51 Powerful Somatic Therapies for Healing Trauma and the Nervous System

1. Somatic Experiencing

Created by trauma therapist Peter Levine, after he observed how animals release trauma in the wild, SE is an approach to somatic therapy based on the idea that traumatic events lead to dysfunction in the nervous system, which prevents you from processing the experience.

SE is designed to help clients to access the trauma stuck in the body, allowing them to let survival responses—fight, flight, freeze—to ‘complete’, bringing the nervous system back into harmony. This is helpful for trauma symptoms such as chronic pain, addiction, anxiety, depression and many others. 

2. Embodied Processing

This is a bottom-up modality for healing trauma and nervous system dysregulation that focuses on creating a non-judgemental and well-resourced environment in which clients can safely explore their survival physiology.

It provides a sharp set of tools to help people digest their unprocessed life experience and the emotional residue that lies at the root of low self-esteem, anxiety, addiction, depression and myriad other stress-related issues. 

Note: I am a certified Embodied Processing facilitator. Learn more about my work here.

3. The Living Inquiries 

An intimate and fully embodied exploration of one’s felt experience and beliefs. Sessions invite us to discover that which is hidden or unconscious, allowing for an unravelling of thoughts and feelings. 

LI emphasises taking a non-judgemental approach to our experience, moving beyond trying to endlessly fix ourselves and instead connecting deeply to the wisdom of our body and being in the present moment. 

Note: I am a Certified Living Inquiries Facilitator.

4. The Kiloby Inquiries 

KI is an experiential deprogramming modality which focuses on questioning misperceptions and dismantling the false belief in separation and deficiency in order to live life in a more compassionate, loving, vulnerable and selfless way.  

The core of the work is experiential, allowing everything to be as it is and letting thoughts, emotions and sensations arise and be felt directly. Skilful inquiries are used in order to bring the client to deeper levels of belief, feeling and being. 

Note: I am a Certified Kiloby Inquiries Facilitator. 

5. Root-Cause Therapy

This is a trauma healing method which uses regression to allow the completion of unprocessed emotions which are still presently causing unwanted thoughts, behaviours and symptoms. 

The facilitator helps the client to tap into the self-healing mechanisms of the deeper parts of the mind in a safe container. 

 6. Music Therapy

A broad field that draws upon the innate healing qualities of music to support the psychological, emotional, communicative and social needs of those who have been affected by injury, illness or disability. 

A central aspect is the relationship that is developed through engagement in live musical interaction and play between a therapist and client. Using music in this way enables people to explore and connect with the world and to express themselves through music. 

7. Art Therapy

This is another broad field that uses art as a medium to creatively express oneself emotionally and psychologically in order to foster healing and mental well-being. 

The creative process can help people to express themselves, gaining insights, connecting to their internal world and developing the capacity to be with themselves. It differs from an art class in that the focus is not on mastering a particular technique but rather on letting the client focus on and express their inner experience. 

8. Dance Therapy

A versatile and broad modality based on the idea that motion and emotion are connected. 

Creatively expressing oneself through movement becomes a kind of language through which people can integrate the emotional, cognitive, physical and social aspects of their being. 

It differs from regular dancing in that the focus is more on building a “movement vocabulary” that allows people to communicate conscious and unconscious feelings through physical means. 

9. Play Therapy 

This modality is primarily aimed at children because they may lack the capacity to process their own emotions or express themselves to adults.

Children use play to express themselves and navigate the world. The therapist to watch the child at play to gain insights into his or her problems. They can then help the child to learn new ways of coping, finding solutions to problems and how to redirect the impulses behind inappropriate behaviours. 

10. Sand Tray Therapy

This modality is a combination of play therapy and art therapy. The therapist uses a sand box filled with toys in which the client can create a play world. 

The modality is based on the idea that the world the client creates reflects their internal state: emotions, struggles and conflicts. The therapist and client then discuss the session: the toys chose, how they were arranged and so on to elicit insights and symbolic meanings. 

11. Adventure Therapy 

A form of experiential therapy that uses challenging adventure activities to improve mental health such as cooperative games, trust activities, problem-solving initiatives, outdoor pursuits and wilderness expeditions. 

Being supported to complete challenging tasks helps to forge an identity, build resiliency and improve self-efficacy. Clients don’t just participate in the activity, they also learn how to do it themselves.

