Most people think therapy means talking. But when your nervous system is stuck in survival mode, words don’t always reach the parts of you that need healing. That’s where somatic therapy comes in.
This isn’t about rehashing trauma. It’s about helping your body feel what safety actually is—not just think it. In this post, I’m breaking down 10 benefits of somatic therapy I see in my Los Angeles practice every day—especially for people who feel like traditional therapy hasn’t helped them fully heal.
Want a deeper dive into how somatic therapy works and who it’s for? Explore somatic therapy in Los Angeles
Cheryl Groskopf, LMFT, LPCC
Holistic anxiety, attachment, and trauma therapist in Los Angeles.
Real Benefits of Somatic Therapy: What Changes When You Work With Your Body
You ever notice how your body reacts before your brain has a chance to catch up? Like your chest tightens or your stomach drops—before you’ve even figured out why? That’s not random. That’s your nervous system doing exactly what it was built to do: protect you.
But here’s the part most people miss—your body doesn’t always know when the threat is over. And talk therapy? It’s great, but sometimes it doesn’t reach the parts of you that are still bracing for impact.
That’s where somatic therapy comes in. It’s not about “thinking” your way out of anxiety or trauma—it’s about helping your body feel what safety actually is.
In this post, I’m breaking down 10 things I wish more people knew about somatic therapy—especially here in Los Angeles, where everyone’s stressed, burned out, and stuck on autopilot. If you’ve tried to heal by talking and still feel like something’s missing, this might be the missing piece.
1. Your Body Holds Onto Way More Than You Think
Here’s the thing—your body’s been doing way more work than you think.
We like to act like emotions live in our heads. But most of the time, it’s your body that feels it first. The tight chest. The jaw that won’t unclench. That random knot in your stomach before a meeting you’re not even nervous about? That’s not just stress—it’s old stuff your body’s been storing. Stuff you didn’t even know you were still carrying.
Because here’s what your body doesn’t do: forget.
Even if your brain talks itself out of something—tells you it’s not a big deal or that you’ve already moved on—your body’s like, nah, we’re still on high alert. It’s scanning. Bracing. Tensing up when there’s no obvious threat. That’s why sometimes you feel anxious “for no reason.” Your body remembers what your mind has tried to ignore.
And that’s exactly why somatic therapy works.
It helps your body stop reliving things it never got to release. Not by forcing anything. Not by making you talk it to death. Just by helping you notice what’s actually happening in your body—and learning how to let that part feel safe again.
It sounds simple, but honestly? When you finally feel like you’re not carrying every old wound in your shoulders or your gut anymore—it’s wild how different life feels.
| Learn more about how trauma therapy in Los Angeles can help you reconnect with your body and heal for good.
2. You’re Not Overreacting
You ever totally lose it over something small… then spend the rest of the day thinking, what the hell was that?
Same. And no, you’re not crazy. That “overreaction” wasn’t random—it was your body remembering something you haven’t even thought about in years.
Because here’s the wild part: your nervous system doesn’t wait for your brain to catch up. It just reacts. It picks up on anything that feels remotely like an old hurt—a tone, a look, even someone’s silence—and flips you straight into survival mode.
So you get snappy. Or shut down. Or suddenly you’re crying and have no idea why.
That’s not you being “too much.” That’s your body doing its job. It’s scanning for danger. It just doesn’t always know the difference between past danger and right now.
That’s where somatic therapy comes in.
Not to fix you. (You’re not broken—your body’s just been working overtime.)
But to help you notice what’s happening. To start connecting those weird reactions to the old stuff your body’s still holding onto.
And once your body finally gets the message that it’s safe now? That’s when things shift. That’s when you stop spiraling every time something hits that nerve.
| If this resonates, you might find attachment therapy helpful to explore how past experiences shape your triggers and reactions.
3. You Can’t Think Your Way Out of Everything
We’ve all done it—spiraled in our heads trying to logic our way out of feeling like crap. You overanalyze. You explain it to yourself six different ways. You even know why you’re upset. But it still doesn’t help.
That’s not because you’re doing something wrong. It’s because your body hasn’t caught up to your brain.
You can make sense of a hard thing all day long—but your body doesn’t speak logic. It speaks sensation. And it’s not letting go just because your mind “understands.”
That’s why people say things like, “I’ve talked about this a zillion times in therapy, but I still feel totally stuck.” Because you are. Not in your head—your body.
It’s not about thinking better thoughts. It’s about finally listening to what your body’s been holding.
When you work with that stuff—not against it—you start to move. You start to actually feel the shift.
Not because you forced it. But because your body finally gets what your brain’s been trying to say all along: You’re safe now. You’re allowed to let go.
| Interested in learning more about anxiety therapy in Los Angeles? It’s a great way to support both your mind and body in the healing process.
4. Grounding Is Your Superpower
I know—grounding sounds like one of those vague wellness terms that gets tossed around with zero explanation. But it’s actually one of the most reliable ways to get out of a spiral and back into your body.
