One of my clients, *Natalie, was curious to explore how **Somatic Experiencing touch work might affect a painful condition in her lower back.
On this occasion, we agreed it might be helpful for me to place my hands on the soles of Natalie’s feet. We settled into the contact, and Natalie said she was comfortable. Soon I noticed that her breath was becoming fuller in the chest and stomach areas.
Then, as Natalie continued to relax, I saw that her breath moved easily on the right side of her body, but did not appear to move on the left side, specifically in her chest and upper rib area.
When I brought this to her attention, Natalie immediately placed her hands on the top of her left rib cage. “I know what this is,” she said. “I fell on a branch when I was hiking, ten years ago. It was really painful, like a deep wound, although medically there was nothing wrong.”
As Natalie felt more into that area with her hand, she said, “Oh, this area is really tender!” She seemed surprised.
We spent the remainder of the session supporting this rib area with my hand placement and our focused attention. Somatic Experiencing uses hand placement for different reasons than someone may use Reiki or energy healing techniques – the hand simply contains, supports, and draws the client’s attention to the area, which allows trauma to release. During this process, I am observing, sensing, following, and checking in with the client.
By the end of our time together, Natalie’s breath had begun to move freely, and even the tender spot had opened up. I also spent a little time supporting her lower back, but most of the work we did that day was to honour this old wound, in order to help resolve the trauma of that past accident.
The Somatic Experiencing approach recognizes that trapped energy, or incomplete responses to trauma — such as an accident, medical procedure, or other overwhelming event – can often show up even years later, still in our bodies.
Although we may not feel pain, sometimes these energies still need to be completed. Symptoms may arise to let us know that healing attention is needed. Natalie later said the initial wound was very deep: “It felt like a hole had been punctured through my rib cage.
“I actually had blood in my urine. The doctor did tests, and said it was a bruised kidney.”
But, because the doctor didn’t seem to feel there was really much wrong, Natalie “did what I am good at doing… ignored it so it would go away.” Eventually she forgot about it.
Just six months before, an acupuncturist had picked up on the blocked energy in that area, and did some work on it. However, the block was still there.
“When June noticed it, the awareness for me was a sense that I had ‘held my breath’ in this area for a long time. Like I was still limping on a foot that had physically healed a long time ago… but the ‘limp’ was now an energetic habit.”
Natalie said she was much more at ease, both in her breath and in her body, after this session.
Natalie added that she has a new resolve to honour her own truth, regardless of what experts might tell her. She said: “Overall, I came away with a profound appreciation for the body’s amazing capacity to bury trauma, in order to keep moving… like an oyster with a grain of sand. Somatic work is truly where the gem starts to sparkle, as the nervous system gently unwinds.”
I appreciated Natalie’s sensitivity, and her respect for her own journey. As with all my clients, I felt honoured to be invited in to this sacred space and time, a place where healing can unfold and new awareness can dawn.
*The name of this client has been changed to protect privacy.
**Somatic Experiencing touch work can be done sitting beside the client, or — as in this case — lying clothed on a massage table.
Somatic Experiencing touch work is done only when the client is comfortable with touch and has given consent. No massage or applied energy work is involved. The practitioner and the client agree on points of contact with the body. Then, as the Somatic Experiencing support is given, both parties track the response and what sensations may arise, and together choose how to address them.