Somatic Healing and The Core Rising Method
What is Somatics?
The word Soma originated from both Latin and Greek. In Latin meaning ‘the body’ and in Greek meaning ‘the living body known from within’.
Somatic healing is an experiential approach towards mind body integration. Somatics focuses on the mind-body connection, using body-centered practices like movement, breath work, and awareness of physical sensations to address stress, emotions, and trauma stored within the body, aiming to release tension and promote healing through a deeper understanding of bodily experiences. Somatic healing views the body as a key component to processing emotions and experiences, unlike traditional talk therapy which may focus more solely on cognitive aspects.
Somatic practices offers techniques for clients to sense and regulate their own physiology and states of being. This includes building more internal and external resources, building trusting and co-regulatory relationships, learning to turn inward with compassion, being invited deeper in the body, and given time and space to process pain or trauma and restore well-being.
Somatic practices help:
Restore the body as a place of safety while helping to expand the capacity to process body (preverbal and nonverbal) memory
Metabolize unprocessed emotions
Complete thwarted (incomplete) stress responses
Restore our optimal relationship to our self and the world around us
There are many modalities with Somatic practices, and my therapeutic approach is with the Core Rising Method.
Core Rising Method
The Core Rising Method of body-based healing strengthens the nervous system through an intentional combination and sequencing of somatic modalities including movement, breath work, body work and meditation.
Through this work, the practitioner and client are both empowered to work within the intersection of conscious awareness, over the emotional experience that is held physiologically within the body. Allowing an outlet to work with stress, trauma patterns, and restoring an embodied sense of balance and harmony.
The Core Rising Method focuses on three main pillars:
Safety
Using somatic movement, body work, and/or resourcing techniques to address the present state of the nervous system.
Processing
Directly engaging and expressing an emotion through somatic movement, body work, breath work, and/ or meditation.
Integration
Developing a plan for integration involves applying the tools, techniques, and supportive practices introduced throughout the sessions, and applying this to daily life. The Core Rising method is designed to transcend the time spent in session, fostering transformation that integrates into everyday life and continues to unfold beyond the session itself.
Why Body Based Practices?
The Parasympathetic Nervous System, commonly known as the "rest and digest" system, is made up of 75% Vagal Nerves. The Vagus nerve extends from the lower belly to the brain and consists of 80% afferent neurons and 20% efferent neurons.
Afferent neurons carry sensory information from the body to the brain, gathering input from both the external environment and internal sensations through sensory receptors.
Efferent neurons, on the other hand, transmit signals from the brain to the body, driving motor function.
To emphasize, 80% of the Vagus nerve's activity is body-to-brain communication. This means the nervous system primarily determines safety and recovery through afferent signals originating in the body, highlighting why a body-based approach is so crucial to healing and restoration.
Stephen Porges coined the term neuroception to describe the autonomic nervous system's unconscious perception of safety or danger. This process operates outside of our conscious awareness, as the nervous system interprets cues from within the body, the external environment, and our relationships. Neuroception shapes our perception, which then informs our decisions and actions.
In Western culture, there’s a strong tendency to prioritize the mind over the body, placing greater value on thoughts rather than feelings. Interestingly, in French, the verb for "feel" (se sentir) is reflexive, emphasizing an internal, personal experience. In contrast, English uses "feel" ambiguously, applying it to both sensory and emotional experiences.
Our nervous system is not subjective—it is sensory. This is why logic alone cannot override a survival response like Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn, or Shutdown. To truly resolve these responses, we must work directly with the body through sensations, fostering a felt sense of safety and resolution.
Body Based Processing, Somatics, and our Health
In functional medicine, the nervous system is not overlooked but deeply integrated into the approach. Throughout my training in functional nutrition, the nervous system was referred to often, and at times a central focus. When we find ourselves in an activated Sympathetic state (Fight or Flight) or in a state of freeze or shutdown, our bodies are not in an optimal state for healing. True healing can only occur when we are in a Ventral Vagal Parasympathetic state, the state of rest and repair.
Given the fast-paced, high-stress, and overstimulated nature of modern life, it’s no surprise that chronic disease is becoming more prevalent. The state of our nervous system directly impacts all other systems in the body, including the endocrine, digestive, reproductive, neurological, cardiovascular, and immune systems and all of our organs.
In my practice, I’ve embraced somatic practices and nervous system support, weaving these approaches into much of my work. While I continue to incorporate this perspective into my broader practice, I am also excited to delve even deeper into this area, offering focused support for those specifically interested in nervous system work and somatic practices.
I deeply value bio-individuality and recognize that each person’s path to health is unique. I avoid rigid, one-size-fits-all approaches, understanding that there are many roads to healing and that each journey is personal. This is a bold statement, but I feel that true health is not attainable when overlooking the state of our nervous system. I believe that this work has the potential to unlock real, vibrant health and healing in our lives and in our bodies.
In Breathe, Body, and Balance,
Tjaden Rohrke