Doing psychotherapy without attention to body process and experience is like taking care of a plant without awareness that it can't exist without soil, water and light.
Somatic psychotherapy takes into account the complexity of interactions
between body, mind and spirit.
The body does not merely mean the "soma" --
something separate from the "psyche", the mind. It is not just the musculoskeletal body, not just bones and muscles: It is a "mindful body". Think of it as the "somatic" component of the "psychosomatic" complex.
Somatic psychotherapy recognizes the deep connections that all mind-body processes contribute,
each in their own way, to the organization of the whole person. There is no hierarchical relationship between psyche and soma. They
are both functioning and interactive aspects of the whole.
Somatic
psychotherapy can also be described as "experiential" or "integrative": Paying attention to the body enables us to involve our clients in an experiential process, one that allows for true integration of insights.
See: Proactive psychotherapy
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