What is Somatic or Body-Based Work? A Grounded Explanation

Somatic or body-based work is an approach that recognises the body as an essential part of how we experience, process, and integrate life. Rather than working only through talking or cognitive understanding, this approach gently includes bodily sensations, emotions, and nervous system responses as part of the healing process.

Many experiences - particularly those that were overwhelming, stressful, or emotionally charged - are not fully processed through thinking alone. Instead, they can remain held in the body as patterns of tensions, emotional reactivity, fatigue, or disconnection. Somatic work offers a way to meet these experiences through awareness and regulation, rather than force or analysis.

The Body's Role in Processing Experience

When something happens that exceeds our capacity to process it in the moment, the nervous system adapts in order to keep us safe. This may look like heightened alertness, emotional shutdown, or a subtle holding pattern in the body.

Over time, these adaptations can remain even when the original situation has passed. People may notice ongoing stress, difficulty relaxing, emotional overwhelm, or a sense that they are "stuck", despite having insight into their experiences.

Body-based work acknowledges that these patterns are not a failure or weakness - they are intelligent responses shaped by the nervous system. By working directly with the body, it become possible to support integration in a way that feels respectful and manageable.

How Somatic Work is Different from Talking Alone

Talking can be incredibly valuable, particularly for understanding patterns, gaining clarity, and making meaning of experiences. However, not everything the body holds is accessible through language.

Somatic or body-based work places attention on present-moment sensations - such as breath, tensions, warmth, heaviness, or movement impulses - and explores these at a pace guided by the individual. This allows processing to occur without needing to revisit memories in detail or analyse past events.

The focus in not on reliving experiences, but on supporting the nervous system to feel safer, more regulated, and more integrated in the present.

Client-led Approach

A key aspect of my work is that it is client-led. Rather than imposing a technique or outcome, the process follows what the body is ready to engage with.

Sessions may include:

• settling and grounding the nervous system

• tuning into areas of the body that feel most present

• noticing sensations, emotions, or subtle internal cues

• allowing gentle movement, breath, or expression is appropriate

There is no expectation to "go deep", release emotion, or have a particular experience. Change often happens through small, steady shifts that build over time.

Who Somatic or Body-Based Work Can Support

This approach may be helpful for people who:

• feel stressed, overwhelmed, or burnt out

• notice emotional patterns that feel difficult to shift

• feel disconnected from their body or emotions

• have done talk therapy and want additional support

• want a grounded approach rather than intensity

Somatic work is trauma-informed, meaning it prioritises safety, choice, and pacing. At the same time, it is not limited to those who identify with trauma - many people seek this work simply to feel more regulated, present, and connected.

A Grounded Path Toward Integration

Somatic or body-based work is not about fixing or forcing change. It is about listening to the body with curiosity and care, allowing integration to unfold naturally over time.

By supporting the nervous system and working in harmony with the body's signals, this approach provides a grounded and sustainable path toward greater ease, resilience, and embodiment.

If you're curious about how this work looks in practice, you can read more about my approach here.

I offer in-person somatic and subconscious integration sessions in Brisbane.

Morgan Lucas

Mystic Medicine