Somatic Therapy · Boca Raton & Delray Beach, FL
The body remembers what words alone cannot reach.
Somatic therapy in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, Florida, for women whose anxiety, trauma, or long-standing patterns have stayed lodged in the body even after years of talking about them.
Training & supervision
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EMDR-trained
EMDRIA-approved basic training curriculum
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AEDP-trained
AEDP Institute
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IFS-informed
Internal Family Systems
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MS, Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Master's level clinician
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Practicing under qualified supervision
Supervised by Karin Witte, LMHC #MH13488
Currently practicing at Genesis Counseling, Boca Raton & Delray Beach.
What is somatic therapy in Boca Raton?
Somatic therapy in Boca Raton is body-based psychotherapy that works with breath, posture, sensation, and micro-movement as a real part of the therapeutic process - not as an add-on to talk. Trauma and chronic stress are not stored only in memory; they live in the body and the nervous system, in patterns of tension and protection that the thinking mind alone cannot always reach. Insight can name these patterns; it often cannot move them. The work can help with anxiety that lives in the body, trauma responses that talking has not shifted, disconnection from yourself, and stuck reactions in close relationships. There is no physical contact and nothing is forced; the goal is to help your body experience that the past is no longer the present moment. Hannah Lee, RMHCI, offers somatic-informed therapy for women in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, FL and via secure telehealth across Florida, under qualified Florida supervision.
What somatic therapy actually is
Not a single technique.
Somatic therapy works with the body - breath, posture, sensation, and movement - as a real part of the therapeutic process. The body holds patterns of tension and protection that the thinking mind alone cannot always reach. In sessions, we may slow down and notice what you feel physically when a memory or familiar pattern comes up.
Trauma and chronic stress are not stored only in memory. They live in the body and the nervous system - in the limbic structures that learned a response, in the muscles that learned to brace, in the autonomic loops that learned to stay alert. Insight alone can name these patterns; it often cannot move them.
We work gently. Nothing is forced. The goal is not to dramatize what you feel, but to help your body experience that the past is no longer the present moment. For many people, weaving somatic work into talk therapy is what finally lets old patterns begin to soften.
What somatic therapy can help with
Anxiety that lives in the body
The tight chest, the held breath, the shoulders that have not fully dropped in years. When anxiety has a clear physical signature, somatic work meets it where it actually lives.
Trauma responses that talk has not shifted
Freeze, collapse, hypervigilance, dissociation. These are nervous-system patterns, not character flaws. Somatic work engages the body's own capacity for regulation through breath, sensation, and gentle inquiry.
Disconnection from yourself
Years of overriding your own signals to keep things running for everyone else can leave you genuinely uncertain what you feel. Somatic work is a slow way back into knowing.
Stuck reactions in close relationships
The same shut-down, the same panic, the same braced posture, with the same kind of person. When a relational pattern repeats below the level of language, the body often holds the part of the story words have not reached.
How a somatic session unfolds
The body sets the pace.
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01 · Orienting
We begin by settling into the present moment - the room, the chair, the breath. This is not a relaxation exercise; it is a check-in with where your nervous system actually is today.
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02 · Noticing
As you describe what you are working with, we slow down and pay attention to what shows up physically alongside the story - a held breath, a clench, a wave of heat, a place that goes quiet.
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03 · Gentle inquiry
We stay with what the body is doing long enough for it to have somewhere to go. Nothing is forced. If anything intensifies past what feels workable, we slow down or step back.
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04 · Integration
We close with a return to the present - what feels different now, what you want to carry out of the session, what the work is asking you to notice between now and next time.
Common questions about somatic therapy
Will I have to do bodywork or movement exercises?
No. Somatic therapy is not bodywork, massage, or a movement class. You stay seated, clothed, and in conversation. The body-based piece is about slowing down and noticing what is already there - breath, posture, sensation - not performing anything. You will never be asked to do something your nervous system is not ready for.
Is this like massage or physical therapy?
No. There is no physical contact. Somatic psychotherapy is talk therapy that pays attention to what the body is doing alongside what is being said. The work happens through awareness and gentle inquiry, not through touch.
Can somatic work be done over telehealth?
Yes. Telehealth works well for somatic therapy because the work is about your own awareness of your own body. We notice breath, posture, and sensation together over video the same way we would in person. Many clients find the privacy of their own space actually supports the work.
What if I do not feel anything in my body?
That is information too. Many people who have spent years coping by tuning out the body do not feel much at first, and that is a starting point, not a problem. The work begins with whatever is actually there, even if it is numbness or blankness.
An invitation
Wondering if somatic work is the right fit?
The free 15-minute consultation is the easiest place to start. You can describe what you are working with, and I will give you an honest read on whether this approach is likely to help.
No commitment. Pick a time, I'll call you.
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