12. Writing Therapy

There are many ways you can use writing for healing: you can journal in a structured way to explore specific questions, spontaneously free-write without inhibition, journal by yourself or with professional guidance, or even practice it in a group combined with sharing and peer support.

By doing so we can gain clarity over our thoughts and feelings as well as our reactions and patterns, deriving insights that can be helpful in living a better life. 

13. Clay Field Therapy 

This is a sensorimotor, body-focused, trauma-informed art therapy approach. The client is given a wooden box that holds 10-15kg of clay, which becomes a symbolic “world” for them to explore. 

The weight of the clay makes crafting the effort a physical effort, which helps to step out of the mind and to let more “ancient” and somatic creative urges to arise. The kinaesthetic motor action along with the sensory experience help to heal trauma. 

14. Occupational Therapy

An occupational therapist uses therapeutic techniques to treat physical, mental and emotional issues that impact their ability to perform everyday tasks and activities. 

An OT will focus on ‘occupation’ (meaning the things we do everything, the roles, tasks and goals that define who we are) as the tool to restore and enhance a clients’ life.

15. Rolfing Structural Integration

A form of bodywork that approaches the body, not as a collection of separate parts, but as a seamless network of tissues and fascia that surround and penetrate the muscles, bones, nerves and organs. 

Practitioners work on these connective tissues to release, realign and balance the whole body to address discomfort, compensations and pain. 

16. Rosen Method Bodywork

This is a somatic approach to address physical and emotional tension in the body. It is based on the idea that a person protects themselves from painful experiences in the past through tension in the body, which separates us from our true self. 

Using a unique form of sensitive, listening touch and verbal communication helps the client build inner awareness of physical and emotional tension they are holding. The non-judgemental space created by the practitioner allows the body to let go of these tensions and reveal its truth. The outcome is a sense of embodiment, connection to oneself and others’ and greater openness and vulnerability. 

17. Myofascial Release 

A hands-on form of bodywork that works directly with the muscles and the fascia, following the natural intelligence of the body to release tension, aches and pain as well as to restore movement. It uses gentle manual pressure to massage and stretch the areas of the myofascia or specific trigger points in order to release tension and negative patterns of holding and movement. 

This work can work with deeper levels of consciousness to help release emotional wounds, traumas and unwind stuck survival responses. 

18. Therapeutic Breathwork

Therapeutic breathwork involves purposeful breathing exercises conducted by a trained practitioner and combined with mental-health therapy techniques.

There are a hug variety and range of breathing exercises, although most therapeutic ones involve deep, slow breathing to regulate the nervous system and as an opportunity to cultivate a greater awareness of one’s internal state. 

19. Holotropic Breathwork

Holotropic breathwork involves controlling and quickening breathing patterns to influence your mental, emotional, and physical states. The aim is to reach an altered state of consciousness (without drugs) as a therapeutic tool for self-healing and wholeness. 

The word “holotropic” means to ‘move toward wholeness’. The practice is based on the idea every practitioner has an ‘inner radar’ which will allow them to focus on whatever needs to emerge and be healed during the session.

20. Acupuncture 

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medicine-based approach that involves stimulating the nervous system by triggering specific points on the skin with thin needles. 

By stimulating the nervously, endocrine and immune systems, this approach helps to evoke the body’s natural healing capacities to resolve pain as well as mental and emotioanl difficulties by balancing ‘Qi’. 

21. Acupressure 

Acupressure involves applying precise pressure to over 650 trigger points in the body to relieve pain and muscle tension as well as to keep the life energy (‘Qi’) flowing. 

This can be practiced with a facilitator or by oneself in order to provide relaxation, pain relief, improve immune system function and emotional health. 

22. Transforming the Experience-Based Brain (TEB)

This is a trauma-informed modality based on the idea that ruptures during early development will disrupt a person’s life on a continuous basis until they are repaired. TEB uses presence, nervous system regulation and relationship to do this. 

23. Shiatsu Massage 

‘Shiatsu’ is an ancient Japanese healing practice that works to rebalance Qi’—the vital energy—across the body’s meridians. 

The word means ‘finger pressure’ in Japanese and it uses kneading, pressing, soothing, tapping, and stretching techniques to treat a wide range of physical and emotional conditions. 

24. Jin Shin Jyutsu

This ancient healing art seeks to harmonise the body’s energy through gentle touch to the fingers and hands.

The practitioner uses a series of hand placement combinations over specific areas on the body to balance and restore the energy flow throughout the body’s meridians. 

