Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
What is Sensorimotor Psychotherapy?
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is a body-based approach that helps us pay attention to how trauma, stress, and experience may be held in the body.
It combines talk therapy with mindful attention to sensations, movement, posture, and nervous system responses. This can be especially helpful when something feels difficult to explain in words alone, or when insight has not fully shifted the problem.
Understanding Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Our bodies carry experience. At times, this may show up in tension, collapse, numbness, restlessness, difficulty with boundaries, or patterns of emotional and relational distress that do not fully make sense on a purely cognitive level.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy works directly with this mind-body connection. By paying close attention to what is happening in the body, therapy can help access and process experiences that may not be fully available through verbal reflection alone.
This is sometimes described as a bottom-up approach, meaning that we begin with present-moment bodily experience and use it to understand emotions, beliefs, memories, and patterns of response.
"Our bodies know that they belong; it is out minds that make our lives so homeless."
~John O'Donohue
How Does Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Work?
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is collaborative and paced with care. We begin by agreeing on what we will study together.
This may include:
1. Body Awareness
We begin by noticing what is happening in the body, such as sensations, impulses, posture, movement, or tension. Simple verbal or physical experiments may help bring these experiences into clearer focus.
2. Exploring Connections
As we stay with what is happening in the body, we begin to notice how it connects to thoughts, emotions, memories, and patterns of response. This can help make sense of difficulties that may otherwise feel confusing or hard to shift.
3. Developing New Patterns
Over time, the work may involve exploring new movements, postures, or responses that support greater regulation, clearer boundaries, and a stronger sense of self. At times, this may also involve completing responses that previously felt interrupted or stuck.
What Conditions or Symptoms Can Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Address?
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)
- Attachment wounds
- Dissociative Disorders
- Anxiety symptoms
- Depressive symptoms
- Difficulties regulating emotions
- Difficulties setting boundaries
- Chronic or unexplained pain
- Body tension
- Stress related disorders
- Blurred sense of self
Who would benefit?
In addition to the concerns listed above, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy may be a good fit if:
- You prefer a slower and more gentle way of working with unresolved trauma
- You are curious about how early experiences may be shaping present-day emotional or relational difficulties
- You want a therapy that prioritises safety, pacing, and collaboration
- You would like to feel more connected to your body, especially if you tend to feel numb or highly cognitive
- You are looking for an approach that works with both mind and body
- You notice repetitive emotional or behavioural patterns and want to explore how they may be held in the body
If you would like to know more about Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, please visit here for details.