Somatic Trauma Therapy for Anxiety and Panic: Finding Relief Beyond Talk

If you live with high anxiety, you probably know what it feels like when your body takes over. Your heart races. Your breath shortens. Your mind floods with “what ifs.” Sometimes it builds to what feels like a climax of panic—a moment where your nervous system feels like it might burst.

For many, these experiences look like panic attacks. For others, they feel like a constant cycle of rising tension that never quite resolves. And if you’ve already done years of therapy—learning to reframe thoughts, challenge beliefs, or “calm yourself down”—you may be wondering: Why does my body still react this way?

The truth is, anxiety isn’t just a thought problem. It’s a nervous system experience. And to heal it, we often need approaches that work with the body, not just the mind.

Why Talk Therapy Isn't Always Enough

Traditional therapy gives you tools to understand your anxiety—like CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) or ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). These methods can be powerful for changing unhelpful thought patterns and building coping strategies.

But if your anxiety spikes feel like they’re happening in your body—like an unstoppable wave that crests into panic—logic alone can’t touch it. That’s because these reactions are stored in the subcortical brain and nervous system, not in the rational, thinking part of the mind. Somatic trauma therapy for anxiety and panic can bring relief beyond words.

In other words: your body remembers, even when your brain has worked hard to make sense of it.

Anxiety as a Somatic Experience

Anxiety often lives in the body as:

• A tight chest or racing heart

• A feeling of being “frozen” or disconnected

• A constant hum of dread or restlessness

• Sudden bursts of overwhelm that feel like panic

  
  

These aren’t just symptoms—they’re your nervous system sending signals that something needs attention. When these patterns are rooted in trauma, old emotional wounds, or long-term stress, they don’t resolve by thinking your way out of them. They need somatic (body-based) healing, somatic trauma therapy.

Why Somatic Trauma Therapy for Anxiety and Panic Goes Deeper Than Talk

Somatic therapy focuses on the body’s role in storing and releasing trauma. Instead of only analyzing thoughts, it helps you tune into sensations, emotions, and nervous system responses. One of the most powerful somatic approaches is Brainspotting, a therapy that works by using eye position to access the deep areas of the brain where unresolved trauma and anxiety are held.

During a Brainspotting session, you don’t need to rehash every detail of your past or explain everything with words. Instead, your therapist helps you find a “brainspot” in your visual field that connects with the anxiety or panic. By staying present with that spot—while supported by your therapist—your body begins to process and release the tension at its root.

It’s less about “controlling” anxiety and more about unwinding it from the inside out.

From Panic to Presence

For someone who has done a lot of therapy, the idea of going deeper into the body can feel both unfamiliar and hopeful. If you’ve tried mindfulness, breathing, and grounding but still feel hijacked by your anxiety peaks, somatic trauma therapy may offer the missing piece.

Healing doesn’t mean you’ll never feel anxious again. But it does mean your nervous system can learn to ride the wave without hitting that unbearable “climax” of panic. It means your body can feel safe again. And when your body feels safe, your mind naturally follows.

Taking the Next Step

If you’re exhausted from battling anxiety and panic—even after years of therapy—you’re not broken. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed or that nothing works for you. It means your healing needs to include the body as well as the mind.

At Woven Wholeness, we specialize in somatic trauma therapy, including Brainspotting, to help individuals like you move beyond the cycle of anxiety and panic. Together, we can work to calm your nervous system, heal the roots of your anxiety, and create lasting change from the inside out.

You’ve done the hard work. You’ve built insight. Now it’s time to let your body release what your mind alone can’t carry.