Body-Oriented Therapy
Sometimes you know exactly what is going on, but your body continues to react.
Not just understanding, but experiencing and integrating
You might know:
“I am safe right now.”
“I need to set better boundaries.”
“I understand where my symptoms come from.”
“I should try to relax.”
And yet your body can react quite differently.
What is body oriented therapy?
Body oriented therapy is an approach where we do not solely focus on your thoughts and emotions, but also on what happens inside your body.
Your physical state, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors constantly influence one another and shape how you respond to various situations.
By paying careful attention to physical signals, such as tension, breathing patterns, posture, movement, and relaxation, it becomes clear what your body is expressing and what it needs.
We explore these physical signals gently and gradually, without requiring you to feel or explain everything at once.
By having new, grounded experiences, space opens up for different ways of feeling, thinking, and responding.
In this way, body oriented therapy helps build greater awareness, emotional freedom, and trust in your own bodily signals and actions.
Knowledge tells us change is possible; a new bodily experience allows us to truly feel it.
Knowing that something can be different is not always enough to be able to respond differently.
A direct somatic experience allows you to truly sense: things can be different.
In our sessions, for instance, we work on sensing and setting healthy boundaries while remaining connected to others. Or learning how to hold bodily tension without becoming overwhelmed by it. Discovering that you can pause without anything falling apart, or that your nervous system can naturally return to calm after stress.
Such an experience doesn't just inform your mind; your body and emotions absorb it directly. This creates room for new expectations, new choices, and behavioral change.
In body oriented therapy, we explore not only what you know and comprehend, but also what you actually experience in the present moment.
Not to push away old responses, but to discover and welcome new possibilities.
Careful assessment
Body oriented therapy does not mean that all physical complaints are automatically caused by stress or emotional tension. A symptom may have a distinct somatic or medical origin that requires proper attention first. In the case of new, changing, or unexplained symptoms, it is always essential to carefully evaluate what is going on. Whenever necessary, evaluation by a general practitioner or medical specialist should always take priority.
Somatic Experiencing®
Within my body oriented practice in Groningen, I work primarily with Somatic Experiencing® (SE).