You understand, but it does not shift
- You can explain your patterns clearly
- Insight has not changed how you feel
- You know the anxiety is irrational; it stays
- Therapy made sense but did not land
All servicesBody-Based Approach
Somatic Therapy in Singapore
You can understand your patterns perfectly and still feel them in your body. Somatic therapy works where insight alone cannot reach, with the nervous system itself, so that calm becomes something you feel rather than something you reason your way towards.
English & MandarinIn-person & OnlineTrauma-Informed
Understanding Somatic Therapy
Somatic therapy is psychotherapy that includes the body. The word somatic simply means of the body. Where traditional talk therapy works mainly with thoughts and stories, somatic work also pays attention to what your nervous system is doing right now: the tight chest, the held breath, the numbness that arrives when a conversation gets close to something tender.
This matters because stress and trauma are not stored as ideas. They live in the body, in a nervous system that learned to brace, rush, or shut down to keep you safe. Working life in Singapore rewards staying in your head, and many of the people I see are thoughtful high performers who have already read the books and done the reflecting. What has been missing is not more understanding. It is a way for the body to finally register that the danger has passed.
Is This You?
When Body-Based Work Tends to Fit
Somatic therapy is often the missing piece for people who have done plenty of thinking about their struggles.
Your body keeps speaking
- A jaw or shoulders that never unclench
- A stomach that reacts before you do
- Startling easily, or feeling braced
- Exhaustion that rest does not repair
You feel cut off from yourself
- Living from the neck up
- Numbness where feelings should be
- Struggling to know what you want
- Going through the motions on autopilot
You cannot reason a nervous system into safety. You can only show it.
The Approach
How Somatic Therapy Works
Gentle, gradual, and paced by your nervous system. Nothing is forced and nothing is flooded.
Resourcing first
Before we go anywhere near what hurts, we build a felt sense of steadiness: places in the body, memories, and small practices your system can return to. Safety is the method, not just the goal.
Small doses, not floods
Drawing on Somatic Experiencing, developed by trauma researcher Peter Levine, we touch difficult material in small, manageable amounts and let the body discharge what it has been holding, one wave at a time.
Completion, not catharsis
Stuck stress responses want to finish, not to be relived. As the body completes what it started, the bracing softens, sleep deepens, and reactions stop feeling so much bigger than the moment.
What a Session Actually Feels Like
Mostly, it looks like a conversation. The difference is where the attention goes. As we talk, I will invite you to notice what is happening in your body: where the story tightens something, where the breath changes, where an unexpected settling arrives. We slow down around those moments and give your system room to do what it never had the chance to do. Touch is never part of the work without your clear consent, there is no dramatic reliving, and you remain in control of the pace throughout.
My Training in Body-Based Work
I am currently completing the professional training in Somatic Experiencing, the body-based trauma method developed by Peter Levine, and this is a core direction of my practice. It sits alongside completed training as a Certified TRE Provider, MEMI certification, and training in Brainspotting, within trauma-informed psychotherapy. Body-based work also weaves naturally into trauma therapy and pairs well with IFS parts work, so we can work with both the body and the inner voices that drive the bracing.
Fees
Sessions and Pricing
Start with a free discovery call. No pressure, just a conversation about whether we are a good fit.
Discovery Call20 minutesStart hereFree
Standard Session60 minutes$160
Extended Session90 minutes$220
Subsidised rates are available for those facing financial difficulty. Cost should not be a barrier to getting support.
Common Questions
Questions About Somatic Therapy
What is somatic therapy?
Somatic therapy is psychotherapy that works with the body as well as the mind. Instead of only talking about what happened, we pay attention to how your nervous system responds in the present: the tension, the numbness, the racing heart. By working at that level, stress responses that got stuck can gradually complete and settle.
What is the difference between somatic therapy and Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic therapy is the umbrella term for body-based psychotherapy. Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a specific method within it, developed by trauma researcher Peter Levine, that helps the nervous system discharge survival energy in small, manageable steps. My practice draws on Somatic Experiencing alongside other body-based training such as TRE and Brainspotting.
Do I have to talk about my trauma in detail?
No. This is one of the reasons people choose somatic work. We can work with how an experience lives in your body now without retelling the story blow by blow. You share what feels useful, at a pace your system can handle.
Does somatic therapy involve physical touch?
Not necessarily. Touch is not required for somatic therapy to work, and most of the work is conversation-based: noticing sensation, posture, and breath. If a touch-based intervention would ever be helpful, it happens only with your clear consent, discussed openly beforehand. You can decline at any point, and the work remains just as effective without it.
Is somatic therapy evidence-based?
Body-based approaches are grounded in research on how the nervous system responds to stress and trauma, and studies on Somatic Experiencing have shown reductions in trauma symptoms. Somatic Experiencing International maintains a public research library of the studies to date. I integrate somatic work with established psychotherapy rather than using it as a standalone technique.
Browse the Somatic Experiencing research library at SE International
Can sessions be in Mandarin?
Yes. Sessions are available in English and Mandarin, online or in person in Singapore.
Keep Reading
From the Blog: The Body, Unpacked
Plain-language pieces on grounding, dissociation, and what the body has been trying to say.
Your Body Has Been Carrying This Long Enough.
A free 20-minute discovery call is a low-pressure way to start. We talk about what you have been holding and whether working together makes sense.
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