What to Expect in Your First Somatic Healing Session.

You've done the research. Maybe you’ve read a book like “The Body Keeps the Score.” Maybe you’ve watched a few videos of people moving during a Spinal Energetics session. Perhaps you’ve even mentioned somatic healing to a friend who said "oh, I've heard about that."

Something in you is curious — maybe more than curious.
Something in you feels like this might be the thing you've been looking for.

But when you go to book, and a small voice pipes up: But what actually happens in a session? Is it going to be scary? Will I feel overwhelmed trying something new?

These are all completely reasonable questions. Walking into a healing session for the first time can feel like you’re walking into uncharted territory. Understandably you'd feel a lot better knowing what the journey looks like before you set off, so luckily I have a map!

Let me walk you through it.

Before You Arrive.

There's really only one thing to do in preparation: wear something comfortable you can move freely in, and avoid eating a really big meal in the two hours before your session. That's it. You don't need to meditate beforehand, set intentions, or arrive in any particular emotional state. Wherever you are — tired, anxious, hopeful, nervous, sceptical, or all of the above — is exactly right. We work with the emotions you’re feeling in that moment, whatever they are.

One more thing worth knowing before you arrive: in your session you will meet Delilah. She's a tiny dog with an enormous heart and extremely liberal cuddle policies, and she has a particular gift for appearing exactly when someone is feeling something big. If tiny dogs aren't your thing or you have allergies, then I may not be the right fit for you — but if you love doggos, she's truly such a supportive part of the healing process.

1. We Begin By Getting to Know You.

When you book your first session you will fill in a questionnaire that gives me a bit of info about you — what’s going on with you physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

Your first session opens with a conversation. We sit together and we’ll talk about your journey — what's been moving through your life lately, what you've been struggling with, what has brought you here. It's a real conversation, the kind where you can say the true thing rather than the tidy version of it.

This part of the session matters more than people expect. It's where we build the foundation of trust and clarity that everything else will rest on. It's also where I begin to understand your nervous system — how you speak about your experience, what you move toward, what you move away from, what your body does when you talk about certain things.

There's no pressure to share more than you're comfortable with. And you don't need to have it all figured out before you begin. Many people arrive knowing only that something needs to shift — and that is more than enough.

2. We Turn Inward.

From the conversation, I'll begin to guide you inward to feel into the body. This is a gentle but profound transition — from thinking about your experience to actually being in it. I am not a talk therapist and so I will always guide you back into feeling what you’re experiencing in the body and growing capacity to sit with what’s present.

Using somatic techniques, breathwork, and meditation, I'll invite you to bring your awareness into your body. To notice what's present — sensations, emotions, areas of tension or numbness or warmth. To reconnect with the felt sense of being alive in your own skin, which many of us have quietly lost contact with somewhere along the way.

This part of the session can feel unfamiliar at first, especially if you're someone who spends most of their time in their head. That's completely normal. There's nothing to force. The body is extraordinarily patient, and it will meet you where you are.

3. Deepening the Experience.

When the time is right, the deeper work begins.

You get comfy on the massage table — but this is not a massage. You remain fully clothed, lying down, with music flowing through the space around you.

I'll draw from a range of modalities to guide you through — energy healing, breathwork, spinal energetics, somatic release techniques — depending on what you’re working through and where you’re at in your healing journey. I may work with acupressure points along the body's meridians to support the free flow of energy. I may guide your breath into patterns that begin to gently move what has been stored. I may work with the energy field of the body, hands hovering or resting lightly, reading what is present and responding to it.

What happens next is different for everyone, and different each time.

Some people remain very still — a deep quietness settles in, and the work happens in layers beneath the surface. Others feel sensations begin to move through the body: tingling, warmth, waves of energy, twitching, gentle shaking. Some people feel emotions rise — grief, relief, tenderness, peace, love, anger — and tears come, a cathartic release from an old pattern of holding finally loosening its grip. Some people see colours or inner visions. Some laugh. Some feel a physical heaviness lift.

All of it is welcome. All of it is the body doing what it knows how to do when it finally feels safe enough to do it.

There is no right way for your session to unfold. The most important thing is not to try to make anything happen — and not to try to stop anything either. Your body has its own intelligence, and it will take you exactly as deep as you are ready to go.

4. Integrating the Experience.

As the session moves toward its close, you have time to be still and integrate the experience, allow insights to land before I bring you gently back. I may ground the body using Reiki, holding space for the energy to settle and integrate.

This is one of the most important parts of the session, and one that is often underestimated. What was stirred needs time to land. What was released needs space to complete.

For those who have chosen to add sound healing, this is where it comes in — crystal bowls, Tibetan singing bowls, chimes, and other instruments creating an ethereal, enveloping soundscape that extends your integration time and deepens the settling.

There is no rush to this part. Take the time you need.

5. Reflection & Guidance.

We close the session together, back in conversation. I'll invite you to share whatever feels right from your experience — images, sensations, emotions, insights. Sometimes sessions leave people with striking clarity. Sometimes they leave people simply feeling lighter, without being able to articulate exactly why. Sometimes people still feel a little emotional. All these responses are equally valid.

You'll also draw a card — an invitation for reflection and sacred guidance from your own inner wisdom, with a message to carry with you and reflect back on afterwards.

I'll offer any insights or tools that feel relevant to what came up, and we'll talk about how to support your integration in the days that follow.

What Happens After a Session?

The session doesn't end when you walk out the door. Integration continues for hours and sometimes days afterwards — dreams may be more vivid, emotions may continue to surface gently, insights continue to land, and the body may feel different, looser, or more alive. This is all part of the process.

Drink plenty of water. Move gently. Be kind to yourself. Avoid filling your evening with noise and busyness if you can. Give what arose the space to complete.

Some people feel transformed immediately. Others notice the shifts gradually over the days that follow. And some sessions plant seeds that take weeks to bloom. Trust the process even when you can't yet see the shape of what is unfolding.

This is a Supportive, Judgement-Free Space.

There is no judgement here. No right or wrong way for your body to respond. No performance required.

We are taught from very early on in our childhood to keep ourselves contained — to be quiet, to hold still, to push our real emotions down. Parts of us have been waiting a very long time for permission to simply be, to express themselves. This space offers that permission, fully and without condition.

You can cry. You can shake. You can laugh. You can get angry. You can be completely still. You can express your deepest fears. You can feel nothing at all and wonder if it's working — everything is allowed in this space. That’s part of the work, allowing whatever is true for you to be free.

Whatever comes, I'll be there with you to support you. Being witnessed in your truth is a powerful path to healing, that's what the work is.

If you're feeling ready — or even just curious — I'd love to connect. Book a complimentary Clarity & Connection Call and we can talk through any questions you have before you take the next step.

Book your free video call here →

The Liminal Space Wellness offers body-based holistic healing techniques including Somatic Healing, Breathwork, Spinal Energetics, and Meditation in Melbourne's Bayside area and online.

All sessions are trauma-informed and tailored to your unique healing journey.