What is Somatic Psychotherapy?
Soma - the living body in its wholeness
— Ancient Greece
You heard right,
the body does keep the score.
But not only of life’s pain.
It also holds the greatest joy, peace and strength.
Your body is not just a portal to healing.
It’s a call to freedom.
The literal re-membering of Self.
Most psychotherapy only focuses on the Mind - thoughts and beliefs.
Integrative Psychotherapy, like mine, which fuses Somatic Psychology, Internal Family Systems and Psychodyamics, harmonizes your systems and allows for radical change.
The mind is part of the body, and the body is Self.
By working from the bottom-up: sensations, emotions, then thoughts, you gain access to an infinite well of information about your authentic experience, and foster greater compassion for your survival defenses keeping your past as present.
Through a plethora of concepts, practices and experiments, Somatic Psychology, Internal Family Systems and Psychodynamics helps you integrate your inner conflicts, limiting beliefs, and automatic reactions with your internal resources, sense of wonder and existing resilience.
This is the return to Wholeness.
The field of Somatic Psychotherapy is at the forefront of helping people heal at the root of their suffering, instead of only treating symptoms and “behaviors” through over-prescribed coping skills that often leave much to be desired in depth and customization.
It is an umbrella of therapies that ultimately centers the reality of our physiology - that our Minds and Bodies are actually one working system, and that there is deep untapped healing wisdom potential laying latent within the body - not just the mind. It fuses both psychology and somatics together, as well as creativity, spirituality and client centered experientials.
Are you curious what wisdom lies within?
Do you wish for greater agency?
Have you dreamt of long lasting change?
Your Somatic Psychotherapist
I was introduced to the field of Somatic Psychology when I was deciding where to do my graduate work as a soon-to-be-therapist. I had planned to do the expressive arts program at CIIS, but after I shared with the admissions counselor my reasons for becoming a therapist, they recommended I check out the Somatics program - one of the only in the world.
I had found myself on the Becoming-A-Therapist path after recovering from an eating disorder as a professional dancer. There was no somatics in my treatment program and I had just left my previous dance company that was toxic to build my own focused on moving from the inside out instead of being aesthetic based - The No Mirrors Movement. Learning about Somatic Psychology was the missing link I was looking for in what I intuitively knew - how essential it is for healing, especially disordered eating, to get back into the body. I was hooked and my life forever changed.
Both as the giver of Somatic Psychotherapy and the receiver, I have completely rewired my nervous system. As a chronic over worker, perfectionist, and go-go-go do-do-doer , I was finally able to actually relax. Enjoy my body and my life. Not only tolerate my physical and emotional sensorial experiences, but regulate them on my own terms. True choice. True empowerment. This was a gamechanger for my relationships and sense of Self.
While there’s no such thing as always being regulated, I can’t imagine my life without having found this alternative pathway.
Now I share what I’ve learned in both my personal healing work and clinical provider work with all those souls who are seeking a different way too. There is so much to be gained from the journey.
Solasta McIntyre (he/they)
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist #138467
Master’s in Counseling & Somatic Psychology from CIIS
Certified Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist
Somatics is an incredibly powerful modality in healing and supporting multi-divergent folks to thrive.
I believe neurodivergent folks, who are often trauma survivors, can in fact thrive when given the right conditions, container and care.
My practice, Solasta McIntyre Therapy, exists to serve the unique and complex needs of multi “disorder” clients in an effort to help them embody the life they deserve.
Try out Somatics for Free Today
Download my free Guided Orienting Practice. A foundational practice for healing trauma, reducing stress and coming back to center. I often use this practice in session with clients in helping them arrive to the space.
Want somatics without the psych?
I am now offering somatic healing services such as energy healing/reiki, authentic movement and bodywork in-person to folks located in York County Maine, Westchester County New York, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
To learn more about these non-psychotherapy services, please click here.