IFS & Somatic Therapy
- Amanda Stoddard
- 10 hours ago
- 7 min read
A gentle, body-led approach to healing trauma, managing anxiety, burnout, and life transitions
Traditional talk therapy can be helpful, but sometimes insight alone is not enough.
My work blends Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Somatic Therapy to support healing that includes not only the mind, but also the body, emotions, nervous system, and deeper inner world.
This is therapy that helps you come home to yourself.
Why this approach is different and holistic in design
You may understand your patterns. You may know why you react the way you do.
You may already be self-aware, reflective, and thoughtful — and still find yourself overwhelmed, shut down, stuck in people-pleasing, anxiety, numbness, or inner conflict.
That does not mean you are failing.
It may simply mean that the parts of you carrying stress, fear, shame, grief, or old survival responses need something gentler, slower, and more experiential than conversation alone.
What is IFS therapy?
Internal Family Systems, or IFS, is a compassionate and empowering approach to therapy that helps us understand that we all have different “parts” within us.
For example, one part of you may strive to keep everything together. Another may feel exhausted and want to disappear. Another may be deeply sensitive, hurt, or afraid. Another may cope by overthinking, overworking, pleasing, avoiding, numbing, or shutting down.
These parts are not problems to get rid of. They are aspects of your inner system that have developed for a reason. We befriend instead of fix the parts of you so we can understand the root of their burdens and help alleviate them. When your parts are relieved and your system is restored, you innately have greater access to your true nature, desires, and aspirations, while making life choices with clarity and confidence.
In IFS, we begin to gently understand:
the protective parts that manage daily life
the reactive parts that step in when things feel too overwhelming
the younger, more vulnerable parts carrying pain, fear, shame, grief, or unmet needs
the deeper core within you — what IFS calls Self — the calm, compassionate, connected presence that can lead healing
Rather than fighting yourself, judging yourself, or trying to “fix” your emotions, IFS helps you build a more trusting and respectful relationship with your inner world.
What is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy is a body-based approach that helps us notice how stress, trauma, emotion, and protection live not only in our thoughts, but in the body.
Sometimes your body tells the story before words do.
This may show up as:
a tight chest
a lump in the throat
tension in the jaw, neck, or shoulders
butterflies in the stomach
a frozen or collapsed feeling
restlessness, shakiness, or the urge to flee
numbness, heaviness, or disconnection
Instead of analyzing everything from the mind, somatic therapy helps us slow down and listen to what your nervous system and body are already communicating.
Together, we learn how to notice sensations safely, build capacity, track activation, support regulation, and gently reconnect with the parts of you that may have had to brace, hide, protect, or survive.
Why I blend IFS and Somatic Therapy
IFS helps us understand who is showing up inside.
Somatic therapy helps us notice how that part is showing up in the body.
When these two approaches are woven together, healing becomes more than talking about your experiences. It becomes a felt, embodied process.
A protective part may show up as a clenched jaw, shallow breath, or pressure in the chest.A younger part may appear as tears behind the eyes, a sinking feeling in the belly, or a deep ache of loneliness.A striving part may live in tightness, urgency, pushing, and never fully resting. When we slow down enough to listen to both the part and the body, something begins to shift.
You do not have to override yourself. You do not have to force healing.You do not have to “perform wellness.” Instead, we create enough safety and curiosity for your system to soften, speak, and begin to trust a new way of relating.
This approach may be for you if…
you have done talk therapy before but still feel stuck
you are insightful, but struggle to create lasting change
you feel anxious, overwhelmed, burned out, or emotionally flooded
you tend to shut down, disconnect, or go numb when life feels too much
you notice tension, exhaustion, heaviness, or stress living in your body
you are hard on yourself and long for a more compassionate inner relationship
you are moving through a life transition and/or grief and want support that feels deeper and more whole
you want therapy that honours mind, body, emotions, and spirit
What sessions with me may look like
Each session is shaped by what feels most present and what your system has capacity for that day.
