Chronic illness and physical pain take enough out of you already. But now the racing thoughts, constant worry, and mental replay around your symptoms (and other life stressors) are taking up just as much space.
Somatic work teaches you what to do when symptoms and daily stressors trigger fear, overwhelm, guilt, or hopelessness, so you can start to respond differently instead of getting pulled into the same stress cycle and losing hours of your day to it.
Feel safer, calmer, and more at home in your own body, without forcing yourself through more “stress relief” techniques, consuming more overwhelming information, or constantly trying to get rid of stressful symptoms, thoughts, and emotions.
Somatic (body-based) work teaches you what to DO when stress is actually happening, so you can work WITH your body instead of spending so much energy fighting against what you're experiencing.
Because when you're living with chronic illness or pain, you're constantly balancing and adapting to symptoms, medical stress, changing capacity, and everything your body needs from you.
And when your body is already dealing with so much, learning how to work with stress as it comes up throughout the day becomes even more important, so it doesn’t start taking over your decisions, relationships, goals, social life, and the things you deeply want to move toward.
This work helps you have more of yourself available for your relationships, dreams, creativity, free time... and the full, meaningful life you're building alongside chronic illness.
And if you're curious about experiencing somatic work for yourself, you can start with one 60-minute 1:1 session with me over Zoom.
“Many of my symptoms have slowly started getting better in a way they never have before. But it’s not just the symptoms.
Something deeper has changed in the way I experience my life. I feel like I’m finally able to take in and integrate the things I’m doing for my physical and emotional health because I’m not living in a constant state of fight or flight anymore.
And maybe the biggest change of all is that I’m excited about my future again." - Sadie
Knowing why you react to symptoms and stressors is much different than knowing what to do in the moment to help your body feel safer.
Maybe you already know yourself quite well. You’re very aware of the overwhelm, the anxiety, the stress, the way your body responds to symptoms or difficult social situations.
You might even understand exactly where these patterns came from. But knowing all of that doesn’t necessarily help when you’re actually IN the moment of stress, and you’re:
-
Sitting at dinner with your family and barely participating in the conversation because your stomach feels worse and you're distracted trying to decide whether you need a supplement or medication, a doctor, or your bed.
-
Finally starting to take steps toward your dream business, but your symptoms get worse and you stop altogether because you’re terrified that pushing any further will cause a major flare.
-
Out running errands and suddenly realize you've spent the entire time replaying something really insensitive your friend said, trying to figure out how to respond or what boundary you need to set.
-
Have plans you're genuinely excited about, but you're going back and forth for HOURS trying to decide whether your body can handle going... and the stress around the decision keeps building until deciding feels almost impossible.
-
Trying to actually rest and give your body a break, but you spend the whole time thinking about everything you should be doing and everything you still haven't gotten done today.
All of these experiences are often cues of an overwhelmed and dysregulated nervous system, and a sign that you probably don’t need more information about yourself.
Instead, you need to know what to DO with what's happening in your body when the stress response or symptom overwhelm are actually present - so that you can move through them quickly and come back to a baseline of internal safety and calm (i.e. nervous system regulation).
And it’s from this place of regulation that you can move towards the things you’re really wanting in life, but at a pace that works WITH what your body needs, rather than feeling like you’re always fighting against it.
That’s what we practice together in 1:1 somatic coaching. And if you want to experience this work before committing to longer-term coaching, you can start with a 60-minute session.
When stress and symptoms take up less space, you have so much more of yourself available for the full life you want to be living.
Somatic work is so much more powerful than simply “feeling calmer" or "managing stress." It's about having more capacity to work with life stressors and symptoms as they come up so you can: be more present for and deeply enjoy your life, move toward the things you really want, and advocate for yourself when it matters.
Instead of losing dinner with your family to fear around a changing or worsening symptom...
You notice the fear as it comes up, work with what's happening in your body, and figure out what you actually need without the entire evening being consumed by it. So you can listen to what your body needs AND still be present for the conversation, connection, and time with the people you love.
Instead of spending hours going back and forth about whether your body can handle an event...
You become better at noticing your actual capacity, making a decision, and trusting yourself enough to stop reconsidering it all day.
And whether you decide to go or stay home, you have more capacity to actually be present for what you chose instead of spending the entire time wondering whether you made the wrong decision.
Instead of pushing through because resting feels so unnatural, and then crashing afterwards...
You begin recognizing when your body needs you to stop and learn how to actually REST without immediately being pulled back into productivity. Rest starts becoming something you can actually experience, rather than an hour on the couch spent thinking about everything you should be doing or the problems you need to be solving instead.
Instead of replaying a difficult conversation for two weeks, no matter how hard you try to stop...
You learn how to work with the response happening in your body, so the emotion can move through instead of taking over your thoughts every time you have a quiet moment. And with less of your energy going toward replaying the interaction, you have more space to figure out what you actually need from the relationship and whether there's a boundary you want to set moving forward.
