Best Resources for Somatic Therapy & Trauma Healing
A clinician-curated collection for driven women ready to work with the body, not just the mind, in healing trauma.
Last reviewed: June 2026 by Annie Wright, LMFT
Somatic therapy resources are books and clinical approaches that work with the body to process trauma and regulate the nervous system. Foundational texts include Peter Levine’s Waking the Tiger, Pat Ogden’s Trauma and the Body, and Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score, each offering conceptual grounding alongside practical applications. Somatic work begins from the understanding that trauma is stored not just as memory but as activation and dysregulation in the body. In my work with driven women, these resources are often the bridge between knowing what happened and actually feeling the healing.
In short: Somatic therapy resources focus on the body as the primary site of trauma storage, offering approaches that work directly with sensation and nervous-system activation rather than narrative alone.
If your nervous system learned the safest way to exist was to manage everyone else's world, my self-paced course Enough Without the Effort is the recovery map.
I’ve integrated somatic approaches into my clinical practice across more than 15,000 clinical hours and consistently find they reach what verbal processing doesn’t. Peter Levine, PhD’s somatic experiencing research demonstrates how trauma is stored as incomplete physiological defensive responses and how guiding the body through completion produces resolution that insight alone can’t replicate (Levine 1997).
Trauma isn’t only stored in your thoughts and memories. It’s stored in your body. In the way your shoulders brace, your breath shallows, your jaw tightens when a particular feeling arrives. Talk therapy, for all its value, can miss this layer entirely.
Annie Wright, LMFT integrates somatic awareness into her clinical work because the body is where relational trauma lives. These are the resources she trusts most for women beginning to explore body-based healing.
Annie Wright, LMFT’s Clinical Guides
Free, long-form resources from 15+ years of clinical practice
What somatic therapy is, how it works, and why it’s essential for trauma that hasn’t fully responded to talk therapy alone.
Understanding how your body communicates what your mind can’t yet articulate. And how somatic therapy creates a new channel for healing.
The physiological foundation of somatic therapy. Understanding your nervous system, the window of tolerance, and what regulation actually means.
“The body doesn’t lie. It holds the truth of what happened to you long after the mind has found ways to explain it away, minimize it, or simply not know.”
, Annie Wright, LMFT
Recommended Books
Clinically vetted, organized by where you are in your healing
The landmark text on trauma and the body. The essential starting point for understanding why somatic approaches are necessary.
The foundational text on Somatic Experiencing. Levine explains how animals naturally discharge trauma through the body. And how humans can learn to do the same.
The more clinically rigorous follow-up to Waking the Tiger. Explains the neurophysiology of somatic healing in depth.
The textbook on Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. One of the primary evidence-based somatic trauma modalities.
Not Sure Where to Start?
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Clinically Vetted Websites & Tools
Directories, research, and support
You've been holding everything together. You're allowed to put some down.
A focused self-paced course on overfunctioning, achievement-first self-concept, and the trauma response that masquerades as a personality. Not a productivity problem. Not a boundary problem. A nervous system that learned competence was the only safety.
The official home of SE therapy. Founded by Peter Levine. Therapist directory and training resources.
The professional organization for Pat Ogden’s Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. Therapist finder and clinical resources.
Search for somatic therapists in your area. Look for SE, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, or somatic experiencing in their listed modalities.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does somatic therapy feel like?
Somatic therapy involves paying close attention to physical sensations. Noticing where you feel tension, contraction, heat, or numbness as you explore emotional material. Sessions move more slowly than traditional talk therapy and can feel unfamiliar at first.
Is somatic therapy evidence-based?
Yes. Somatic Experiencing and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy both have emerging evidence bases. The broader framework of trauma as a nervous system phenomenon is well-supported by neuroscience research.
Do I have to touch or be touched in somatic therapy?
No. Most somatic therapists work entirely verbally, guiding your attention to internal sensations rather than using physical touch. Some modalities do incorporate gentle touch, but this is always consensual and clearly discussed.
Does Annie Wright, LMFT use somatic therapy?
Yes. Annie Wright, LMFT integrates somatic awareness and body-based approaches into her trauma-focused work with driven women.
How do I work with Annie Wright, LMFT?
Annie Wright, LMFT offers 1:1 therapy for driven women with relational trauma backgrounds, as well as executive coaching for women navigating relational dynamics in leadership and life. You can learn more about therapy with Annie, explore executive coaching, or connect directly here.
Ways to Work with Annie Wright, LMFT
References
Peer-Reviewed Research (Vancouver)
- Payne P, Levine PA, Crane-Godreau MA. Somatic experiencing: using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy. Front Psychol. 2015;6:93. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00093. PMID: 25699005.
- Ogden P, Pain C, Fisher J. A sensorimotor approach to the treatment of trauma and dissociation. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2006;29(1):263-79, xi-xii. PMID: 16530597.
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Annie Wright, LMFT
LMFT · Relational Trauma Specialist · W.W. Norton Author
Helping driven women finally feel as good as their résumé looks.
Annie Wright is a licensed psychotherapist (LMFT #95719) and trauma-informed executive coach with over 15,000 clinical hours. She works with driven women. Including Silicon Valley leaders, physicians, and entrepreneurs. In repairing the psychological foundations beneath their impressive lives. Annie is the founder and former CEO of Evergreen Counseling, a multimillion-dollar trauma-informed therapy center she built, scaled, and successfully exited. A regular contributor to Psychology Today, her expert commentary has appeared in USA Today, Forbes, Business Insider, Inc., NBC, and The Information. She is currently writing her first book with W.W. Norton.
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT #95719)
15,000+ direct clinical hours
California · Connecticut · Washington DC · Florida · Maine · Maryland · New Hampshire · New Jersey · Texas · Virginia · Washington
Creator of House of Life™ and Fixing the Foundations™
The Everything Years (W.W. Norton)
Founder & former CEO, Evergreen Counseling
Regular contributor to Psychology Today. Expert commentary has appeared in USA Today, Forbes, Business Insider, Inc., NBC, and The Information.
