Somatic Therapy with IFS
Your body often knows things before your mind can put them into words. The knot in your stomach before a hard conversation. The tight shoulders that never quite let go. The heaviness in your chest, the jaw you didn’t realize you were clenching, the way you go numb or foggy when something feels like too much.
These sensations aren’t random. They are often the body’s way of carrying old experiences, protective habits, and feelings that never had a safe place to land.
Talking about what happened can help. But for many people, real change also needs to happen at the level of the body: noticing what’s there, staying with it gently, and letting it shift.
I offer somatic therapy in Boulder and online throughout Colorado, weaving body awareness into Internal Family Systems (IFS) so you can understand your inner world not just in your head, but in your whole self.
What Somatic Therapy Can Help With
Many people come to somatic work when talking alone hasn’t been enough.
Anxiety you feel physically: a racing heart, tight chest, restlessness, or trouble settling
Old trauma or painful experiences that still show up in your body
Feeling numb, disconnected, or “in your head” most of the time
Chronic tension, bracing, or exhaustion that doesn’t seem to have a clear cause
Strong reactions that seem bigger than the situation in front of you
Relationship patterns that feel automatic, like shutting down, people-pleasing, or getting flooded
Understanding something intellectually but still feeling stuck
If any of this sounds familiar, nothing is wrong with you. Your body has been doing its best to protect you.
How Somatic Work Fits with IFS
Internal Family Systems (IFS) understands the mind as made up of many parts. Some parts try to protect us. Others carry old hurt, fear, or shame.
Those parts don’t just live in our thoughts. They show up in the body. An anxious part might live as a tightness in your chest. A part that learned to stay small might show up as a sinking feeling or a collapsed posture. A protective part might feel like armor across your shoulders or a wall of numbness.
In our work together, we pay attention to how your parts show up somatically. We slow down and notice the sensations, images, and impulses that come with them. That body awareness helps us:
Recognize patterns as they happen, rather than only looking back on them later
Get to know protective parts with curiosity, through what they feel like in the body
Process difficult experiences while staying connected to what’s happening in your body right now
Stay grounded and resourced, so nothing becomes overwhelming
Notice the moments when your system settles, softens, or feels more at ease
Rather than analyzing your experience from a distance, you learn to feel it, understand it, and let it change from the inside.
What Sessions Look Like
Somatic work with me is gentle and collaborative. There is no touch involved; everything happens through awareness, conversation, and curiosity.
A session might include:
Pausing to notice what you feel in your body as you talk about something important
Getting curious about a sensation and what part of you it might belong to
Slowing down so your nervous system has time to catch up
Grounding practices that help you feel steady and present
Accessing what IFS calls Self: the calm, clear, compassionate center that is always there underneath
We begin with safety and pacing. Nothing is forced, and we only go as fast as your system is ready to go. Alongside IFS and somatic awareness, I draw on attachment theory and a strengths-based, trauma-informed lens.
Somatic therapy works well both in person in Boulder and online throughout Colorado. Many people are surprised by how much they can notice and shift in their bodies from home.
Over time, many people find they feel more at home in their bodies. Tension softens. Reactions become easier to understand and less overwhelming. Old experiences feel less charged. And there’s more room to respond to life from a place of calm and choice, rather than old protective habits.
If you’re looking for somatic therapy in Boulder or online in Colorado, I’d be happy to talk with you about whether we might be a good fit.
