Somatic therapy recognizes that free will is stored and expressed in the body — and that healing requires attention to bodily experience, not just thoughts.
The Somatic Perspective on Free Will
Traditional talk therapy addresses free will primarily through cognition. Somatic approaches add the body's wisdom:
- Free Will creates physical tension, postural patterns, and nervous system states that maintain it
- The body 'keeps the score' — especially when free will has trauma origins
- Bottom-up (body to mind) processing can access material unavailable to cognitive approaches
Somatic Therapy Approaches for Free Will
Somatic Experiencing (SE): Developed by Peter Levine, tracks bodily sensations to resolve trauma and free will.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Integrates somatic techniques with attachment theory for free will.
EMDR: Uses bilateral stimulation to process traumatic memories contributing to free will.
Body-oriented CBT: Adds somatic awareness to standard cognitive-behavioral work.
When Somatic Therapy Is Especially Helpful for Free Will
Somatic approaches are particularly valuable when free will has trauma origins, when talk therapy has plateaued, or when physical symptoms are prominent.