Put your hand up if you have carried stress, scares, wounds, and maybe a few invisible bruises from life through your body. They show up in sneaky ways: tight shoulders, sleepless nights, the mysterious stress rash that makes a surprise appearance right before a big day. Life isn’t all sunshine and sage smudging, and sometimes “just relax” doesn’t quite cut it. This is where somatic therapy comes in.
Somatic therapy, much like breathwork practices or energy healing, helps you regulate the nervous system by working through the body rather than the mind. Instead of trying to “think” your way out of the pain or suffering, somatic therapy helps you feel your way through to resolution, safely. The idea? When we bring awareness to the body’s sensations, we can start to release what’s been stuck there – the tension, the memories, the patterns, and even stored traumas we’ve tried to reason away.
At its core, somatic therapy aims to modify the body’s trauma-related stress response, helping you regulate, ground, and eventually, feel more at home in yourself.
Here are five somatic practitioners and one renowned researcher who offer unique, transformative ways to work with the body’s natural intelligence, from nervous system science to dance floor liberation… choose your pathway!
Dr. Sukhi | Nervous System Mastery for Healing & Manifestation
Who he is: Dr. Sukhi is a chiropractor and nervous system expert who blends neuroscience with mindfulness to help people move from survival mode into expansion. His work is all about restoring balance in the body’s communication systems, so you can stop running on adrenaline and start thriving. As a renowned chiropractor, he uses alignment practices, nervous system repatterining tools, and mindset to help clients rewire stress patterns and build resilience from the inside out.
What stands out: Dr. Sukhi is the OG. His work supports both physical healing, and life manifestations. In a nutshell: it’s science meets soul.
Drsukhi.com
Zoey Sky | Somatic Experiencing for Trauma Resolution & Inner Peace
Who she is: Zoey Sky specializes in Somatic Experiencing, a therapy developed by Dr. Peter Levine that helps you release trauma through the body, without reliving it. Her sessions guide clients to track subtle sensations like tingling, heat, or tightness, to let the body complete its natural cycles of trauma and stress release, to return to inner harmony.
Why she’s unique: Instead of digging up painful stories, Zoey helps you let your body do the talking and the healing. Her clients claim a return to inner safety, and the feeling of beginning a new, freer, life.
ZoeySky.ca
Angela Prider | Shamanic Somatics & Plant Medicine
If therapy and spirituality had a love child, it might look like Angela Prider’s work. Angela combines somatic therapy, shamanic journeying, and plant medicine to help clients reconnect with their whole selves – mind, body, and spirit. Her sessions might include sound and vibrational healing, journeying and ritual, guiding people into the deeper layers of healing where logic can’t go. She weaves plant medicine with trauma resolution to support inner transformation.
What stands out: Angela brings a wise medicine woman’s approach, and she bridges that space between therapy and earth medicine. Her work invites people into a deep return to self.
Angelaprider.com
Martine Kleissen | Kundalini Dance as Somatic Integration
Martine Kleissen’s Kundalini Dance isn’t your average dance class. Martine offers dance as a powerful somatic practice that uses breath, sound, and movement to shift energy through the body. Think of it as emotional alchemy, moving what feels heavy into something lighter and freer. Essentially, it’s like therapy that happens through rhythm and expression, not conversation.
Why this is unique? Tapping into dance in this way lets the body experience emotional release, confidence, and the kind of post-dance clarity that no journal session can quite match.
Martinekleissen.com
Andrea Love | Trauma Healing Through Body Wisdom
Andrea Love is a trauma therapist who focuses on helping people rebuild trust with their bodies after pain or loss. With her understanding of generational trauma, mindfulness, and body awareness, she guides her clients to release stored trauma so they can reconnect with their felt sense of safety and joy. Andrea is known for her powerful, deeply reparative approach to helping clients reclaim themselves and their power after periods of intense challenge.
What stands out? Her skill at helping women develop self-trust, heal from generational trauma, and discover the ability to feel without fear. This is a totally new form of empowerment work.
Andrea.love
Deb Dana | The Science of Safety
Deb Dana’s work translates Polyvagal Theory, the science of how the vagus nerve governs safety and connection, into practical tools for real life. She teaches people how to recognize their nervous system states and gently guide themselves back toward calm and connection. Dana’s teachings brings hard science into heart-centered healing. These are foundational teachings for those seeking to understand the role of the nervous system in healing. While she doesn’t work with people 1:1, Dana’s work is a great place to go for self study.
Learn more here.
Somatic therapy reminds us that healing doesn’t just happen in the mind, it’s a full-body conversation. Whether you’re drawn to science, dance, spirituality, or gentle awareness, each of the above practitioners and approaches offer a clear pathway to healing, and ultimately, greater freedom.
