By Bridger Falkenstien, LPC
Conversations about somatics are becoming more and more common in EMDR therapy circles. In a recent episode of the Notice That podcast, Beyond Healing Institute trainers Jen Savage, Melissa Benintendi, and myself explored whether somatics should be the foundation of EMDR rather than just an add-on.
Our central question is “What if EMDR was not just compatible with somatic therapy, but evolved into a truly somatic therapy?”
For many EMDR-trained therapists, somatic language and techniques have become helpful adjuncts. But in this podcast, we challenge therapists to consider what it would mean if we didn’t just sprinkle somatic practices into EMDR sessions, but reoriented the entire protocol around the body’s wisdom.
Defining Trauma Through a Somatic Lens
It helps to ground ourselves in a somatic definition of trauma as a moment when the body is disallowed its natural response.
Whether through physical restraint, shame, fear, or relational danger, trauma occurs when our system is interrupted mid-expression and our energy for fight, flight, or freeze becomes stuck.
This somatic-centered definition expands our focus from narrative to nervous system, from cognitive recollection to embodied presence. It helps therapists to explain issues like dissociation, chronic fatigue, and depression not just as mental health conditions, but as long-term impacts of unexpressed energy that gets stored in the body.
When viewed through a somatic lens, depression s not simply a disorder of mood, but also of energy. As Benintendi explains, we might conceptualize it as a devitalization that emerges when chronic suppression or repression disconnects us from the body’s natural expression.
It also helps to distinguish between suppression, which is a conscious decision to hold back on expressing what we are feeling, and repression, which is an unconscious result of trauma. Chronic repression, as we explain in the podcast, often leads to depressive symptoms such as apathy, confusion, loss of identity, and disconnection from wants, needs, and affect.
Regulation Reconsidered
One of the most provocative questions we raised in this episode is, “Why are we so afraid of activation?”
In many trauma therapy spaces, regulation is equated with calm.
But Benintendi argues this is a misunderstanding. True regulation, she suggests, isn’t about staying calm, it’s about accurately responding to one’s environment. Sometimes yelling, shaking, crying, or trembling are exactly what an accurate response looks like.
This is a critical insight for therapists trained to fear dysregulation or to rush clients back to a calm state. What if, by prioritizing the minimization of “strong” reactions, we’re suppressing the very expressions that would release the trauma?
If the role of the therapist is to help the body to accurately respond to its environment, perhaps we need to hold more space for intense expressions of emotion as an essential step in a client’s healing journey.
Moving Beyond Traditional EMDR
While EMDR does include a body scan in Phase 6 of the eight-phase protocol, Benintendi questions whether this scan often functions too much like a checkbox.
Instead of asking “Are we done,” perhaps a better question for the therapist to ask is, “What is the body trying to say?”
A truly somatic EMDR would treat the body as an equal partner, not just a site for symptom-checking. In this updated model, every phase of the eight-phase protocol would be centered around embodied presence. Preparation would go beyond grounding and containment to include questions like:
- “Is it safe to feel your body?”
- “How does it feel to bring attention inward?”
- “What emerges when we listen, rather than control?”
SIP Training at Beyond Healing Institute
To support the continued integration of EMDR and somatic techniques, Beyond Healing Institute offers Somatic Integration and Processing (SIP) training, a set of frameworks and tools that equip clinicians with the skills they need to center the body in their work.
Rooted in neurodevelopmental and psychodynamic theory, memory reconsolidation, and adaptive information processing, SIP invites therapists to conceptualize trauma as an energetic pattern, not just a narrative memory. It provides language and tools to help clients reconnect with lost expressions of vitality, including rage, grief, joy, and fear, and to process these safely and relationally.
As a clinician, you may already long for a deeper, more intuitive way to support your clients’ healing. You may sense that something essential is missing from the trauma conversations happening in your consultation groups or trainings.
At Beyond Healing Institute, our SIP trainings exist to help you explore what’s next. Our EMDRIA-certified trainers help you to reimagine your role not just as a technician, but as a co-regulator, a relational presence, and a witness to the body’s intelligence.
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To make EMDR truly somatic is to honor the body’s story, as well as the mind’s. It allows us to move from mere interpretation to full sensation, from containment to expression, and from survival to vitality.
If you’re ready to deepen your work, to rethink what regulation “should” look like, and to truly listen to the body, Beyond Healing Institute welcomes you.
We invite you to explore our course offerings on somatic integration and processing:
Somatic Integration & Processing I (SIP I)
SIP II – Healing Complex Trauma
If you have questions, we encourage you to call us at 417-942-7384 or reach out to us online at any time.