Is your body holding your past? Feeling anxious, disconnected, or like your body’s always on high alert—even when life seems calm?
Rest assured, you’re not alone. Whether you’re dealing with persistent stress, a past trauma, or a vague sense of tension you can’t quite explain, there’s hope. Your body might still be holding on to something you thought you’d moved past, but somatic therapy can bring relief and comfort.
At Montgomery Somatics, we stand out with our unique focus on gentle, body-based practices that facilitate self-reconnection and the release of stored neural pathways of trauma. Our most effective approach, somatic movement therapy and Fascial Counterstrain, are holistic interventions that help your nervous system feel safe again, without the need to relive past experiences.
Why Somatic Work Matters
Unlike traditional therapy that often concentrates on thoughts and emotions, somatic therapy recognizes that trauma is not just in our thoughts or feelings—it’s stored in the nervous system, particularly in specific regions of the brain.
Somatic therapy starts with a different question:
What if your body could lead the healing?
Through gentle, deliberate, and mindful movements, we can help the nervous system regulate and release or uncouple neural connections within the brain that contribute to calming the body’s stress responses and releasing long-held tension and areas of fluid stasis. There’s no ‘pushing through.’ There’s no need to discuss what happened. It’s feeding your nervous system with sensory information through movement that provides a secure and supportive environment, helping your system reset and feel safe again.
How Does Trauma Get Stuck in the Body?
When something overwhelming occurs—such as an accident, a virus, an infection, a loss, or a frightening experience—your nervous system automatically shifts into protection mode, altering muscle tension and even joint mobility. This process leads to what we call ‘stuck trauma’ in the body, where the nervous system retains the protective response even after the threat has passed.
It is our nervous system that shifts our body automatically into escaping any perceived threat. This protection or survival mode, activated by the Immune System, deploys all the neurological connections that make up the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). This system has four possible modes of action: flight, fight, freeze, or fawn. Suppose your Nervous System doesn’t get a chance to discharge its stress chemicals. In that case, tissues can trap inflammatory chemicals, further irritating nearby cells, and exacerbating pain signals. This entire process leads to the nervous system becoming stuck in a state of threat-survival mode.
You may not even realize it’s happening until the signs become too hard to ignore:
- Chronic muscle tension or pain without a clear medical cause
- Difficulty sleeping or relaxing
- Feeling emotionally “flat” or disconnected
- Digestive issues or low energy
- Easily startled or always on edge
Somatic Exercises Offer a Path to Release
Somatic movement practices teach your body what it means to feel safe again. Moving mindfully without force or strain—just slow, grounded movement—guided by awareness. This process can help the brain reorganize movement patterns, reducing muscular tension and offering a path to healing and relief.
Here’s how we use somatic exercises at Montgomery Somatics to help you unwind:
Top Somatic Practices We Offer:
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Grounding Through the Feet — Your Base of Support
Whether seated in a chair or standing, start by reconnecting with the surface beneath you. Redirecting your attention allows you to begin to reintergrate movements of the feet with your whole self. This gentle practice teaches your body it’s safe to settle.
- Orienting to the Environment— Your Eyes and Ears Matter
By engaging your senses, particularly your vision, hearing, and vestibular systems, you can invite your nervous system to shift out of stress mode. Not only are these sensory signals paradoxically calming and invigorating, but they can also remind and “remap” areas of the brain, restoring relationships between the limbs and the torso, making simple movements possible, and restoring movement that might have been limited years ago due to retained protective responses.
- Feldenkrais-Inspired Pelvic Clock—Your Center of Mass
Using imagery and slow pelvic movements, this technique helps unwind tension from one of the body’s most reactive areas: the hips and lower back. Your nervous system will do whatever it can to stack your pelvis over its base of support so that the head, eyes, and ears can maintain its upright orientation. Understanding the importance of reducing effort and identifying the most efficient trajectory or vector for the pelvis to move enables the brain’s neural circuitry to reorganize and coordinate the necessary movement patterns that underlie all function.
Each of these practices is subtle but powerful. They’re not just about movement—they’re about restoring trust in your body, and helping your nervous system find calm, coordination, and cooperation.
What Makes This Work Different?
While other methods focus on “fixing” a problem or “fixing you”, somatic healing emphasizes awareness and choice. You’re not here to force your body into a different shape, position, or way of being. You’re here to listen, explore, and restore balance at your own pace.
Past experiences can guide sessions, personalized and designed to meet you exactly where you are. This work supports profound and lasting change, whether you’re recovering from trauma, navigating life transitions, or simply trying to feel more present in your body.
Ready to Release What No Longer Serves You?
At Montgomery Somatics, we believe that your body holds its wisdom, and when given the proper support, it knows how to heal.
Let’s take the next step together.
Book a private online session with Carol today and begin your journey toward safety, ease, freedom of movement, and a return to function.
We’re here for you—no judgment, no pressure, just a clear, steady space opening the pathway for healing. Your privacy and confidentiality are our top priorities. Our online sessions are conducted in a secure and private environment.