Somatic trauma work in Weybridge is for people whose bodies are still living as if danger is close, even when the crisis is technically over. You may be productive, kind, organised and “fine enough” on the surface, yet inside you feel jumpy, numb, on edge or permanently braced for something to go wrong. Somatic Trauma Weybridge focuses on the body’s memory of what you have lived through. In my Weybridge practice I combine somatic therapy with EMDR so that healing is steady, humane and fits into real life rather than overwhelming you.
We begin by listening closely to your nervous system. Instead of going straight into all the details of what happened, we pay attention to what shows up in your body as you sit in the room: tightness in your chest when you talk about a particular place, a knot in your stomach when you mention a relationship, your breath stopping for a moment as you describe feeling “fine”. These reactions are not overreactions; they are your body’s way of telling us where it has been working too hard for too long.
From here, we build very simple grounding practices so there is somewhere for your system to land. That might look like feeling the weight of your feet on the floor, noticing the chair supporting your back, or letting your eyes gently track around the room instead of locking into one spot. We experiment with small adjustments to your breathing, posture and gaze, and we pick a few that actually help you feel a little less braced. Over time these become brief, repeatable moments you can use in daily life – before you open an email, after a difficult conversation, or when you lie down to sleep.
As these anchors become more familiar, regulation becomes the foundation of Somatic Trauma Weybridge. Trauma often compresses the nervous system into a narrow band: either hyper-alert (anxious, angry, jumpy) or shut down (numb, detached, exhausted). Together we widen that band. We practice moving gently between mild activation and a sense of safety, rather than leaping straight into the most painful memories. Your body gradually learns that it can visit difficult material and still find its way back to steadier ground.
Somatic awareness also helps us track your early warning signs. Before a flashback, panic, freeze or shutdown, there are often quieter cues: your jaw locks, your breath becomes shallow, your vision narrows, you feel suddenly far away or “not quite here”. In our work we learn these signals in detail. Instead of seeing them as evidence that you are broken, we treat them as messages. Together we design early interventions – a pause, a boundary, movement, a grounding phrase, a deliberate decision to leave or stay – so your body doesn’t need to escalate into full crisis to get your attention.
When your system has enough support, we can bring EMDR into the somatic frame. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) uses bilateral stimulation – gentle eye movements, alternating taps or sounds – to help the brain and body reprocess traumatic memories and the beliefs attached to them. In my Weybridge practice EMDR is always titrated and body-aware. We work in short sets, pause often to check how you feel, and return to your anchors whenever intensity rises. You are welcome to slow down, change topic or stop altogether. Consent is ongoing, not a one-off.
Somatic Trauma Weybridge is not only about what happens in the therapy room. We continually look at where trauma shows up in your ordinary week: walking through certain doorways, answering messages from specific people, sitting in waiting rooms, going to bed, waking up, getting into the car, hearing particular sounds. For each of these situations we create tiny, realistic support tools – a way of grounding before you enter a situation, a reset after you leave, a script for saying “no” or “not today”, a simple decompression ritual at the end of the day. These changes may look small, but they are often the building blocks of feeling free again.
Emotional processing is paced carefully. We move in layers, working with what is ready rather than forcing what is not. Some sessions may focus on a specific snapshot in time that still feels vivid; others might explore more general patterns such as chronic self-blame, feeling “too much” or “not enough”, or expecting rejection everywhere. Somatic work gives these emotions a physical context – where they live in your body, how they move, what eases them – and EMDR helps shift the stuckness around them. You do not need a perfect, linear story; we follow the pathways your body and mind show us.
As regulation strengthens, many people start to describe subtle but important changes. Nightmares may become less frequent or less intense. Crowded spaces feel slightly more bearable. You might notice that you can stay in your body for a few more moments during conflict without disappearing inside. There is more room to make choices: to leave a situation that is genuinely unsafe, to stay present when something matters, to rest without as much guilt or fear. The past does not vanish, but it stops dictating every response.
The format of Somatic Trauma therapy in Weybridge is flexible. You can see me in person, work online, or combine the two depending on travel, health, work and caring responsibilities. Some people find weekly sessions helpful; others need a different rhythm that respects their energy and circumstances. We review structure together and adjust as we go, so that therapy itself does not become another source of pressure.
Practicality runs through everything we do. Skills and insights must be able to survive busy days, family demands, financial stress, health appointments and low-energy evenings, or they are not truly useful. You don’t need to arrive “ready to dig into everything” or with a long history of therapy. We can start with whatever is most present: a symptom, a pattern, a single memory, or simply the feeling that your body never really relaxes. Somatic Trauma Weybridge is about rebuilding a sense of safety and agency from the inside out, at a pace that your system can genuinely handle.
If you are wondering whether this kind of somatic trauma work in Weybridge could support you – whether your trauma comes from a single event, a long difficult period, childhood experiences or situations you struggle even to name – you are welcome to ask questions first. To enquire or arrange an initial session, please use the contact page: https://www.cherie-james.com/contact
You can outline what brings you, what you most hope might change, and what sort of pace feels manageable. From there, we can explore together whether this body-based, EMDR-informed approach is the right next step for you.
FAQ
Q1. How does somatic EMDR support somatic trauma effectively?
By stabilising first with grounding and regulation, then processing stuck moments in short bilateral sets with clear consent.
Q2. Will I learn skills that work under pressure?
Yes—portable anchors, doorway pauses, boundary lines and evening wind‑downs you can actually keep.
Q3. Can I mix online and in‑person sessions?
Yes—Weybridge appointments and secure online options can be blended to fit your week.