Therapy Skills Ep 2: Somatic Resourcing 👣

You know when you're stressed out and someone tells you to think about your happy place? Does that actually work? Hi there, Natalie Moore here, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Welcome back to the second part of a new series of videos that I'm doing that are all of the techniques that I teach clients early on in our therapy work together. So if you haven't checked out the first video on conscious breathing, check that out. I'll leave a link below so you can find it. Today's video is about a technique called somatic resourcing. So, fancy name. Somatic meaning of the body or relating to the body, and resource meaning something that you can turn to when you're having a difficult time. The way to develop a somatic resource is by thinking about someone, something, or someplace that when you think about it, you can't help but smile. If you're not driving or operating heavy machinery or watching young children, I'm going to encourage you to close your eyes and imagine yourself either in the presence of someone that you love— this could be a human or a companion animal— or you can imagine yourself in a place that you love, that you feel inspired by. This could be somewhere in nature or a favorite home from your childhood, or you can think about your favorite thing. Maybe it was a favorite toy or stuffed animal when you were a kid, kid, or maybe it's your engagement ring. It could be anything. Think about something that when you think about this person, place, or thing, you can't help but smile. Wonderful. Good work. So now that you're thinking about this and you've conjured the image in your mind, really put yourself in the scene. So notice the sights and the sounds and the smells and the tastes. Of being here or being with this person or animal. Notice what you feel in your body. Do you feel a sense of warmth or expansion or tingling? Some people feel lightness or like they're being lifted. This feeling is yours and nobody can take it away from you, and it's accessible to you at any time. So the next time that you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed or really sad or down on yourself, I encourage you to conjure this image and really put yourself in the scene so you can conjure the somatic, the body sensations that come up for you when you imagine this person, place, or thing. So that's somatic resourcing. If you have any questions about how to implement this technique or how to make it a little bit stronger for you, please leave your questions down in the comment section below. I will also leave a link to a free PDF which is called Somatic Resourcing: How to Overcome Overwhelm, which is a guided journaling exercise that you can do if you had some difficulty with conjuring that image in this video, or if you just need a little bit more guidance. You can download that, it's free, it's on my website, and it helps guide you through the process in a little bit more depth and gives you a little bit more time and space to to look at different feelings and different body sensations that might be coming up for you. So if you liked this video, please hit the like button, subscribe, comment, share with a friend, share on social media. I love doing these videos, and anything I can do to help make mental health information more accessible and reachable to everybody, I'm happy to do that. So thank you for supporting my channel and spreading the good word. So I am a licensed therapist in California and provide telehealth sessions for all of California residents. If you resonate with my approach and want to schedule a free consultation with me, I'm happy to talk to you about your needs and if I might be a good fit for helping you. So all of my contact information is down below, so feel free to reach out to me. I hope to hear from you soon. Take care. Bye-bye.