From Survival Mode to Feeling Safe From Within
When Your Nervous System Stays On High Alert
Your body may remain tense even when there is no immediate stressor. Sleep may be inconsistent or unrestful. Your nervous system has difficulty settling, and there may be a persistent sense of waiting for something to go wrong.
You may have tried many approaches, gained insight, or understood your patterns, yet your body continues its vigilance.
If this resonates, we can explore what your nervous system needs. In our work together, we will talk about what you are experiencing, the contexts and relationships that have shaped you, and the meaning you make of your experiences. At the same time, we work directly with your nervous system, noticing how protection shows up in your body and responding with care and understanding.
These patterns developed for good reasons. Through conversation and somatic practices, we explore how your body, mind, and relationships are affected. Talk therapy helps make sense of patterns while body-based work supports nervous system regulation. We can explore whatever topics feel most important to you while also listening closely to what your body is communicating beneath the words.
The Connection Between Trauma and Physical Symptoms
When activation stays in the body over time, it can show up physically. This may look like chronic migraines, autoimmune flares, jaw tension, digestive issues, or symptoms that persist even after medical care has ruled out clear causes.
For many people, these symptoms are not random. They reflect a system that learned to stay alert for good reasons and has not yet had the conditions it needs to fully settle.
Somatic practices support the body in releasing long-held patterns of tension and protection. As the system gains more capacity, it often becomes easier to move, rest, and respond with greater flexibility. Physical symptoms that once felt fixed can begin to shift.
At the same time, we can talk about what these patterns mean in the context of your life. We may explore relationships, work stress, family dynamics, or ongoing pressures that continue to shape how your system responds. With increased nervous system support, more choice and responsiveness become available both internally and relationally.
This work complements medical care by addressing underlying patterns that influence physical symptoms, creating space for change across your body, emotions, and daily life.
What Becomes Possible
Over time you may notice:
Your body softens. The constant bracing eases.
Sleep deepens. Rest becomes restorative.
Your chest opens and your jaw releases as chronic tension begins to shift.
You stay present in relationships without the impulse to flee or shut down.
You respond from choice instead of automatic protection, creating space between what happens and how you react.
You respond from choice instead of automatic protection. There's space between what happens and how you react.
This is gradual, body-based work combined with reflective conversation to build the capacity to stay grounded during difficult moments and return to ease when activation occurs. Your system learns it can move through difficulty in a new way.
What sessions may include based on your needs:
Sessions are typically fifty minutes and move at a pace your system can integrate. We focus on what feels most important to you, honoring your timing and the protections that arise.
Early sessions center on listening and understanding. We take time to explore your story, your current challenges, and what your body is communicating now. Conversation is an essential part of this process, helping make sense of patterns within the context of your life.
As safety grows, we support regulation together. Learn practices that help you feel more settled and increase your capacity to stay present outside of sessions.
Somatic work is introduced as your system is ready. We use gentle body based approaches that allow long held tension and incomplete stress responses to release.
We also attend to protective parts of your system. Drawing from Internal Family Systems, we approach these parts with curiosity and respect, recognizing how they developed in response to past experiences. As they feel understood, their intensity often softens.
Over time, presence and flexibility expand. Difficult moments feel more workable. Through the combination of conversation and somatic awareness, openness, choice, and connection become more accessible.
Getting Started
You deserve to feel seen and supported. In a free fifteen-minute consultation, we’ll listen to your experiences, notice what your body saying, and see if this approach feels right for you.