25. Craniosacral Therapy 

A relaxing, intuitive mode of bodywork that relieves compression in the head, sacrum (lower back) and spinal column. 

The practitioner uses exceedingly light pressure in these areas to relieve a wide range of physical, mental and emotional issues. They follow the rhythm of the energy and fluids that flows between the head and pelvic area in order to adjust and optimise this rhythm. 

26. SomatoEmotional™ Release (SER)

An adjunct to CranioSacral therapy that works with the body-mind to release emotional issues and memories from the body tissues in order to facilitate personal growth, move on from illness, address unresolved issues and lack of potential and move towards health and fulfilment.

(Note: this therapy is of course not to be confused with TomatoEmotional™ Release, which is when you aggressively launch soggy tomatoes at people in the street in order to release stuck emotional energy…JUST KIDDING.)

 27. Trauma-Informed Yoga

A modern twist on the ancient practice of yoga that takes into account modern knowledge of trauma to make feeling safe a priority for practitioners. 

There are fewer physical touches by the teacher, smaller groups, more invitational language, less rigid and broader options for taking poses in order to give practitioners more control over their body as they practice. 

28. Tension and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) 

A set of exercises designed to release tension and trauma from the body through shaking and tremoring. It works by using some preliminary exercises to fatigue the body, then you lay down and allow it to shake and tremor to release tension and trauma.  

29. Feldenkrais Method 

This somatic method is designed to enhance self-awareness and to promote graceful movements that harnesses the nervous system’s capacity to create intelligent action towards healing. 

Aimed at those experiencing restricted, pained or otherwise limited movement It is delivered via individual or group classes to help people to be able to strengthen and regulate their movements on their own, increasing flexibility, coordination and range of motion.

30. Qi Gong 

An ancient Chinese system of coordinated body postures, movements, breathing techniques and meditations to cultivate and balance ‘qi’ (life energy). It typically involves moving meditation, slow-flowing movements and deep rhythmic breathing. 

31. Tai Chi

A Chinese martial art that is today practiced as a form of gentle exercise for promoting overall health and reducing stress and anxiety. It involves a series of movements that are performed in a slow, focused and flowing manner alongside deep, meditative breathing. Known as ‘meditation in motion’, the body is in continuous movement.

Tai Chi can help to maintain strength, flexibility, balance and prevent illness. It’s appropriate for those in wheelchairs or recovering from surgery.  

32. Eurythmy Therapy

‘Eurythmy’ means ‘harmonious movement’. 

This therapy aims to restore balance to the body via a series of repeated, intensifying gestures that combine movement and different speech tones that reflect inner attitudes and functions in the body.

33. Alexander Technique

This technique helps you to recognise and “unlearn” long-standing habits of posture and reactions to the stresses of life in order to relieve unnecessary tension.

By examining the relationship of the head, neck and spine and becoming more mindful of how we go about daily activities like standing or sitting, you achieve a balanced, more naturally aligned body. 

34. Reiki

This therapy involves the ritualised practice of “laying hands” in order to channel ‘universal’ (rei) ‘energy’ (ki) through the practitioner’s hands to release energy blockages and allow the reiki to flow freely. 

Practitioners use a gentle hands-on approach on specific areas of the body in sequence, often starting with the head and going down to the toes.

35. Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) 

Commonly known as ‘tapping’, this is a holistic technique that can be practised solo or with a therapist and is based on a combination of ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology. 

The basic technique involves tapping along the meridian points while focusing on a negative emotion in order to recalibrate the nervous system and rebalance your body’s energy.  

36. Shamanism

This covers an incredibly broad range of practices found in many cultures from ancient times until the modern day. 

Very broadly, it seeks to bring individuals into right relationship with the spirit in all things. Shamans use a variety of techniques, including dance, drumming, breathwork, meditation and plants to bring about altered states of consciousness that reveal messages and insights that bring us healing. 

37. Psychedelic Therapy and Plant Medicine

Psychedelics and plant medicines are substances that can induce mystical and expanded states of consciousness that can be used to gain insights into one’s own being and the being of the universe. 

A new wave of psychedelic research, dubbed by some a “psychedelic revolution in psychiatry”, is pointing to their huge potential for healing difficult conditions such as anxiety and depression. 

38. Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprogramming (EDMR)

This is a psychotherapy treatment designed to resolve traumatic events and adverse live experiences. 

By focusing on a traumatic memory while performing bilateral stimulation (moving the eyes left and right) you can reduce the emotional impact of the memory and heal from the pain associated with it. 

