When the Body Speaks Louder: Somatic Activation After EMDR Sessions
Whether you’re navigating anxiety, depression, or overcoming past traumas, we’re here to provide a safe space for growth and healing. Our evidence based approaches blend trauma informed therapy, mindfulness, and holistic practices to nurture your well-being. We can help you take the next step to a healthier and happier you.
Janay Langford is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and is the owner of Desert Sage Counseling in St. George, Utah. She specializes in trauma as well as using an Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapeutic approach. She also assists clients in navigating life transitions, grief and loss, stress management, relationship issues, anger management, PTSD, C-PTSD, ADHD, Postpartum and Perinatal Trauma.
When the Body Speaks Louder: Somatic Activation After EMDR Sessions
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is often described as a powerful, sometimes life-changing therapy for trauma. Most people expect emotional shifts after sessions—memories surfacing, feelings moving through—but fewer are prepared for what can happen in the body.
And yet, for many, the body is where the work really shows up.
Trauma Lives in the Nervous System, Not Just the Mind
Trauma isn’t stored like a story on a shelf. It’s encoded in the nervous system—muscles, breath, posture, gut, and reflexes. EMDR doesn’t just help the brain “understand” what happened; it helps the nervous system finally process experiences that were overwhelming at the time they occurred.
When EMDR activates traumatic memory networks, it can also activate the somatic memories attached to them. These aren’t memories you can always describe in words, but sensations the body remembers well.
Common Somatic Responses After EMDR
Following EMDR sessions, some people notice physical or bodily experiences such as:
Fatigue or heaviness
Muscle soreness, tension, or shaking
Headaches or pressure
Digestive changes
Chest tightness or changes in breathing
Temperature shifts (feeling very hot or cold)
Restlessness or the urge to move
Old pain patterns temporarily resurfacing
These sensations can be unsettling, especially if they appear without a clear explanation. But in many cases, they’re not signs that something is “wrong”—they’re signs that the nervous system is actively reorganizing.
Why Symptoms Can Feel Worse Before They Feel Better
EMDR opens pathways that may have been closed for years. When the nervous system finally feels enough safety to process unresolved material, sensations that were once suppressed can come back online.
This can feel like a setback, but it’s often part of integration—the body releasing what it couldn’t release before.
Think of it like thawing something that’s been frozen. There’s movement, discomfort, even messiness before things settle.
The Role of Somatic Awareness
One of the most helpful things during EMDR work is learning to listen to the body without panic. Somatic activation doesn’t need to be fixed immediately. Often, it needs to be noticed, named, and supported.
Helpful practices may include:
Gentle movement or stretching
Grounding exercises (feet on the floor, orienting to the room)
Slow, extended exhalations
Warmth (blankets, tea, showers)
Reducing stimulation after sessions
Rest without self-judgment
Importantly, forcing yourself to “push through” or analyze sensations too quickly can intensify them. The body processes at its own pace.
When to Talk to Your Therapist
Somatic responses should always be shared with your EMDR therapist. They can:
Adjust pacing
Increase resourcing and stabilization
Integrate more somatic-based interventions
Help differentiate trauma activation from medical concerns
EMDR is most effective when it’s collaborative and attuned—not rushed.
A Reframe: Your Body Is Participating in Healing
It’s easy to interpret post-session somatic symptoms as regression or failure. But often, they’re evidence of something deeply important: your system no longer has to hold everything in silence.
The body isn’t betraying you.
It’s communicating.
Healing doesn’t just happen in insight or understanding—it happens in breath, sensation, release, and rest. When somatic issues activate after EMDR, it’s not because you’re doing therapy wrong. It’s because your body is finally being invited into the process.
And that invitation, while uncomfortable at times, is often where the most lasting healing begins.