Instead of automatically freezing when a doctor, friend, partner, or family member says something that doesn't work for you...
You have more capacity to stay connected to yourself, recognize what you're feeling, and decide how you want to respond. Over time, those moments add up. You become better able to speak up about what you need, communicate your limits, ask questions, say when something doesn't feel right, and advocate for your physical and emotional health.
The goal isn't to create a life where nothing stressful ever happens. It's to help you become better at working WITH your body when stress and symptoms occur, so it doesn't have to take over the rest of your day, your decisions, your relationships, or what you're able to move toward in your life.
Imagine consistently having: more presence in your relationships. More energy for what you love. More safety and trust in your body. More capacity to move toward the life you deeply desire.
This work is about having more capacity for the things you want to move toward, without constantly asking your body to pay the price for it.
Resting BEFORE you've pushed yourself into another crash.
Making a decision about what your body can handle without reconsidering it 37 times.
Telling someone what you need instead of freezing, over-giving, or saying yes when you really need to say no.
Experiencing a difficult thought or emotion without needing to immediately solve it, suppress it, or spend the next three days thinking about it.
Responding to a change in your symptoms without fear and overwhelm immediately taking over.
And taking small, tolerable steps toward relationships, creativity, purpose, hobbies, travel, work, or whatever you deeply want more of in your life, at a pace that works WITH what your body needs.
Because this isn't only about getting better at handling difficult moments.
It's about having more of yourself available for the meaningful, full life you're building alongside chronic illness.
Somatic work doesn't start with understanding more. It starts with one real, stressful moment you want to experience differently.
One thing that's so powerful about this work is you actually don't need to understand exactly what's happening in your body or what's causing you to respond a certain way. And you definitely don't need to arrive knowing exactly what we should work on.
We can start with ONE thing that's taking up a lot of space in your life right now - and work through it from a body-based perspective, rather than only an intellectual one.
Maybe your illness has changed or gotten worse, and you can't stop thinking about what it means or how you’ll move forward.
Maybe you KNOW your body needs rest, but every time you stop, your mind starts listing everything you should be doing instead.
Maybe there's a relationship situation you keep replaying that's taking a toll on your health.
Maybe you're trying to make a decision and can't figure out what you actually want.
Or maybe you're finally moving toward something you're excited about, but you keep pushing yourself too hard trying to get there.
That's enough to start. We'll slow that experience down together and pay attention to what actually happens in your body when the stress comes up.
Instead of only talking about why you respond this way or what you should do differently next time, you'll get to practice working WITH the response while it's actually present.
We'll notice what changes, what helps, and what your body needs in the moment. And what you can begin practicing when the same pattern shows up in your everyday life.
What others are saying about somatic work:
"When I first started working with Erin, I felt very trapped by my health anxiety. I worried about my body constantly. I had found a team of exceptional doctors and was making some progress, but after a few years, I still felt like something was missing. I could find things that helped, but I couldn’t seem to make the progress last. It was frustrating and discouraging to feel like I was doing so much and still not really getting somewhere.
It’s been about 10 months now, and so much has changed for me. The best way I can describe it is this: I feel fully alive.
Many of my symptoms have slowly started getting better in a way they never have before. But it’s not just the symptoms. Something deeper has changed in the way I experience my life. I feel like I’m finally able to take in and integrate the things I’m doing for my physical and emotional health because I’m not living in a constant state of fight or flight anymore.
And maybe the biggest change of all is that I’m excited about my future again. That might sound simple, but for me, it’s enormous. My chronic illness made it difficult for me to imagine any kind of future that felt hopeful for a very long time. I had gotten so used to thinking about what had gone wrong (and could go wrong) that it was hard to imagine what could go right.
Now I find myself looking forward again. I have more space for my life. I feel more present in it. And in ways that are hard to fully explain, I feel like I’m becoming myself again.
Every area of my life has changed in a positive way. I’m incredibly grateful that I found Erin and somatic work when I did. It has changed the way I relate to my body, my health, and my future, and I’m beyond thankful I found this work when I needed it most." - Grace
If these everyday moments take way more out of you than you want them to, this is where somatic work can really help:
-
You try to rest with Netflix or a good book, but you're barely paying attention because you're thinking about everything you should be doing instead.
-
You go somewhere you WANT to be but spend half the time monitoring your symptoms and wondering whether you need to leave.
-
Stress gets too high and you completely shut down or freeze up, making even small decisions feel impossible.
-
You know you need to advocate for yourself with a doctor, partner, friend, or family member, but you're so overwhelmed that you can't figure out what to say.
-
You replay stressful interactions for DAYS, even when you desperately want to stop thinking about them.
-
You keep pushing past what your body can handle, only realizing you've done too much when your symptoms get worse.
