You’ve done the talking. You’ve had the insights. You understand — intellectually — what happened to you and why.
So why does your body still feel like it’s bracing for impact?
Why does your chest still tighten in certain conversations? Why do your shoulders still creep up towards your ears when you’re stressed? Why does your stomach still clench when you hear a certain tone of voice?
Because your body hasn’t caught up with what your mind knows. And it won’t — not through thinking alone.
This is where somatic healing comes in. And it’s why, as a holistic therapist offering somatic healing in Ireland — in Dublin, Naas, Newbridge, and online worldwide — I’ve seen this approach transform people in ways that years of talk therapy couldn’t.
What Is Somatic Healing?
The word “somatic” comes from the Greek word “soma,” meaning body. Somatic healing is any approach that works with the body — not just the mind — to release stored tension, trauma, and emotional patterns.
It’s based on a simple but profound truth: your body remembers everything.
Every experience you’ve ever had — especially the overwhelming ones, the ones that were too much to process at the time — gets stored in your tissues, your muscles, your nervous system. This isn’t metaphor. It’s biology.
When we experience something threatening or overwhelming, our nervous system mobilises for survival. Fight, flight, freeze. Energy floods the body, preparing us to respond to danger.
But here’s the problem: in modern life, we rarely get to complete that response. We can’t run away from the stressful meeting. We can’t fight back against the critical parent. We can’t escape the situation that’s overwhelming us. So the energy stays stuck. The survival response never completes. And the body stays braced, waiting for a threat that — on some level — it still believes is coming.
Why Talk Therapy Isn’t Always Enough
I want to be clear: talk therapy has immense value. Understanding your patterns, gaining insight into your history, making meaning of your experiences — all of this matters.
But there’s a limit to what the thinking mind can do.
The parts of your brain that process trauma — the amygdala, the brainstem, the limbic system — don’t speak the language of logic and insight. They speak the language of sensation, movement, breath, and felt safety.
This is why you can know something is irrational and still feel the fear. You can understand that you’re safe now and still have your body react as if you’re in danger. You can have all the insight in the world and still feel stuck.
Somatic healing speaks directly to the body — bypassing the analytical mind to work with the nervous system where trauma actually lives.
It’s not about understanding more. It’s about feeling safe enough to finally let go.
The Nervous System Needs Safety First
Here’s something I’ve learned through years of practice: you cannot force the body to release.
You can’t push through trauma. You can’t “positive think” your way out of a dysregulated nervous system. You can’t meditate away chronic tension that’s been building for decades.
What the body needs first — before it can release anything — is safety.
This is where polyvagal theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, becomes so helpful. Porges discovered that our autonomic nervous system is constantly scanning for cues of safety or danger — a process he calls “neuroception.” This happens below conscious awareness. Your body decides whether it’s safe to relax before your mind has any say in the matter.
And one of the most powerful cues of safety? The presence of another calm, regulated human being.
This is called co-regulation. When you’re with someone whose nervous system is grounded and present, your nervous system picks up on that. It borrows their regulation. It says: “This person is calm. Maybe I can be calm too.”
What Happens in a Somatic Healing Session
When clients come to me for somatic healing — whether in person in Dublin, Naas, or Newbridge, or online from anywhere in the world — the first thing I focus on is creating safety.
Not safety as a concept. Safety as a felt experience in the body.
This might involve grounding practices — feeling your feet on the floor, noticing where your body makes contact with the chair. It might involve breath awareness — not changing your breath, just noticing it. It might involve gentle movement, self-touch, or simply slowing down enough to feel what’s actually happening inside.
From there, we work with whatever is present. The tension in your shoulders. The heaviness in your chest. The knot in your stomach. The numbness you can’t quite explain.
We don’t analyse it. We don’t try to figure out what it means. We simply witness it. We give it attention. We create the conditions for it to shift — if and when it’s ready.
Sometimes there are tears. Sometimes there’s shaking. Sometimes there’s heat, or tingling, or a deep sigh of release. Sometimes there’s simply stillness — and that’s enough.
Being Held: The Missing Ingredient
There’s a phrase I use often in my work: “I don’t know why this happened to you. But I can hold this for you.”
This captures something essential about somatic healing — and about healing in general.
So much of what we carry, we carry alone. The pain we couldn’t share. The experiences we couldn’t process. The parts of ourselves that learned to hide because they weren’t welcome.
