When You Feel Numb: How Somatic Therapy Helps Release Stuck Emotions

Sometimes emotional pain doesn’t show up as tears or outbursts. It shows up as nothing at all — a sense of numbness, disconnection, or being “shut down.” You might go through the motions of life but feel flat inside. Or you may sense there’s something you need to feel or express but can’t quite reach it.

This isn’t a personal weakness. It’s often a sign your nervous system has been overwhelmed and gone into a protective “freeze” response. The body does this to keep you safe when emotions or events feel too intense to process.

The good news is that you’re not broken — and healing is possible.

Why Emotions Get Stuck

When we experience overwhelming stress, trauma, or loss, our nervous system may shift into fight, flight, or freeze. In the freeze state, energy and emotion can get “locked” in the body. Instead of flowing and completing their natural cycle, feelings become muted, and we may feel disconnected from ourselves or others.

This can show up as:

• Feeling emotionally flat or numb
• Trouble identifying or expressing emotions
• Chronic tension, pain, or fatigue
• Feeling like you’re “watching life from the outside”

Talk therapy can help us understand these experiences — but sometimes words aren’t enough to reach the body’s memory of what happened.

How Somatic Therapy Helps

Somatic therapy is an approach that gently includes the body in the healing process. By bringing awareness to sensations, breath, movement, and other physical cues, clients can gradually release the stuck energy and reconnect with their emotional life.

Sessions might include:

• Guided body awareness to notice tension, heaviness, or areas of numbness
• Gentle movement, stretching, or grounding exercises to help the nervous system regulate
• Breath work to support safety and presence
• Techniques like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) or OEI (Observed Experiential Integration) that integrate body-based processing with memory and emotion

This is done at a pace that feels safe for you. The goal isn’t to “force” emotions but to create a supportive environment where your nervous system can begin to thaw and express what has been held inside.

From Numbness to Aliveness

Clients often describe a sense of relief as they reconnect with parts of themselves they thought were gone. They begin to feel more present, more grounded, and more able to experience a full range of feelings — including joy and connection.

Somatic therapy doesn’t just help release pain; it helps restore vitality. As your body learns it is safe now, you may notice:

• Increased capacity to feel and express emotions
• Less tension and more ease in your body
• Feeling more connected to yourself and others
• Greater resilience in the face of stress

A Gentle Path Toward Healing

If you’ve been feeling numb or disconnected, know that this is a natural response to overwhelming experiences — and that healing is possible. Somatic therapy offers a gentle, compassionate way to help your nervous system release what’s been held and reconnect you with your own aliveness.

You deserve to feel present, safe, and whole in your own body. Together, we can take steps toward that healing.