What Is ‘Somatic Healing’ and ‘De-Armouring’

Many people come to somatic healing after years of talk therapy.

They understand their patterns. They can name their trauma. They know where things come from.
And yet, their body still feels tense, disconnected, reactive, or shut down.

This often leads to an important question:

What are the alternatives to talk therapy when insight alone does not create change?

Somatic healing and de-armouring work directly with the body and nervous system, rather than relying only on cognitive understanding. Instead of talking about experience, this approach supports the body to complete what was once interrupted, allowing change to happen at a physiological and emotional level.

This is not a replacement for talk therapy.
It is a complementary approach for when deeper, embodied change is needed.

What Is ‘Somatic Healing’ and ‘De-Armouring’?

“When someone is fully integrated and resolved of all trauma they can be completely heart led, embodied and true to their present moment, to their experience and to deep unconditional love.”
David Cates

At its simplest, somatic healing is about restoring our ability to live from the body, not just think about life from the mind.

When unresolved trauma no longer dominates our system, something very natural happens. We become more present. More embodied. More available to the moment we are in.

Not because we are trying to be loving.
But because nothing inside us is blocking love anymore.

This understanding sits at the foundation of trauma informed tantric bodywork and the approach taught within Full Body Alchemy.

This work is informed by years of hands-on practice as a physiotherapist, somatic bodyworker, and tantric bodyworker, alongside ongoing trauma training and long-term personal embodiment practice. It is shaped as much by what consistently works in real bodies as by theory or philosophy.

The Body as Truth

Nature already knows what to do.

Life moves in rhythms. Energy wants to flow. This is the Tao. We are part of this intelligence, not separate from it.

The body speaks the language of nature.
Through sensation.
Through breath.
Through emotion.
Through impulse, sound, and movement.

This is the body’s native language.

The issue is not that the body is broken.
The issue is that most of us were taught to stop listening.

Somatic healing restores that relationship, allowing the body to once again be a source of truth rather than something to override or control.

How Trauma Interrupts Flow

Trauma is not only about what happened.
It is about what could not finish happening.

When an experience overwhelms our capacity, the body adapts. It tightens, braces, numbs, or disconnects. These adaptations are intelligent survival responses.

Along the way, we internalise messages such as:
Do not cry
Do not express anger
Do not be too much
Do not feel

Over time, this disrupts our natural flow of sensation, emotion, and energy. We begin to edit ourselves. This creates armour. This creates numbness and disconnection to our body, felt-sense and intuition.

Armour once protected us.
Later, it limits us.

De-armouring is not about breaking through this protection. It is about meeting it with enough safety that it no longer needs to be there.

De-Armouring Is Reconnection, Not Catharsis

The body is an extension of the subconscious.

De-armouring is not about forcing release or chasing emotional catharsis. It is about restoring communication with the body in a way that feels safe, gradual, and choice led.

In practice, this might look like slow, sustained pressure into the body at various points to guide attention into sensation and breath. As awareness drops out of the thinking mind and into direct experience, the body may naturally respond.

This can include subtle movements, emotional release, energetic waves, spontaneous sighs, trembling, or deep relaxation. These responses are not created or pushed. They arise as long-held tension and emotional charge are finally able to process and integrate.

Sessions are held within clear agreements and boundaries. Consent is ongoing and responsive, not assumed. Time is taken to orient, ground, and integrate, and nothing is rushed for the sake of outcome. This structure is what allows the body to soften without being overwhelmed.

As communication with the body returns:
Life becomes more vivid
Sensation becomes richer
Emotion begins to move instead of loop
Awareness drops out of the head and into lived experience

This process can have a profound impact on the body and nervous system as tension and unprocessed emotion release and reorganise.

This is embodiment.

Why Embodiment Can Feel Challenging

Many people struggle to inhabit their body fully because doing so would mean feeling what was once too much.

Unfelt grief
Unexpressed anger
Unfinished fear
Suppressed desire

These patterns often show up as looping thoughts, chronic tension, emotional numbness, or disconnection from pleasure and vitality.

Somatic healing respects this. We do not overwhelm the system. We build capacity.

Healing happens at the pace the body can integrate, not the pace the mind demands.

Healing as a Creative Act

As unconscious material becomes conscious, we gain choice.

Rather than repeating old survival strategies, the system begins to reorganise itself around:
Presence
Integrity
Felt truth
Aligned desire

Over time, people often notice that reactions soften, emotional states move more freely, and decisions feel clearer and more grounded.

Healing is not passive. It asks us to meet challenge, learn lessons, and make braver choices than we have before.

This is how we evolve.

What This Work Is and Is Not

This work is slow, precise, and deeply respectful.

It is not about chasing peak experiences.
It is not about dramatic emotional expression for its own sake.
It is not about bypassing pain or forcing breakthroughs.

It is about building enough safety and attunement that the body no longer needs to defend against itself.

1:1 Somatic and Tantric Bodywork

If you are drawn to this work for personal healing, integration, or reconnection with your body, 1:1 sessions are held within this exact framework.

Sessions are slow, attuned, and choice led.
Touch, when included, is used with clarity, consent, and responsiveness.
Your autonomy remains central throughout.

Many people report significant shifts within these sessions. These can include deep emotional release, a felt sense of safety returning to the body, changes in long-held tension patterns, and a renewed connection to sensation, pleasure, or vitality.

The depth of change often reflects the foundation a person arrives with, which is why this work is approached with care rather than guarantee. The impact of this approach is reflected in the many detailed and powerful testimonials shared by those who have experienced it.

[ Explore 1:1 Sessions ]

Practitioner Training with Full Body Alchemy

If you feel called not only to receive this work but to learn how to offer it responsibly, the Full Body Alchemy training exists to develop safe, embodied, trauma-aware practitioners.

This is professional-level tantric bodywork training in the UK.
It is not a personal development workshop alone, and it is not technique without context.

The training places strong emphasis on:
• Nervous system literacy and pacing
• Consent as a moment-to-moment, embodied process
• Tracking subtle bodily responses rather than imposing outcomes
• Avoiding common pitfalls such as rescuing, overriding, or re-enacting dynamics
• Developing presence, discernment, and ethical responsibility

Students are trained not just in what to do, but in how to listen, when to slow down, and when not to intervene.

Final note

This work is not about fixing what is broken.
It is about restoring relationship with what is already alive, intelligent, and capable within the body.

From that foundation, meaningful and lasting change becomes possible.