As a somatic therapist, I bring 30 years' experience, compassion, intuition, and deep respect to support you in making the changes you would like to make.
Why try somatic therapy?
Some examples of when somatic therapy is useful:
To overcome obstacles or blocks in work, relationships or in life
If you feel stuck emotionally, mentally and/or physically, but don't know what changes to make or how to make them
When you want to integrate mind, body and emotions
When you have tried talk therapies but still feel yourself falling into the same old patterns
When you want to try a creative and intuitive therapy
When you have physical symptoms, but medically everything is normal
When you want to connect more with what is happening in your body
When you are feeling overwhelmed
If you suffer from anxiety
If you are grieving
When you want to regain connection to your body after trauma or illness.
What is somatic therapy?
"Somatic" means relating to or affecting the whole body. In sessions, I utilise a range of body-related practices as well as talk therapy and creative work. Together, we will decide which practices could be beneficial for you. These may include:
Meditation
Mindfulness
Movement
Breathwork
Cranial sacral therapy
Touch
Talk therapy
Creative engagement - colour, texture, patterns, writing.
How does somatic therapy work?
Surviving trauma and painful or negative experiences leaves us with strategies that, although once helpful, become habitual patterns that hinder or restrict us. For example, holding our breath, tensing our shoulders or back - these can be locked-in patterns. The same thing can happen with emotional or thought patterns.
The practice of somatic therapy helps us reconnect to the body, release stress patterns that we are holding and integrate aspects of ourselves that might be keeping us back or "stuck".
The goal of somatic therapy
Working to integrate your body, emotions and mind will give you many more resources for your life, work and relationships and bring change at a deep level. If we just use our minds to try to solve our problems, we leave behind so many of our resources and skills and so much of our wisdom. It is a bit like the difference between being able to play just one note and being able to make the music much richer by playing three or four notes in harmony.
What is the role of the somatic therapist?
As a somatic therapist, I bring compassion, deep presence, and 30 years of experience in working with people on the physical, emotional and spiritual levels. My role is to give you a greater awareness of what you are holding in your body, both emotionally and physically, and to discover ways to release and integrate these holding patterns. To do this, we will explore a number of different embodiment practices - skills that you can take with you into your daily life.
Being creative, exploratory and curious in a therapy session is essential to me. I have deep respect for the internal wisdom of each client, and it brings me joy to provide the space and presence to allow that wisdom to emerge more fully. My approach is very intuitive, and the goal of all the explorations and practices is to always find the path that is most beneficial for you.
How do I work with you?
I work both online and in person if you are within travelling distance of Dundee, Scotland.
About Donna Morgan...
Canadian by birth and Scottish by heritage and residence, I have been working in the field of somatic therapy for 30 years. My training includes cranial sacral therapy, somato-emotional release therapy, trauma therapy, massage, bereavement care, and coaching.
Learning is a lifelong passion for me. I am in continual professional and personal development. Since 2019, I have been attending innovative trauma therapy courses in Germany and the Netherlands several times a year, working with and sharing expertise with colleagues across the globe.
I undertake regular supervision to ensure that I bring my best self to each session.
I was interviewed for the “Life Made Better” series: -
Testimonials...
“When I am completely stuck, unable to process or move forward, Donna is the person I go to. Either in person or online, her intuitive presence invariably brings the possibility of change where I couldn’t see it before. Room to breathe, light to see a path to continue my journey.”
Catherine, Applied Theatre Facilitator
Having worked with Donna for more than 4 years now, I know her to be creative and intuitive, using her many skills and in-depth trainings to be an effective, integrated and holistic therapist. Working, as she does, on many levels – physical, energetic, emotional – I always feel better after a treatment with Donna. As a long-time yoga practitioner and educator, I really trust, appreciate and respect Donna’s approach, since it enables us to “co-create”, opening up new possibilities for us both.
Karen, Yoga Practitioner and Educator
“Donna has been working with me for over two years and the experience has profoundly transformed me and my life, probably more than any other single experience that I can think of. Donna's special gift, as I have experienced it, is that she sees my deepest and most authentic self with more clarity, kindness and creativity than I was ever able to do. Her empathy and understanding have allowed me to offer those same gifts to myself. This has been a joyful and liberating experience and the key to my transformation since I felt empowered to more fully embody who I am and what I am capable of. My experience with Donna has been a gift and a blessing.”
Kieran, Research Consultant
“My experience of Donna is one of compassion, safety, transformation and grace. It’s this container of safety that allows that which has not had space to be seen, to be acknowledged with curiosity and care. Together we thank the wisdom in my strategies used for coping/survival and offer them what they need to feel safe. Consequently, more connected and conscious possibilities in relating to myself and the world surface. This approach removes a certain shame from the equation and is what I feel is significant about processing with Donna. Without added shame and attempts to “fix” or “change” my patterns, unconditional acceptance is experienced where, ironically, true transformation can take place. Donna’s attention to the body and how it holds all our experiences, means the shifts experienced from the session are not simply a mental awareness but an emotionally/physically felt sense of change. Donna helps me to find my own resources that I can turn to when feeling vulnerable or triggered which empowers me both in and outside of the session. I also know I can trust Donna because I see she is dedicated to her own path of healing.
I highly recommend Donna as a practitioner to anyone looking to feel a greater sense of belonging, joy, self-compassion and understanding of oneself and relationships. It is to be noted she is not one for the faint hearted! Ye cannae talk your way away from the truth with Donna - with a fierce compassion she sees to the heart of the story and that is where the magic happens. I am grateful for Donna for all the work we’ve done together and as a result have seen huge shifts in my life, including more fulfilling relationships, a clearer sense of purpose and a deepening spiritual connection.”
Hannah, Student