. We guide you in attuning to your body and listening for what is needed. From there, we help you create the shifts your life is asking for.
Remarkable changes happen swiftly in this work.
Patterns of tension and pain, overwhelm and contraction, are part of being human, and they are amplified in this time of collective dysregulation. This work helps make space for repair, integration, and growth so you live with more connection, safety, and vitality.
Somatic bodywork
for the perinatal time:
fertility
conception
pregnancy
loss
birth
postpartum
parenting
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No. Most of the work happens with you fully clothed. If internal pelvic floor therapy is part of your care, we’ll talk about it ahead of time, go slowly, and make sure you feel safe and in full consent at every step. Your comfort and choice guide the process
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It’s normal for tears, memories, or big feelings to surface when the body finally has space to release what it’s been carrying. We move slowly, letting your nervous system set the pace. You’ll be supported with presence, grounding practices, and space for integration so that nothing feels rushed or overwhelming.
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Massage often helps release tension in the muscles, and talk therapy can shift patterns of thought and story. Somatic bodywork brings the two together. We attend to the body’s memory and the emotional layers at the same time, so lasting change can happen. Many clients notice that this approach helps resolve pain and patterns that neither massage nor talk therapy alone could shift.