Somatic Ecotherapy
In Progress June 2026
Please excuse typos! I will also add references or other places to learn more from other ecotherapist perspectives soon.
Somatic Ecotherapy simply put is ecotherapy or nature-based therapy that combines somatic therapy or body-based therapy to guide deeper connection with ourselves in relation to the natural world.
Somatic ecotherapy can be provided online or in-person either indoors or outside in nature. In my practice, I am informed by my decade long experience working with clients blended with lived experience with others with nature outside of my practice, and the training and ongoing community of graduates from the Earthbody Institute.
Practicing Somatic Ecotherapy
Defining health, nature, and our physical dependence on both.
Health is psychobiosocial (involves our psychology, biology, and social relationships). Nature is made up of living entities we are often inseparable from and that we can improve our relationship with.
Healthcare professionals often consider sleep, appetite, social connectedness, absence of severe depression, and capacity to manage stress and anxiety to function in chosen responsibilities within the social structure one depends on for stability such as school and/or work as markers of health including mental health.
When asked, many think of plants and animals as nature. Perhaps a plant or pet in their home. I have adopted more of an ecological view of nature. Meaning, nature is any entity that lives within a natural ecosystem that does not necessarily rely on humans including our artificial systems to move or live. Yes, a house plant and pet has natural biological processes and is therefore part of nature, but may need man-made help or engineering with their nourishment to live their natural process fully. More and more nature is disappearing. I would like to say that a river or the weather does not need us, but with increasing evidence, human use of water leads to rivers needing to managed or else they may cease to offer unpolluted water or cease to exist at all in drying out, and our weather and climate need to be managed through our carbon emmissions.
Our health or ability to live relies on hydration at the most basic level, to function in any domain that healthcare professionals consider. Hydration relies on milder weather or more reliable natural cycles of heating and cooling, and rain. We may notice physicall in our bodies and even cognitively with how our thoughts are affected when we are dehydrated or too hot or too cold. Sometimes we rely on bottled water or air conditioning, but these man-made systems take from somewhere else in their building and maintenance which has visible negative impact the experience of others (plastic pollution, destruction of ecology to harvest water and minerals, and the urban heat island effect to name a few). Since we share one planet, one biosphere, one large natural ecosystem, one large biological process to live and thrive, we may feel the effects of these negative impact if we haven't already.
So somatic ecotherapy is about reciprocity with nature for individual and concurrently collective well-being.
Cognitive grounding in the present experience...
Reflective Questions
When you consider mental well-being in this moment, what comes up for you?
How may this be supported by your experience in your body?
How may your experience in your body be supported by nature?
How may nature continue to support you?
Somatic or body-based grounding in the present...
If you found this difficult to answer, find a natural object or entity that you can touch with your hands.
Could be a plant, a pet, a rock, sunlight, the wind.
If the nature you pick is smaller or something you can overwhelm with your physical presence, consider asking them for consent first.
May I touch or hold you?
Even if it is difficult or even seems impossible to get a response, this process already leads to a sense of physical connection with yourself and with nature around you. Notice what it's like to feel into your impact of nature you can touch.
You may decide to touch with your eyes or even turn away and consider a different entity in nature to touch or hold where it feels right or more reciprocal. Maybe this is an animal or plant you have had a longer relationship with, tending for them as they've tended for you in perhaps a psychological, biological, and social sense.
Maybe this can be an element such as the sun and wind that is more likely to envelop you than you them. But in honoring your authentic vulnerability in this dynamic, you may decide the amount of time you are outside, touched by sunlight or the wind or even the rain.
What is it like to be with nature in a way that feels balanced, respecting who you are and who or what they are authentically?
We may look out for a deep sense of connection with yourself and with them or the larger environment. We may look for a sense of belonging instead of isolation. We may consider how we are held and not need to hold it all ourselves.
I wonder how this may then relate to those markers of health. How this may regulate our sleep, appetite, mood, then ability to function. We may even question if the way we ask ourselves to function is in right relationship with ourselves and others.
To be reviewed further and continued. For now, you may visit my Instagram or reach out to explore this together to connect with your specific experiences for a sense of sustainable well-being.