What is SE® Physical Therapy??
Reclaiming Safety Through the Body: How Physical Therapy and Somatic Experiencing® Work Together
As a physical therapist, I’ve always believed that the body holds deep intelligence. Chronic pain, tension, and physical limitations are rarely just physical. Often, they are messengers—clues that something in the body’s story hasn’t been fully told.
One powerful framework I use to help clients connect to that story is Somatic Experiencing® (SE)—a gentle, body-based approach to trauma resolution. SE complements physical therapy beautifully, especially when pain or dysfunction is rooted in more than just structure or mechanics. It helps us listen beyond the muscles and joints, and into the nervous system itself.
When the Body’s Defenses Get Stuck
The autonomic nervous system (ANS)—our body’s built-in threat detector—guides us in moments of danger. It mobilizes us to escape (flight) or defend (fight). But sometimes, due to overwhelming or unsafe circumstances, we aren’t able to complete those defensive movements. Instead, the body freezes or shuts down, prioritizing survival.
That’s where things can get stuck.
When the nervous system doesn’t get to complete its natural cycle of response, the energy behind that effort can stay lodged in the body. And this isn’t just emotional—it often shows up as very real physical symptoms: chronic pain, tightness, bracing patterns, digestive issues, and more.
Physical Therapy Meets Nervous System Awareness
This is where my dual lens—as a physical therapist and Somatic Experiencing® practitioner (SEP)—can make a meaningful difference.
In our work together, we don’t just stretch, strengthen, or manipulate tissue. We listen to your body’s story through posture, breath, micro-movements, and patterns of holding. We track where the body wants to move but feels hesitant… where it’s bracing against a past it never got to push away from.
Sometimes, the healing isn’t in doing more, but in supporting the exact movement or expression the body needed back then—but couldn’t access.
A shoulder that won’t release might be holding the impulse to strike out. A ribcage that won’t expand might reflect a breathing pattern stuck in shallow, upper chest respiration—common in people who have lived in ‘go mode’ for too long. We meet these places with curiosity and care, allowing space for those protective responses to complete—often for the first time.
Movement as a Language of Healing
Through this integrated approach, we’re not just treating a symptom. We’re inviting your whole system—muscles, fascia, breath, and nervous system—to come back into coherence.
Somatic Experiencing® doesn’t force or “fix”—it invites. It allows your body to discover that it’s safe to move again, to feel again, to rest again.
In this space, we honor your body not as broken, but as wise. Together, we create the conditions for completion, not just recovery.
