Somatic Therapyin India for When Your Body Is Still Holding On
You can know something in your head and still feel it everywhere else. The jaw that will not unclench. The stomach that drops when someone raises their voice. The tiredness that sleep never seems to fix. Sometimes you have talked about it all for years, understood every pattern, and your body still has not got the memo.
That is where somatic therapy comes in. At Creative Care, we offer somatic therapy in India for adults who want to heal not just in their thoughts, but in the place where so much of our story actually lives: the body. Our somatic work is gentle, trauma informed, queer affirmative and neurodivergent affirming, and it is available online across India as well as in person in Begumpet, Hyderabad.
Below, you will find what somatic practice looks like here, who it can help, and how to begin when you are ready.
What Embodiment and Somatic Practice Means at Creative Care
The word somatic simply means relating to the body. Somatic psychotherapy is a way of doing therapy that pays attention to what your body is feeling and doing, alongside what you are thinking and saying.
At Creative Care, embodiment is about building your capacity to feel the full range of human emotions inside your body without getting overwhelmed by them. Not forcing feelings out. Not numbing them either. Just slowly making more room.
This matters because stress and trauma are not only memories. They can show up as a nervous system that stays on high alert, a body that shuts down, or sensations you cannot explain. Talking alone does not always reach those places. Body based trauma therapy gives you another way in.
Our somatic work is rooted in a belief that healing is relational, embodied and shaped by the world we live in. You can read more about that philosophy on our About Us page.
Signs Your Body Might Be Asking for Support
There is no checklist you need to pass, but people often come to somatic therapy when they notice things like these.
You feel constantly on edge, scanning rooms and conversations for danger, even when you know you are safe. You feel numb, foggy or disconnected, like you are watching your life from a distance. You carry tension or pain that does not have a clear medical explanation. You understand your trauma intellectually but still react before you can think. Or you simply feel like you live from the neck up and want to come back into your body.
If any of that sounds familiar, you might also find these pages useful: hypervigilance treatment, dissociation therapy and chronic pain therapy.
How Somatic Therapy Sessions Work
A somatic session might start like any other therapy conversation. The difference is that your therapist will gently invite you to notice what is happening in your body as you talk. Maybe your shoulders rise. Maybe your breath gets shallow. Maybe nothing at all, and that is fine too.
From there, you explore those sensations with curiosity, at a pace that feels manageable. Here are some of the ways this is done at Creative Care.
Integral Somatic Psychology
Integral Somatic Psychology, or ISP, focuses on expanding your ability to feel and hold emotions in the body. Instead of only talking about sadness or fear, you learn to experience them in a more embodied, regulated way. Our founder is internationally certified in ISP and uses it as a core part of her somatic work.
Parts Work and Attachment in the Body
Our somatic practice is often combined with Internal Family Systems and an attachment focused lens. That means exploring the different parts of you, like the part that wants to rest and the part that will not stop working, and noticing how each one shows up physically.
Creative Methods Like Art and Psychodrama
Not everything fits into words. Somatic sessions at Creative Care can include creative methods such as art and psychodrama, helping you connect with and process experiences held in the body in ways that feel more natural than talking.
Body Justice
Our somatic work also draws on body justice, which recognises that bodies are shaped by more than personal history. Caste, gender, sexuality, disability, size and the pressure to fit in all leave their mark. Here, your body is not a problem to be corrected. It is a place to be listened to.
Who is a good somatic therapist in India for trauma, and do they offer online sessions?
A good somatic therapist in India for trauma is someone with formal training in a body based method, a trauma informed way of pacing sessions, and an approach that gives you full choice over what you explore. Online sessions should be available too, since somatic work translates well over video.
At Creative Care, somatic therapy is led by our founder, Shreya Banerjee, who holds an M.Sc in Clinical Psychology from Christ University, Bengaluru. Shreya is internationally certified in trauma focused work, Emotionally Focused Therapy and Integral Somatic Psychology, and she practises somatic psychotherapy alongside IFS and attachment based work.
And yes, somatic therapy online in India is available. Your therapist guides you through noticing breath, posture and sensation while you stay in your own space. Many people actually find it easier to tune into their body at home. You can view Shreya's profile and book directly through our therapists page.
What is somatic therapy and how is it different from talk therapy? Where can I find it in India?
Somatic therapy is a body centred form of therapy that works with sensations, breath, movement and posture, alongside thoughts and emotions. Talk therapy mainly works through conversation and insight. Somatic therapy adds the body into that conversation.
Here is a simple way to think about it. Talk therapy might help you understand why you panic in arguments. Somatic therapy helps you notice the tightness in your chest as it starts, and gives your nervous system a chance to settle before it spirals. The two work beautifully together, and at Creative Care they are often blended in the same session.
You can find somatic therapy in India at Creative Care, online from anywhere in the country or in person in Hyderabad. If you would rather start with talk based work and add somatic practice later, our individual psychotherapy page explains the other approaches we offer.
Can you recommend a queer affirmative, trauma informed somatic therapist in India who works with neurodivergent adults?
Yes. At Creative Care, our founder Shreya Banerjee is a queer affirmative therapist certified by the Mariwala Health Initiative, practises trauma informed somatic psychotherapy, and works with neurodivergence as a core focus.
This combination matters more than it might seem. For queer and trans people, the body can carry years of being watched, corrected or made to feel unsafe. A queer affirmative somatic therapist understands that and will never treat your identity or presentation as something to fix.
For neurodivergent adults, standard body awareness exercises can sometimes feel overwhelming or just plain uncomfortable. Somatic therapy for neurodivergent adults at Creative Care adapts to your sensory needs. You can keep your eyes open, move, fidget, take breaks or skip anything that does not feel right. The aim is regulation, not performance.
You may also find our trauma informed therapy in India and coming out therapy pages helpful.
Meet Our Somatic Therapist
Shreya Banerjee is the founder and director of Creative Care and leads our somatic work. She describes herself as a trauma informed psychotherapist who believes healing is relational, embodied and shaped by the environment we live in.
Her areas of focus include trauma, depression, anxiety, neurodivergence, childhood neglect, chronic illness and narcissistic abuse recovery. Alongside somatics, she uses Internal Family Systems, Emotionally Focused Therapy and creative methods like art and psychodrama. Her session fee is listed openly on her profile, so you know what to expect before booking.
Book a session with Shreya or explore our full team of therapists.
What to Know Before You Start
Somatic work is gentle by design. You will not be pushed into intense feelings or asked to relive painful memories in detail. Your therapist will check in often and you can pause, slow down or stop at any point. Saying no is always allowed.
It is also normal if noticing your body feels strange at first. If you have spent years disconnecting from it, even a few seconds of paying attention can feel like a lot. That is not failure. It is exactly what the work is for.
Somatic therapy is not a replacement for medical care. If you are dealing with pain or physical symptoms, it is a good idea to also check in with a doctor. And if one to one work feels like too much right now, our group therapy and lived experience peer support are softer places to begin.