Somatic Practices That Actually Help You Feel Safe Again
Explore somatic therapy practices that help regulate your nervous system, support trauma recovery, and rebuild an embodied sense of safety — especially after CPTSD or narcissistic abuse.
Why Feeling Safe Is the Foundation of Healing
For many survivors of Complex PTSD (CPTSD), childhood trauma, or narcissistic abuse, the idea of “safety” can feel abstract or even unreachable. Even after leaving toxic environments or working through years of talk therapy, many people still feel disconnected from their bodies and trapped in survival responses.
This is where somatic therapy comes in. It offers more than insight—it offers felt experience. Through body-based practices, you can begin to rebuild safety from the inside out.
What Is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy is a trauma-informed approach that integrates the mind and body. It recognizes that trauma is not only remembered in words but stored in physical responses, tension patterns, and the nervous system itself (Levine, 2010; Ogden et al., 2006).
Unlike traditional talk therapy, somatic therapy works directly with:
- Body awareness and sensation
- Movement and posture
- Breath and pacing
- Nervous system regulation
At Diverse Paths Wellness, we use somatic therapy as a core part of our recovery coaching framework—especially for clients navigating trauma recovery, CPTSD, and emotional dysregulation.
Why Trauma Recovery Must Include the Body
Unprocessed trauma disrupts your nervous system’s ability to regulate. This shows up as:
- Chronic anxiety or freeze responses
- Difficulty forming safe connections
- Emotional flashbacks or shutdown
- Somatic symptoms like pain, fatigue, or insomnia
According to Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 2011), your body learns to scan for danger, even when none is present. Somatic therapy helps interrupt these patterns by guiding the nervous system back into states of safety and social engagement.
Somatic Practices That Actually Help
Below are five somatic practices we often use in recovery work. They are simple, accessible, and can be adapted to meet your body where it is. The goal isn’t to “fix” you, but to help you feel safe enough to reconnect with yourself.
1. Orienting to the Environment
What it is: Gently moving your head and eyes to scan your surroundings.
Why it helps: When you orient visually to your space, your nervous system gets the message: “I am not in danger right now.” This practice is subtle but powerful in reducing hypervigilance and reestablishing presence.
2. Grounding Through the Senses
What it is: Tuning in to what you can feel, hear, see, smell, or taste in the present moment.
Why it helps: Trauma pulls you into the past. Sensory grounding pulls you back into now. Try placing your feet on the floor and noticing pressure, temperature, or texture—no judgment, just sensation.
3. Vagus Nerve Activation
What it is: Breathwork, humming, gentle shaking, or extended exhalations.
Why it helps: These practices stimulate the vagus nerve, helping to activate the parasympathetic system responsible for calm and connection (Porges, 2011).
4. Resourcing
What it is: Calling to mind a memory, place, object, or person that brings a felt sense of support or peace.
Why it helps: Resourcing creates internal anchors of safety. In trauma therapy, it’s not about avoiding pain—it’s about having enough support to stay with your experience without being overwhelmed.
5. Micro-Movements and Shaking
What it is: Allowing the body to make small, spontaneous movements—shaking the hands, rolling the shoulders, swaying gently.
Why it helps: Trauma often gets “frozen” in the body. Gentle movement helps release stuck energy and support emotional processing (Levine, 2010).
Why These Practices Work When Others Don’t
You don’t need to relive your trauma to heal it. You need to build new, embodied experiences of safety, choice, and connection.
That’s the difference between somatic therapy and traditional cognitive approaches. Somatic work respects your body’s pace and capacity—and helps you heal without overwhelm.
Start Your Somatic Recovery Journey
Whether you’re recovering from CPTSD, emotional neglect, or addiction, your body is a vital part of your healing process.
If you’re ready to feel safe in your skin again, somatic recovery coaching can help.
Book a free consult today to explore whether this approach is right for you: https://diversepathswellness.ca/book-now
Explore somatic-based recovery coaching: https://diversepathswellness.ca/therapists
Read more articles on trauma recovery and resilience: https://diversepathswellness.ca/diverse-paths-blog
References (APA Style)
Levine, P. A. (2010). In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness. North Atlantic Books. Ogden, P., Minton, K., & Pain, C. (2006). Trauma and the body: A sensorimotor approach to psychotherapy. W.W. Norton. Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W.W. Norton & Company.