What is Somatic Resourcing
Somatic Resourcing
Somatic Resourcing is an integrative approach to somatic based therapy based on the work of Bill Bowen. It is defined by the active engagement of the body as central to the psychotherapeutic process. This method synthesizes both psychological and body therapy concepts and techniques into one simultaneous process. A client’s physical, mental, and spiritual issues are seen as parts of a complex interactive system, where all parts are inseparable from the whole. The body is viewed as a primary vehicle for the therapeutic process, where psychological and physical interventions are continuously overlapping. It is a unique way of working that differs from many therapeutic approaches in its emphasis on building somatic resources, its focus on the creative process, its direct use of movement, somatic patterning interventions, and hands-on-work.
What is Somatic Resourcing?
Resources are those things, actions, and qualities we can draw upon for aid in times of need. Therapeutically, resources are defined as those actions, awarenesses, and abilities that support a person in maintaining a sense of self and a feeling of competency, regardless of what is occurring in his or her environment. There are many different categories of resources: psychological, emotional, intellectual, relational, artistic, spiritual, somatic, etc.
Somatic resources are a category of resources that are body based. They emerge from a person’s physical experience. These resources are the anatomical and physiological qualities and functions that support a physically felt experience of self and well-being. There are literally thousands of somatic resource possibilities ranging from gross locomotor functions such as the act of walking, to the fine motor control needed by a craftsman. They include the ability to process neurological information or perform important physiological functions. Somatic resources can be either creative or survival in nature, and although they are specifically physical, they are never exclusive of what is occurring psychologically.
Article
Touch and Psychotherapy (2013) Toonder, C. & Bowen, B.
