The Mind-Body Connection in Healing: Exploring the Benefits of Somatic Therapy
- Alex Garber
- Sep 15
- 3 min read
Throughout my years as a clinician, I’ve worked with many clients who come to me saying, “I understand my patterns, I have insight, but I still feel so stuck.” They’ve done talk therapy, practiced coping skills, and developed awareness but the anxiety, depression, or stress symptoms continue to linger. Clients often come to me feeling so frustrated that despite their intellectual ability to identify the “why” behind what they are feeling, they feel stuck in being unable to find true relief and often hyper fixate on intellectualizing their challenges, rather than truly feeling them and moving through them.
This is often where somatic therapy makes all the difference.
The Body Remembers What the Mind Forgets
Our minds can suppress painful emotions, but our bodies rarely forget. If you’ve heard of or even read the book “The Body Keeps Score” by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, that is a fantastic resource for how/why trauma and stress store in the body and how approaches that include the body can unlock powerful healing. Through my experience of practicing somatic therapies, I have had countless clients verbalize something to the extent of, “wow, one session of this feels like months of talk therapy” to depict just how illuminating and healing somatic therapies can be.
With that said, stress and trauma, whether from childhood experiences, relationships, grief, or chronic overwhelm often leave imprints on the nervous system. Instead of simply “going away,” those unprocessed emotions can show up as physical symptoms, including:
Chronic muscle tension (shoulders, neck, jaw, back)
Digestive issues or unexplained stomach pain
Headaches or migraines
Difficulty sleeping or feeling constantly fatigued
A tight chest, shallow breathing, or racing heartbeat
A sense of being “on edge” or never fully relaxed
These symptoms are the body’s way of signaling that something unresolved is still being carried, even if we don’t consciously think about it every day.
Why Somatic Therapy Helps When Other Approaches Stall
Traditional talk therapy helps us understand our experiences, but sometimes insight alone doesn’t fully resolve what’s happening beneath the surface. That’s because unresolved emotions are not just stored in our thoughts but rather, they live in the body, in our nervous system.
Somatic therapy works by including the body in the healing process. It helps:
Bring awareness to where emotions are held physically
Release stored tension and conditioned stress responses
Re-train the nervous system to feel safe and grounded again
Integrate mind and body, so healing feels complete rather than partial
Neuro Emotional Technique (NET): A Targeted Somatic Approach
One of the somatic methods I offer in my office is Neuro Emotional Technique (NET). NET is a gentle mind-body therapy that helps uncover and release unresolved stress responses stored in the body. Instead of reliving or rehashing old pain, NET guides the nervous system to let go of the “stuck” response so that the body and mind can reset, therefore reducing the negative “charge” associated with painful or stressful experiences of the past.
Clients often describe the process as surprisingly simple and deeply relieving. They notice:
A release of long-held physical tension
Emotional clarity without being overwhelmed
A deeper understanding of the “why” behind emotional triggers (NET uses a gentle process called muscle testing (a form of applied kinesiology) to access the body’s involuntary reflexes. This helps us identify the original experience where certain emotions first took place, allowing a person to understand why those feelings continue to show up in the present.)
Feeling calmer and more resilient in situations that used to trigger stress
Why Try Somatic Work if You Haven’t Found Relief Elsewhere
If you’ve tried other forms of therapy or self-help and still feel weighed down or stuck, somatic therapies can provide the missing piece. When emotions are held in the body, healing has to include the body.
By integrating the mind and body with somatic approaches like NET, I can help support you in moving from feeling “stuck” to feeling lighter, calmer, and overall more aligned.
If doing somatic therapy feels like the missing piece you would like to learn more about, I offer complimentary consultation calls where we can discuss if we are a good fit, how somatic therapy could be beneficial for your unique needs and goals, as well as how to get started.
If you’re ready to set up your phone consultation, call us at 954-391-5305 and ask for Alex Garber, LCSW. I provide counseling for adults at our beautiful Fort Lauderdale offices. I also offer online therapy via our secure telehealth platform for those who live in the state of Florida.
