Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Body-Mind Integration
Sensorimotor Therapy, developed by Pat Ogden, harnesses body-mind integration to treat trauma effectively. Discover how our virtual sessions provide accessible, expert-led mental health care specialized for recovery.
What is Sensorimotor Psychotherapy?
Sensorimotor Therapy goes beyond conventional talk therapy by using the body as a central resource, addressing trauma directly at its physical root. Discover this integrative approach where movement and body awareness promote lasting emotional healing.
The approach recognizes that traumatic experiences are encoded not only in our thoughts and emotions but in our bodies — in the way we hold tension, restrict movement, and organize our physical responses to the world. By developing awareness of how trauma manifests physically, clients learn to use the body as a resource for healing rather than experiencing it as a source of distress.
How Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Works
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy uses the body as an entry point for processing trauma, guided by key principles that ensure safe, effective treatment. The method was developed by Pat Ogden, founder of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy offers unique therapeutic benefits because it addresses trauma at the level where it is stored — in the body. Many clients who have not found relief through traditional talk therapy alone experience breakthroughs when body-oriented processing is integrated into their treatment, including through online somatic therapy when attending in person is not practical.
Early research on body-oriented approaches to trauma is promising, with studies reporting reductions in PTSD symptoms and improved emotional regulation. Clients often report feeling more embodied, grounded, and present in their daily lives, especially when sessions are paired with trauma grounding techniques they can use between appointments.
- Tracking Body Sensation — Developing mindful awareness of physical sensations, tension patterns, and autonomic responses as they arise in the therapeutic process, creating a direct window into how trauma lives in the body.
- Movement & Gesture — Exploring and completing defensive movements that were thwarted during traumatic events. By allowing the body to finish its natural protective responses, trapped survival energy is released.
- Window of Tolerance — Working within each client's optimal zone of arousal — not too activated, not too shut down — to ensure trauma processing happens safely and effectively without re-traumatization.
- Somatic Resources — Identifying and strengthening physical resources — grounding, centering, alignment, and boundary-setting through the body — that provide a foundation of stability for deeper trauma work.
Conditions Treated with Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is particularly effective for conditions where trauma is held in the body and traditional talk therapy alone has not been sufficient. Not sure whether your symptoms fit PTSD or complex PTSD? Read our guide to C-PTSD vs. PTSD.
Sensorimotor Therapy is seamlessly integrated with dual-diagnosis treatment, addressing both trauma and co-occurring disorders such as depression and anxiety. Using evidence-based modalities like EMDR and Brainspotting alongside Sensorimotor principles, you will receive comprehensive care tailored to complex needs.
PTSD Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) Anxiety Depression Emotional Dysregulation Dissociative DisordersThe Virtual Sensorimotor Experience
Our virtual platform makes Sensorimotor Psychotherapy accessible wherever you are. Through secure video, your therapist can observe posture, breathing patterns, and subtle movements while guiding you through body-based exercises.
Many clients find that being in their own familiar environment creates an enhanced sense of safety — essential for effective trauma processing.
Reconnect clinicians who bring Sensorimotor Psychotherapy into their work include Cathy Herceg, who completed Pat Ogden’s Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Levels I and II, Alma Valenzuela Moyer, Sezin Hason, and Dr. Kristen Kirchner. Your first session begins with establishing safety and understanding your treatment goals.
- Initial Assessment — You begin with a thorough assessment process that helps tailor a unique therapy plan aligned with your needs.
- Mindful Awareness — Learn to notice sensations, movements, and impulses in your body without judgment.
- Somatic Tracking — Your therapist helps you identify patterns of tension, bracing, and collapse connected to trauma.
- Movement Experiments — Explore new physical responses and postures that build strength, boundaries, and self-regulation.
- Integration & Resilience — Build lasting body-based tools for grounding, regulation, and trauma recovery.
Explore Related Care
Virtual PHP
Our most structured virtual program, for those who need intensive daily support.
Learn MoreVirtual IOP
Intensive outpatient care that fits around work, school, and family commitments.
Learn MoreEMDR Therapy
Bilateral stimulation to reprocess traumatic memories, allowing the brain's natural healing mechanisms to resolve stored distress.
Learn MoreBrainspotting
Fixed eye positions to access subcortical brain regions where trauma is stored, enabling deep processing beyond conscious awareness.
Learn MoreCBT
Reshape the link between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors through structured, virtual cognitive behavioral therapy.
Learn MoreDBT
Practical skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.
Learn MoreFrequently Asked Questions
It treats trauma, PTSD and complex PTSD, anxiety, dissociation, and emotional dysregulation by working with how trauma is stored in the body.
Talk therapy mainly engages thoughts; sensorimotor therapy works directly with body sensation, movement, and posture to release the physical imprint of trauma.
Yes. Your therapist can observe posture, breath, and movement on secure video and guide body-based exercises, often with the added safety of being in your own space.
They are complementary. EMDR targets memory processing while sensorimotor therapy targets the body’s stored responses. At Reconnect they are often integrated.
Somatic therapy is the broad family of body-based treatments. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, developed by Pat Ogden, is one specific method in that family: it pairs mindful tracking of body sensation and movement with the emotional and cognitive work of talk therapy. Somatic Experiencing, developed by Peter Levine, is a different method that focuses mainly on releasing stress held in the nervous system.
It varies by history and goals. Your therapist sets a personalized pace and reviews progress regularly.
People with trauma, complex trauma, anxiety, or dissociation — especially those who have not found full relief through talk therapy alone.
Its research base is smaller than that of EMDR or CBT, and most studies so far have been small. That is why at Reconnect it is used as part of a broader trauma treatment plan rather than on its own.
Many commercial plans cover trauma-focused outpatient care. You can verify your coverage in minutes through our insurance page.
Yes. Our dual-diagnosis approach treats trauma alongside depression, anxiety, and dissociation using integrated modalities.
Dr. Karol Darsa,
Psy.D. · Last reviewed June 2026
Dr. Darsa is a licensed clinical psychologist with 28 years of clinical experience in trauma and mental health treatment. She is the founder of Reconnect Center and the creator of the Reconnect Integrative Trauma Treatment Model (RITTM) — the evidence-based framework that anchors every program and therapy at Reconnect Center. A certified Brainspotting therapist with advanced EMDR training and extensive Somatic Experiencing training, Dr. Darsa lectures on trauma treatment at USC, UCLA, and Cal Lutheran, and oversees clinical standards across all of Reconnect's virtual care.
Integrate Body and Mind
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy addresses trauma stored in the body to restore wholeness and resilience.
