Anima Forma Corporis: 

Aquinas and Somatic Work

Aquinas reminds us that we are not souls merely inhabiting bodies. We are embodied persons. This is an important foundation for how I understand somatic work. While somatic approaches can offer valuable tools for working with physiological responses to stress and trauma, I do not understand the body as a separate therapeutic target or somatic techniques as an end in themselves. I understand bodily experience as part of the whole person.

Our experiences can be expressed through the body in both implicit and explicit ways—through sensation, tension, movement, physiological responses, and also through what we consciously notice and can name. These experiences are inseparable from our thoughts, emotions, relationships, meaning-making, and spiritual lives.

For this reason, somatic work in my practice is integrated into the broader therapeutic process rather than treated as just a separate technique. We may attend to what is happening in the body, develop greater awareness of patterns of activation, and explore what the body may be communicating within the context of a person's broader experience. The therapeutic relationship itself can also become part of this process through attunement and co-regulation.

The body is not simply something to regulate. It is part of the person we are learning to understand, care for, heal, and reintegrate.