SomatoEmotional Release

Defined by Dr. John Upledger, the founder of CranioSacral Therapy, SomatoEmotional Release is the expression of emotion that, for reasons deemed appropriate by some part of the patient’s or client’s nonconscious, has been retained, suppressed and isolated within the soma.

I.e. if we have an experience that could be defined as physically or emotionally traumatic (from mild all the way to severe), and we don’t know how to process or release it, we can unwittingly hold onto the emotion/energy of said experience in our tissues, as part of a restriction. 

SomatoEmotional Release is a form of manual bodywork that initiates an intuitive conversation between the CranioSacral Therapist and your body in order to facilitate the release of physical restrictions, stored emotions, energies and traumas.

Your body is the authority on how it got to where it is now, and what it needs to heal itself- it knows its history, and it’s the best guide to letting go of what it has been storing. Using gentle manual techniques, sometimes paired with visualization and verbal dialogue, the therapist’s role is to facilitate your release of these physical restrictions and emotions. 

Because the emotion or trauma is leaving the storage place in your body, without analysis- rather than revisiting it over again in your mind- the release happens at a deeper level. Often, when the emotion or trauma has left the body, the past experience no longer has the same charge as it used to, and while history doesn’t get erased, it’s no longer as painful as it once was. As these restrictions are released, the body is free to return to its optimal level of function.