When you’re anxious, overwhelmed, or on the edge of shutting down, grounding helps remind your nervous system that you’re not in danger. That you’re right here. That you’re okay.
Here’s why it matters:
When your brain’s racing, your body’s usually locked into fight-or-flight. That might look like restlessness. Panic. Or nothing at all—just numbness.
Grounding Techniques
Feel your feet on the floor. Notice your breath. Touch something cold. Name five things you see. It doesn’t have to be deep—it just has to be now.
And no, you don’t need to meditate for 20 minutes or do breathwork on a mountaintop.
Sometimes grounding is just…stepping outside.
Feeling the sun hit your face.
Drinking water.
Putting your hand on your heart and saying, “You’re safe.”
Somatic therapy helps you learn how to actually do this—in the moment. Not just talk about it. So when your system starts to spiral, you’ve got something steady to come back to.
5. Somatic Therapy Is Not Just for Trauma
When people hear somatic therapy, they usually think it’s just for Big T Trauma. And yeah—it can be life-changing for that. But honestly? You don’t need some dramatic backstory to benefit from it.
This work is for anyone who feels… off. Disconnected. Like you’re stuck in the same loop and can’t figure out why.
Sometimes it’s nothing you can name—just that feeling of not being fully here.
Somatic Therapy Helps You Feel Like Yourself Again
Somatic therapy helps with all of that. Not by forcing you to dig up every memory, but by helping you get back in touch with what your body’s been trying to say the whole time.
And in a city like Los Angeles—where it’s easy to feel like you have to be “on” literally 24/7—it matters. We carry so much emotional weight without even realizing it. Half the time, we’re so busy performing okay-ness that we miss the fact that we’re not okay.
Somatic therapy gives you a chance to slow down. To check in. To start feeling like yourself again—not the version of you that’s constantly coping.
6. Feeling Your Feelings Isn’t Going to Kill You
I know it can feel like if you let yourself feel the sadness, or the anger, or that edge-of-panic fear… something terrible might happen. Like you’ll break down and never come back up.
But you won’t. I promise.
The truth is, avoiding those feelings doesn’t make them go away. It just buries them. And they always find a way to resurface—usually in the middle of a conversation that doesn’t seem that deep, or when someone looks at you a certain way. That feeling you keep pushing down? It’s not gone. It’s just waiting.
Somatic therapy helps you stop pushing it all aside and actually move through it. Slowly. Safely. With support.
It’s not about letting your emotions take over—it’s about giving your body a chance to stop holding them in.
Because feelings aren’t dangerous.
They’re not weakness.
They’re just signals from your body. And the more you listen, the less they have to scream.
And here’s what I see all the time: once you finally let yourself feel it—cry, shake, laugh, whatever your body needs—that pressure starts to release. The weight gets lighter.
7. You Don’t Have to Relive Everything to Heal
One of the biggest reasons people avoid therapy—especially after trauma—is the fear that they’ll have to retell every horrible detail. Like healing means reliving it.
But it doesn’t. And honestly, it shouldn’t.
Your body already knows what happened. That part’s done. What’s left is the tension, the fear, the shut-down feeling that shows up even when things are technically fine. That’s what we work with in somatic therapy.
You don’t have to go back and explain everything. You don’t have to rewatch the movie in your mind. Your nervous system already has the footage. It’s just still holding the charge.
And that charge—that stuck survival energy—is what keeps you in patterns that feel impossible to shift. So instead of dragging you through the past, somatic therapy helps your body release what it’s still holding. Safely. Gently. Without forcing anything.
No rehashing required.
This is what makes somatic trauma therapy different from talk therapy. We’re not just naming what happened—we’re helping your body feel what safety actually is again.
8. Your Nervous System Isn’t Broken—It’s Just Doing Its Job
Your nervous system is doing exactly what it was built to do: protect you. It just doesn’t always know when the threat is over.
I see this in my practice all the time—high-functioning, smart, emotionally aware people who feel hijacked by their own reactions. You freeze in conversations. Your heart races over a text. You can’t relax, even when nothing’s technically wrong.
That’s not weakness. That’s your body doing what it learned to do.
Because if your past taught your nervous system to stay on high alert—to scan for tone shifts, micro-rejections, or the next emotional hit—it’s going to keep doing that until something tells it: you’re safe now.
That’s what somatic therapy actually does.
We work with the body’s response patterns—tight chest, shallow breath, the urge to shut down or explode—so the nervous system can learn a new way of being. Not by “thinking differently,” but by experiencing what calm, safety, and regulation feel like in real time.
And that’s the shift. You’re not forcing yourself to be calm—you’re teaching your system it doesn’t have to be on guard anymore.
9. Somatic Therapy Is About More Than Just Relaxation
Sure, it feels good to walk out of a session feeling calm. But that’s not the end goal. Somatic therapy isn’t about temporary relief—it’s about giving your nervous system a new baseline.
That means:
You stop reacting like the threat is still happening.
You stop spiraling every time something reminds your body of the past.
