Somatic therapy is body-centered psychotherapy that works with stored physical patterns — breath, tension, posture — so change reaches beneath what talk alone can access.
Key Takeaways
What to know before you start:
- Somatic therapy works with the body's stored experience — chronic tension, held breath, and armored posture — not just the story you tell about it.
- At Angeles Psychology Group, somatic work is integrated with Internal Family Systems, depth psychology, and Emotion-Focused Therapy — matched to you, never applied from a manual.
- The signature modality here is Orgonomic (Reichian) therapy, in which Dr. Neil Schierholz specializes — rare in Los Angeles and central to APG's root-cause approach.
- Sessions are available in person at our Mid-Wilshire office and by secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth across California and internationally.
- There is no diagnosis required to start, and care begins with a free 20-minute consultation to check fit before you commit.
01 — What it isSomatic therapy, defined without the mysticism
Somatic therapy is body-centered psychotherapy that treats chronic tension, held breath, posture, and reflexive contraction as clinical information — the record of how a nervous system learned to protect itself. What most people call anxiety, disconnection, or being “stuck in their head” is often the felt sense of a system that has been braced for a long time. Talk therapy can help you understand that pattern; somatic work goes at the pattern itself.
At Angeles Psychology Group, somatic work draws from a coordinated stack of root-cause modalities rather than a single protocol: Orgonomic (Reichian) therapy for character armor, Internal Family Systems for the protective parts underneath the defenses, depth psychology for the unconscious material the body has been holding, and Emotion-Focused Therapy for the vulnerable feelings that surface as the armor softens. Your clinician matches the mix to you — not the other way around.
Research from the American Psychological Association and the Somatic Experiencing International community describes body-based approaches as evidence-informed adjuncts to trauma and anxiety care, best delivered inside a strong therapeutic relationship. That is exactly how the work is offered here — inside relationship, not as a technique performed on you. If you have already read our overview of Orgonomic therapy, this page steps back to the broader somatic frame that Orgonomic work sits inside.
Character armor. The term Wilhelm Reich used for the chronic muscular and emotional holding patterns your body learned as protection — patterns that once kept you safe and now keep you constrained. Somatic depth work engages the armor directly, so what is stored can move.
Not sure whether depth work fits what you are actually working on? A free 20-minute consultation is the simplest way to find out.
02 — How we deliver itMatched and integrated, not applied from a manual
Somatic therapy at Angeles Psychology Group is offered inside depth-oriented care rather than as a standalone protocol. Your clinician reads posture, breath, and held tension as information alongside what you say — and the same session may move between somatic tracking, parts work, emotion-focused processing, and insight-oriented reflection depending on what the moment asks for. The through-line is that the work moves at your pace, in your language, with your context already understood.
This matters most for people who have already done therapy — often a great deal of it — and who understand their patterns on paper while still living them in the body. That gap between insight and change is exactly where somatic depth work is designed to operate. You can read more about how clinicians here approach that gap in our companion piece on depth psychology and the unconscious, or explore a specific cluster like body-based trauma therapy.
Matched to you
Your clinician and the somatic approach are chosen at consultation to fit your goals, history, and pace — not the other way around.
Integrated care
Somatic work is combined with IFS, depth psychology, and EFT as they fit, so change reaches at multiple layers within one course of care.
In person or online
Delivered at our Mid-Wilshire office or by secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth across California — same depth, both formats.
03 — Getting startedA low-pressure first step
Beginning is in your control. You book a free, 20-minute consultation, talk with a clinician about what brings you in, and together decide whether somatic depth work — on its own or combined with other approaches — fits. There is no diagnosis required to start, and the consultation costs nothing. If we are not the right fit, we will say so.
Angeles Psychology Group is a private-pay practice; superbills are provided for out-of-network reimbursement, and fees are explained transparently before you commit. If you are still weighing your options, the American Psychological Association’s guidance on choosing a psychologist is a good place to start, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies maintains public resources on evidence-informed care.
What the consultation actually covers is practical. A clinician asks what brought you to this page and what you have already tried, listens for the shape of the pattern rather than a diagnosis, and describes candidly which approaches from the practice’s stack seem most relevant — and which might not. You are welcome to bring questions about pacing, prior therapy that did or did not work, insurance and superbills, and what a typical arc of care looks like. The conversation ends with a clear next step, not a soft hand-off; if depth work here fits, we schedule. If it does not, we say so and point you toward what would.
A typical first month of somatic depth care runs weekly, 50 minutes per session. The first two or three sessions are oriented toward safety and orientation — building the working relationship, tracking what your nervous system does in the room, and getting a felt sense of how your clinician moves between somatic tracking, parts work, and depth exploration. Deeper material tends to surface once safety is established rather than pushed for from the start. The pacing principle throughout the work is that integration matters more than intensity — a session that flooded you worked against the work, and your clinician will pace accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is somatic therapy?
Somatic therapy is body-centered psychotherapy that works with chronic tension, held breath, and reflexive contraction — the physical patterns of stored experience — so change reaches beneath what talk alone can access. At Angeles Psychology Group it is offered within depth-oriented care, matched to you, and combined with other approaches as they fit.
How is somatic therapy different from talk therapy?
Talk therapy operates primarily in language and insight; somatic therapy adds the body as a working material. Many clients arrive able to explain their patterns in detail and still feel them physically — the difference somatic work makes is that stored contraction can actually move rather than only being understood.
Is somatic therapy evidence-based?
Body-based approaches are described as evidence-informed by clinical bodies including the American Psychological Association and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, particularly as adjuncts within a strong therapeutic relationship. At APG, somatic work is delivered alongside evidence-based methods like IFS and EFT, matched to you at consultation.
Can somatic therapy be done by telehealth?
Yes. APG delivers the same depth by secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth across California and internationally as it does in person. Some experiential work benefits from being in the room, and your clinician will be candid about when that matters for your goals.
Do I need a diagnosis to start?
No. You do not need a diagnosis or a specific label to begin. Many clients arrive simply because a pattern is not shifting, because a previous course of therapy stayed on the surface, or because they want to understand themselves more deeply.
Is somatic therapy right for people who have tried therapy before?
Often, yes. Somatic depth work is well-suited to people who understand their patterns intellectually and still find themselves stuck living them. The insight-vs-change gap many clients describe is precisely what body-based approaches are designed to close.
Do you take insurance?
Angeles Psychology Group is a private-pay, out-of-network practice. Superbills are provided so clients can seek out-of-network reimbursement from their carrier where eligible. Fees are explained transparently before you commit, and your free consultation is the right place to ask specific questions.
About this page
This page reflects the practice of Angeles Psychology Group, a depth-oriented, affirming psychology practice in Los Angeles founded by Dr. Neil Schierholz, PsyD (PSY25154). Angeles Psychology Group is a psychology practice and does not prescribe medication. Where medication is relevant, care is coordinated with a client's own psychiatrist or prescriber, who manages any medication. Clinical statements are framed as research suggests and cited to primary sources.
Reviewed by Dr. Neil Schierholz, PsyD. Last updated August 2026.