What is Sensorimotor Psychotherapy?

As Pat Ogden, the founder of this approach, discovered, our bodies hold the stories of our lives, especially experiences our conscious minds may not fully remember. Early life experiences and traumatic events are stored not just as memories or emotions, but as procedural memories—deeply learned patterns of posture, tension, and impulse.

Dr. Janina Fisher describes this as "living in the legacy of the past." Your body may still be organized around survival responses that were necessary long ago. This is why you might feel anxious or shut down without knowing why; it's a part of you, stuck in the past, communicating through the language of the body. Our goal is to gently and compassionately listen to that communication.

In our sessions, we move beyond just talking about your experiences. Instead, with mindful curiosity, we invite the body into the conversation.

For example, if you speak about feeling anxious, I might gently ask, "Where do you notice that in your body?" Together, we might explore the tension in your shoulders or the tightness in your chest. We approach these sensations not as symptoms to be eliminated, but as intelligent communications from parts of you that are trying to keep you safe. By befriending your body in this way, we can begin to untangle these old patterns and build new, more empowering resources from the inside out.

We work at two distinct and important levels:

• Level I: Building Somatic Resources & Affect Regulation. Our foundational work is to create a sense of safety and stability in your nervous system. We will help your body learn new ways to regulate itself—to find calm when you feel overwhelmed and to access energy when you feel numb. We will also mindfully explore old survival responses (fight, flight, freeze) that may still be active, helping them come to a natural completion so you can feel more present and at ease.
• 
  
• Level II: Addressing Developmental and Attachment Patterns. Here, we can do deeper work to explore how your early life experiences shaped your core beliefs and relational patterns. We gently get curious about the unconscious "organizing principles" you learned in childhood to cope and survive. By bringing these patterns into conscious awareness, we can help you develop new, more fulfilling ways of being in the world and in your relationships.
• 
  

The ultimate goal is internal cooperation. Our work helps you reclaim your body as a safe and reliable resource, allowing you to live more freely and fully in the present moment.