-
You spend an enormous amount of energy making decisions, only to question yourself again once you've made them.
-
You've spent YEARS understanding your patterns, but still don't know what to DO when the stress and symptoms are actually happening.
And underneath all of it, you want more of yourself available for what you actually care about.
Your relationships. Your creativity. Your purpose. Your free time. Your goals. Your dreams. All the things that matter most in your life.
What others are saying about somatic work:
"I wanted to share that after our last few sessions, I have felt something shifting. As you know I've done talk therapy and EMDR for years but honestly this has been much more effective for me. Normally I would feel so anxious around a lot of the things I've been dealing with this week (including my symptom flares) but today I feel mostly calm and can handle the anxiety much better overall. I am making decisions from that place rather than from my franticness which has been quite a shift.
I also can tell that I am experiencing more healthy aggression when people are unkind or inconsiderate to me that I have never felt before. I am slowly starting to put better boundaries in place when this happens. Even with my partner... I am able to express my needs more easily and confidently. I know there's still a ways to go, but I am feeling encouraged that I have made this progress already in a relatively short amount of time. I am truly grateful for our sessions and how much I am continuing to learn." - David
Questions you might have before getting started:
What if I don't have much energy or don't feel well?
That's completely okay. You don't need to feel good that day or sit at a desk for the session. Many of my clients join from their bed or couch. We'll work at a pace your body can handle and adapt the session to your energy and capacity that day.
What if I've already tried therapy or other approaches?
Many of my clients have already spent YEARS in therapy, reading books, taking courses, or trying other approaches.
You don't need to arrive knowing more. This gives you an opportunity to practice working with what's happening in your body while the pattern is actually present.
Is this therapy?
No. This is coaching that incorporates Somatic Experiencing and other trauma-informed, body-based approaches.
It isn't therapy or medical treatment, and I don't diagnose or treat medical conditions.
Do I need to commit to longer-term coaching?
Not at all. The $67 session is an opportunity to experience this work before deciding whether you'd like to continue with longer-term 1:1 coaching. At the end, we'll talk about what you noticed and what might be helpful to focus on next. If you'd like to hear about continuing together, I can explain your options. There's no pressure to decide during the call.
Will one session fix everything?
No. One session isn't designed to change patterns you've been living with for years. It's a personalized starting point where you can experience working with ONE of those patterns differently and begin learning what you can practice in your everyday life.
What if I don't know exactly what we should work on?
You don't need to! We'll start with whatever is taking up the most space for you right now and figure it out together.
What if the patterns you've been trying so hard to fix actually make perfect sense?
Clients often come into this work blaming themselves for not being able to rest, set boundaries, stop over-pushing, or manage their stress and difficult emotions more effectively.
As we slow down and listen to what the body is communicating, they start to see that these patterns are not personal failures (and never were). They are nervous system responses that once made sense.
That shift can create so much more self-compassion, more clarity, and more space to choose something different.
“THANK YOU for teaching me how to work through the stress around my symptoms in the moment so that I don’t become stuck and frozen in it all the time anymore!
It’s now much easier for me to pause, regulate, and then decide what I need throughout the day – and how much my body can do without over-exerting or crashing later.” - Anna
A gentle, first step back towards yourself.
You deserve support that does not make your body the problem.
You deserve a space where your symptoms, stress, grief, fear, hope, and desire for an abundant life are all taken seriously.
And you deserve a way forward that honors what your body has survived while helping it experience something different now.
If you are ready to stop feeling like you have to force your way into calm, and begin practicing what safety can feel like from the inside out... I would love to support you.
Hi there, I'm Erin
I am a trained Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and Complex Trauma & Chronic Illness Coach, and I help people with a history of illness and trauma feel safer, calmer, and more present in their minds and bodies through somatic practices and nervous system regulation.
I know this work personally because I have lived it. After a 32-year journey with severe chronic illness, chronic pain, and complex trauma, I know what it’s like to feel constantly anxious and then shut down, overwhelmed by symptoms, and exhausted from trying approach after approach without any lasting relief or progress.
I also know how much can change when your body finally becomes part of the healing process. Through consistent nervous system regulation, trauma resolution, and support that went deeper than surface-level stress management, I began creating meaningful, lasting shifts in my symptoms, stress levels, quality of life, and sense of possibility.
Somatic (body-based) nervous system work helped me build an extremely fulfilling life, career, and community around what my mind and body actually need. It has also helped me to significantly improve my once debilitating chronic symptoms (in addition to working with brilliant practitioners and doctors).
As someone who is intimately familiar with the long journey of coming home to yourself after an extensive history of illness, stress, and trauma - I hold this work with humility, care, and respect for each person’s unique pace and healing path.
That is why I am so passionate about helping people with chronic illness and trauma find a clearer, gentler roadmap — one that does not ask you to abandon your body or override it in order to heal it.