39. Hypnotherapy 

This approach uses hypnosis to treat different conditions and change habits. 

Clients are guided into a trance-like state in which they become deeply relaxed, more open to suggestions or able to explore past experiences. 

40. Internal Family Systems Therapy 

In IFS therapy we get to know our different psychological “parts” and how they function. E.g. the self-critical part, or the arrogant part etc. We often find that these parts of us play significant roles and are trying to help us, even if they are painful or in conflict with other parts. 

By exploring these parts and dialoguing with them and the feelings and beliefs they carry, we can heal wounded parts and help to establish healthy ways for the parts to coexist. 

41. The Richards Trauma Process

This is a structured, step-by-step approach that uses a combination of various psychotherapies and hypnosis to resolve trauma where it is stored: in the body. 

It works on the basis that the person must be moved to an empowered position regarding their trauma (moving from fight/fight/freeze to a regulated state) and that the body must learn that the traumatic event or events are over (“I’m safe!”).

 42. The Hakomi Method

A body-centred psychotherapy that holds that the body is a window to unconscious psychological material (core beliefs, memories, impulses and feelings) and aims to bring these into awareness and then integrate them.

The Hakomi Method is grounded in five principles: mindfulness, organicity, nonviolence, mind-body integration, and unity. These help to create a safe environment in which the client feels respected, seen and understood. 

43. Focusing 

A modality that explores those aspects of our experience that are difficult to describe in a concrete way, focusing on the idea of the ‘felt sense’ and aiming to support the client to stay with the felt sense and listen to what it has to say.  Eugene Gendlin, the originator, discovered that those who succeeded in therapy were those who were able to stay with unclear or vague aspects of their experience.

The therapist tries to tap into the client’s innate knowledge and body intelligence, working with the premise that the client knows better than the therapist what is required. 

44. Safe and Sound Protocol

This modality involves listening to electronically altered music through over the ear headphones while sitting quietly or doing a relaxing task like colouring. 

The music helps our nervous system stay in connection mode to promote healthy emotional interactions and attune to positive rather than negative environmental cues. 

45. Brainspotting

This approach is based on the idea that the direction in which people look or gaze can affect the way they feel and uses spots in a person's visual field to help them process trauma.

Therapists guide people to move across their field of vision until they find a ‘brainspot’ associated with a traumatic memory of emotion. This helps the client to access emotions on a deeper level. 

46. Subconscious Imprinting

The practitioner accesses root memories, experiences, emotions, or environments within the client’s body through muscle testing. Once discovered, they use signature release statements to change the way the client’s body perceives and receives information.

It aims to ‘reprogram’ subconscious programs to create new outcomes that align with the life, emotions, health and actions you desire.

47. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

A holistic methodology that includes somatic, emotional and cognitive processing and integration to address trauma and attachment issues. 

SP approaches the body as an integral source of information and intelligence that guides resourcing and the processing of traumatic experience.

48. Ecotherapy / Nature Therapy 

The core of ecotherapy is cultivating a healing connection to the Earth and Nature. It emphasises the fact that we are not separate or isolated from our environment but part of the web of life. 

Ecotherapeutic interventions can include meditating in nature, doing plant- or garden-related activities, doing conservation activities or doing physical exercise in a natural environment. 

49. Equine Therapy

A holistic, experiential therapy where professionals guide clients to help care for the horses to promote emotional growth by increasing confidence, empathy and self awareness. 

The client doesn’t actually ride the horse, but helps to care for it, carrying out tasks such as feeding, grooming and leading. 

50. Pet/Animal-Assisted Therapy

This approach uses dogs and other animals to help people to cope with mental health issues and to recover from physical issues. 

The non-judgemental, accepting presence of animals helps people to regulate their own nervous system and helps them to come back to a calm, connected and engaged state. 

51. Peer Support Groups

There are many different kinds of peer support groups. These are based on people using their own experiences to help each other. Sometimes there is professional support, but not necessarily. Typically they are organised around a particular issue or problem, like addiction or disease. 

12 Step groups are probably the most well-known example. But there are a million and one different types, both in-person and online. People also use online forums as a route to peer support. 

That’s All Folks!

That should give you a few starting points if you are interested in healing yourself at a deep level with somatic, bottom-up approaches.

Did I miss out your favourite therapy? Have any questions on any of these? Let me know in a comment below or send me an email ben@drunkenbuddha.net.