Depending on your needs, our work may include:
checking in around what is arising emotionally, mentally, or relationally
identifying the parts of you that are feeling activated, protective, conflicted, or burdened
noticing body sensations, impulses, tension patterns, and nervous system responses
slowing down enough to stay connected to your experience without becoming overwhelmed
using grounding, breath, imagery, movement, and body awareness to support regulation
gently witnessing and building trust with younger or vulnerable parts so we can relieve them of the emotions and burdens they've been carrying for so long
reflecting on what your system is showing us and what feels supportive moving forward
My sessions are often chosen at 75 minutes because they allow space to both explore what is happening and move more slowly into body-based parts work.
This can make room for:
check-in and clarity around what feels most important
deeper somatic listening and parts work
integration, reflection, and gentle re-orienting before the session ends
Healing that is gentle, paced, and consent-based
This work is never about forcing catharsis, pushing for emotional release, or going into trauma before your system is ready.
Healing does not happen through overwhelm.
It happens through safety, pacing, attunement, and relationship. That means we listen carefully to your body, your boundaries, your protectors, and your nervous system. Sometimes the work is deep processing. Sometimes the work is simply building trust, creating more inner space, and helping one small part of you feel less alone.
Both matter.
I honour the wisdom of your system and the pace at which healing wants to unfold.
What makes this different from traditional talk therapy?
Traditional talk therapy can be incredibly helpful for insight, reflection, problem-solving, and emotional support. But sometimes people reach a point where they understand their patterns cognitively and still feel like the body, nervous system, or deeper emotional layers have not caught up.
Blending IFS and somatic therapy allows us to work not only with thoughts and stories, but also with:
the protective strategies underneath behaviours
the emotional burdens held by younger parts
the nervous system responses driving anxiety, shutdown, urgency, or overwhelm
the body’s signals, sensations, and wisdom
the deeper experience of healing from within, rather than talking around the wound
For many clients, this feels slower, deeper, more compassionate, and more transformative than insight alone.
A gentle example
You may come into session saying, “I know I am overreacting, but I cannot calm down.”
Instead of only trying to reason with that reaction, we might pause and notice what is happening inside.
Perhaps there is tightness in your chest. A knot in your stomach. A part that feels panicked. Another part that is criticizing you for being “too much.” As we slow down, we may begin to sense that a younger part feels unsafe, unseen, or afraid of being rejected.
Rather than pushing that part away, we begin to build connection with it.
Over time, this can help create more spaciousness, less self-judgment, and a more grounded response — not because you forced yourself to calm down, but because something inside finally felt met.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to know my parts before starting?
Not at all. You do not need any prior knowledge of Internal Family Systems. Part of our work is learning how to notice and understand your inner landscape together, gently and at your own pace.
What if I feel disconnected from my body?
That is very common, especially for people who have lived through chronic stress, trauma, burnout, or overwhelm. We do not force body awareness. We begin where you are and build safety slowly.
Can this help with anxiety and burnout?
Yes. This approach can be especially supportive for anxiety, burnout, emotional overwhelm, people-pleasing, inner criticism, shutdown, and life transitions. It can help you better understand the protective patterns keeping you stuck while also supporting nervous system regulation and reconnection.
Is this trauma therapy?
It can support trauma healing, but always with care, pacing, and consent. We do not rush into traumatic material. Instead, we build the safety, inner relationship, and nervous system capacity needed for healing to unfold more sustainably.
Are virtual sessions effective for this kind of work?
Yes. IFS and somatic work can be very effective online. With the right pacing, presence, and guidance, virtual sessions can still offer deep and meaningful healing.
How long are sessions?
I offer 60, 75, and 90-minute sessions. Many clients choose 75 minutes because it allows enough time for both verbal processing and body-based parts work, as well as integration at the end.
You do not have to do this alone
There is nothing wrong with you for having protective patterns. The anxiety, overthinking, striving, shutting down, pleasing, bracing, or numbness you experience often makes sense in the context of what your system has lived through. Healing begins when we stop turning against ourselves and start listening with compassion.
If you are longing for a therapeutic space that goes deeper than insight alone — one that honours your mind, body, emotions, and inner parts — I would be honoured to support you.
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