You start actually feeling safe. Like, for real.
I work with clients all the time who are stuck in survival mode without even realizing it. They’ve done years of talk therapy. They’re self-aware. But their body still flinches at closeness, braces at silence, shuts down when things feel too big.
That’s where this work goes deeper.
Somatic therapy helps your body learn how to stay with hard stuff—without shutting down or exploding. It doesn’t just feel good in the moment. It creates long-term neurobiological change. You’re literally rewiring your brain.
That’s the difference between feeling better… and being better.
10. Somatic + IFS Therapy Help You Reconnect to the You That Got Buried
You know that feeling when you’re doing all the things—but still don’t feel like yourself? Like something inside is off, but you can’t explain why?
A lot of the clients I work with describe it this way. They’ve spent years over-functioning, people-pleasing, shutting things down just to keep moving. And somewhere in the middle of all that coping, they lost the part of themselves that actually felt present and real.
Somatic therapy helps you come back to that core self.
But here’s what makes it even more powerful: when we bring in IFS (Internal Family Systems), we start to understand why you disconnected in the first place.
Because you don’t just have one voice inside—you have parts.
The perfectionist. The fixer. The protector. The part that wants to disappear.
And all of them formed for a reason.
IFS therapy helps you get to know those parts without shaming or fighting them. When you start to build a relationship with them—alongside somatic work—your nervous system doesn’t just feel safer… you start to feel more like yourself again.
Not a new version of you. The version that’s been buried under years of bracing, fixing, and performing.
Why Los Angeles Residents Are Turning to Somatic Therapy
Somatic Therapy Helps You Work With Your Body—Not Just Talk About It
When you’re dealing with anxiety or trauma, your nervous system can feel like it’s stuck in a loop—overthinking, shutting down, constantly bracing.
Somatic therapy helps interrupt that loop by slowing things down and letting your body do what it wasn’t allowed to do before: feel safe enough to let go.
And when you integrate tools like IFS therapy into the process, you’re not just calming your nervous system—you’re also building a relationship with the internal parts of you that are still on high alert. That’s what makes this work deeper than just stress relief. It’s a full-system reset.
The Long-Term Impact of Somatic Healing in a City That Never Stops
Most people in LA don’t need another self-help hack. They need space to feel again.
Somatic therapy helps you rewire the stress response itself, so you’re not just reacting to life—you’re living it. Over time, triggers lose their grip. You stop spiraling. You feel more like you—and less like someone constantly running on fumes.
And when you layer in a holistic therapy approach, you’re not just treating symptoms. You’re rebuilding trust in your body, in your boundaries, and in your ability to handle life without shutting down.
Whether you’re working through complex PTSD, unresolved attachment wounds, or you’re just plain tired of pushing through everything—you don’t have to do it alone.
Reach out here if you’re ready to feel like yourself again. This work is gentle, real, and made for the part of you that’s been carrying too much for too long.
Ready to Start Your Somatic Healing Journey?
Healing doesn’t have to mean digging through everything that ever hurt you. And it doesn’t have to feel overwhelming or out of reach.
If you’ve been stuck in patterns of anxiety, burnout, people-pleasing, or just feeling totally disconnected from yourself—somatic therapy offers a way back to your body, your emotions, and your actual self.
Whether you’re curious about IFS therapy in Los Angeles or looking for anxiety therapy that actually addresses the deeper patterns. (and not just the surface level stress going on in your life) this work can meet you where you are.
If your pain goes back further, complex trauma therapy and trauma therapy can help you untangle those layers—without forcing you to relive them all.
You don’t have to earn support by falling apart. And you certaintly don’t have to keep coping by disconnecting.
Reach out here if you’re ready to feel grounded in your body, clear in your mind, and more like yourself again—for real this time.
More Somatic Therapy Resources to Support Your Healing
Looking for more ways to understand your body’s signals, regulate your nervous system, and stop living in survival mode? These posts dive deeper into how somatic therapy actually works—and why it’s different from just talking things through:
- 5 Somatic Therapy Exercises I Use Every Day in My LA Practice – Simple, nervous-system-based tools to help you feel more grounded and present.
- IFS Therapy for Anxiety: Why Understanding Your Inner Parts Can Quiet the Chaos – How somatic and IFS work together to shift long-standing anxiety patterns.
- Somatic Therapy for Childhood Trauma: Why Your Body Still Feels It—Even If Your Mind Doesn’t – Understanding how early experiences shape your nervous system and how somatic work can help.
- What Is Nervous System Dysregulation—and How Can Somatic Therapy Help? – A breakdown of what dysregulation really looks like and how to restore balance safely.
Serving Los Angeles and Beyond
My office is located on the west side of Los Angeles at 1849 Sawtelle Blvd, Suite #610—right in the heart of Sawtelle. While I primarily offer therapy online, this is where I’m based and available for local support. Whether you’re looking for somatic therapy, IFS therapy, or trauma healing that goes beyond talk, I’m here to help you reconnect with yourself.