Somatic healing works not because of any particular technique — though techniques have their place. It works because of the relational field that gets created. A field of safety. Of presence. Of being truly witnessed without judgment.
Your body learned to hold on in relationship. It will learn to let go in relationship too.
This is why I believe so strongly in the power of working with someone — whether in person or online. Yes, there are practices you can do alone, and I teach many of them. But there’s something irreplaceable about being held in the presence of another human being who is fully there for you.
Somatic Healing and Energy Work
In my practice at Blissful Evolution, I integrate somatic healing with energy-based modalities like Reiki, Integrated Energy Therapy (IET), and bio-energy healing.
Why? Because the body isn’t just physical. It’s also energetic. The tension you feel in your shoulders isn’t just muscular — it’s also a pattern of energy that has become stuck or stagnant.
When we work with both the physical body and the energy body, we’re addressing the whole system. We’re not just releasing muscle tension — we’re clearing energetic blockages, restoring flow, and supporting the body’s natural capacity to heal itself.
This integrative approach is what makes holistic healing so powerful. We’re not treating symptoms in isolation. We’re working with you as a whole person — body, mind, energy, and spirit.
Who Is Somatic Healing For?
Somatic healing can benefit almost anyone, but it’s particularly powerful for:
• People who have done lots of talk therapy but still feel “stuck in their body”
• Those experiencing chronic tension, pain, or stress-related physical symptoms
• Anyone who feels disconnected from their body or emotions
• People healing from trauma — whether recent or from childhood
• Those struggling with anxiety, overwhelm, or nervous system dysregulation
• Anyone curious about a more embodied, holistic approach to wellbeing
You don’t need to have experienced “big T” trauma to benefit from somatic healing. The everyday stresses of modern life — the pressure, the pace, the constant stimulation — take a toll on the nervous system. Somatic work helps restore balance and build resilience, whatever your starting point.
In-Person and Online Somatic Healing Sessions
I offer somatic healing sessions in person at my therapy rooms in Dublin, Naas, and Newbridge — as well as online for clients anywhere in Ireland or worldwide.
Some people wonder if somatic work can be effective online. In my experience, absolutely yes. While there’s something special about sharing physical space, the nervous system responds powerfully to presence — and presence can be transmitted through a screen.
What matters most is the quality of attention. The safety of the container. The willingness to slow down and really feel.
Whether you’re in Kildare, Cork, London, or anywhere else in the world — if you’re ready to work with your body, I’m here.
Listen: A Sacred Talk on Being Held
I recently recorded a contemplative talk exploring these themes more deeply — the healing power of being witnessed, why your nervous system needs safety before it can release, and what it really means to hold space.
If this article has resonated with you, I invite you to listen:
It’s not a guided meditation — it’s more of a healing conversation. Something to be experienced as much as listened to.
Your Body Is Waiting
Here’s what I want you to know:
Your body is not broken. It’s not betraying you. It’s not the enemy.
Your body is trying to protect you — using the only strategies it knows. The tension, the bracing, the holding on — these are survival responses. They made sense once, even if they don’t serve you now.
Somatic healing isn’t about forcing your body to change. It’s about creating the conditions where it finally feels safe enough to let go.
And that starts with being held.
By others, when that’s available. By yourself, as you learn. By the earth beneath you, the breath within you, the life that wants to move through you.
Your body has been waiting a long time. Maybe it’s ready now.
Work With Me
If you’re ready to explore somatic healing, I’d love to support you.
I offer one-to-one sessions in person in Dublin, Naas, and Newbridge, as well as online for clients anywhere in Ireland and worldwide. My approach integrates somatic therapy with energy healing, nervous system regulation, and trauma-informed practices.
Get in touch to book a session or learn more about how we might work together.
Contact:
📧 info@blissfulevolution.com
📍 Dublin | Naas | Newbridge | Online Worldwide
About Abi Beri
Abi Beri is an IPHM-accredited Integrative Holistic Therapist based in Ireland, offering somatic healing, energy therapy, and family constellation work. With training in somatic therapy, Reiki, IET, bio-energy healing, and psychotherapy studies, Abi creates safe, trauma-informed spaces for deep transformation. Sessions available in Dublin, Naas, Newbridge, and online globally.
© Abi Beri | Blissful Evolution
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