Somatic Experiencing for Anxiety: How It Works in the Body
Somatic Experiencing is a body-based approach that helps people notice and work with the physical sensations of anxiety, such as a racing heart or shallow breathing. The aim is to help your nervous system settle at a pace that suits you. Research on the approach is still developing, and it isn't an established first-line treatment for anxiety disorders, so I think of it as something that can sit alongside other support.
Many people describe sitting in a quiet room, feeling completely safe, while their chest still tightens. Your head knows you're fine and your body hasn't caught up. Understanding why you're anxious can help. Sometimes the physical sensations continue even when you understand exactly what's happening.
Why anxiety can feel so physical
When you feel anxious, your body is preparing to deal with possible danger. Your heart speeds up, your breathing goes shallow, your gut tightens, and your attention narrows to whatever feels threatening. These responses are part of how any body copes, and they don't mean something is wrong with you. The difficulty is that they can switch on in response to an email or a memory and then take a long time to settle. After overwhelming or long-running stress, your nervous system can get stuck in survival mode, and it can feel like being switched on all the time.
How Somatic Experiencing approaches anxiety
Rather than arguing with anxious thoughts, Somatic Experiencing works with the sensations underneath them. The model proposes that stress responses can get stuck in the body, and that paying close attention to patterns of activation and settling can help the nervous system return to a steadier baseline. That is a theory about how the approach works, and I'd rather you heard it as one.
In practice, we notice where anxiety sits in your body and what it feels like, and we stay with only as much of it as you can manage. We move your attention between the tension and any steadier sensations, and see whether they begin to change. Over time, the aim is to widen your window of tolerance, which is the range of feeling you can stay in without panicking or shutting down.
What happens during a Somatic Experiencing session?
Say you notice a tight band across your chest whenever a stressful situation comes to mind. Instead of analysing the situation, I might ask you to get curious about the band. How wide is it? Does it have an edge? As you stay with it, the body often starts to shift without being pushed, perhaps with a deeper breath or a small softening.
Sometimes it goes the other way, and the sensation grows too intense. When that happens, I'd help you shift your attention to something steadier, like your feet on the floor, the chair holding you up, or something neutral in the room, and we'd return to the band only once the intensity has eased. I'm not asking you to concentrate harder on something unpleasant. We work at a pace you can manage, without forcing the sensation to change.
If you'd like a clearer picture, I've described what a session actually feels like in another post.
Does Somatic Experiencing help with anxiety?
Practitioners use Somatic Experiencing to help people notice and work with the physical sensations associated with stress and anxiety. Some people find it helpful, particularly when anxiety feels difficult to manage through thinking and reasoning alone.
Research into the approach is still developing. Studies have explored its use for trauma-related symptoms, but there isn't yet enough high-quality evidence to establish it as a first-line treatment for anxiety disorders. NICE guidance recommends cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for both generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder, while medication may be appropriate depending on the diagnosis and individual circumstances. Somatic Experiencing is not currently listed among these recommended treatments. CBT has the more established evidence base. Somatic Experiencing may be worth exploring as a complementary approach, depending on your circumstances and the support you already have.
Is Somatic Experiencing right for you?
It may suit you if your anxiety has a strong physical side and you'd like something alongside, or after, other support. Some people understand their anxiety quite well but still find its physical sensations difficult to manage.
Somatic Experiencing isn't a replacement for medical care or evidence-based treatment for an anxiety disorder. For some people, it works best alongside support from a GP, psychologist or psychiatrist. If anxiety is severely affecting your daily life, please reach out to a medical professional as well.
Do I have to talk through traumatic memories?
Not in detail. The work centres on what you notice in your body now, so you don't need to retell what happened for it to be useful.
Can I do this alongside psychotherapy or medication?
Many people do. Tell your GP or psychologist you're trying it, so everyone knows what support you have.
Exploring somatic therapy in Melbourne or online
I see clients in Thornbury and Elsternwick and online across Australia. If you'd like to talk through whether Somatic Experiencing might suit you, you're welcome to book a free 45-minute call. There's no obligation.
About the author
Rudi Doku is a Melbourne-based Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), an IFS Level 1-trained practitioner, and a Certified Integral Coach. He sees clients in Thornbury and Elsternwick, as well as online across Australia.