Revolutionary somatic approach to emotional overwhelm and the transformative power of parts work
The Revolutionary Truth About Your Emotional Experience
What if everything you’ve been told about managing emotions is incomplete? What if the very foundation of how you relate to your anxiety, sadness, anger, and overwhelm needs to be reimagined?
As a somatic therapy practitioner in Ireland, I’ve witnessed a profound transformation that happens when people discover this life-changing truth: You are not your emotions. You are not your anxiety, your depression, your anger, or your fear. You are the compassionate awareness that can hold all of these experiences with love.
This isn’t just positive thinking or philosophical concept—it’s a fundamental shift in how you relate to your inner world that can free you from emotional overwhelm and open the door to genuine healing through somatic therapy and inner parts work.
Understanding Emotional Overwhelm: When Parts Take Over
In my somatic therapy practice in Ireland, I frequently work with people who describe feeling “hijacked” by their emotions. They’ll say things like:
- “I am an anxious person”
- “I’m so depressed I can’t function”
- “I’m just angry all the time”
- “I am my trauma”
This language reveals something crucial: they’ve merged their identity with their emotional experiences. But what if this merger is the source of much of their suffering?
From a somatic therapy perspective, what’s actually happening is that certain “parts” of their inner system have become activated and are dominating their awareness. These parts—developed often as protective mechanisms—can feel so overwhelming that people lose touch with their core Self.
The Science Behind Inner Parts Healing
Inner parts healing, rooted in approaches like Internal Family Systems (IFS) and integrated with somatic therapy principles, recognizes that human beings naturally have multiple aspects or “parts” of personality. This isn’t pathological—it’s how we’re designed.
Research shows that:
- Emotional integration improves when people learn to relate to emotions as experiences rather than identity
- Nervous system regulation occurs more easily when we’re not fighting against parts of ourselves
- Therapeutic outcomes improve significantly when parts work is combined with body-based approaches
- Self-compassion increases naturally when people understand their parts as having positive intentions
In somatic therapy, we add the crucial element of body awareness, helping people feel how different parts show up in their physical experience and how to create safety in their nervous system for all parts to be present.
How Parts Show Up in Your Body: A Somatic Perspective
One of the unique aspects of combining inner parts healing with somatic therapy is learning to recognize how different parts manifest in your body:
The Anxious Part
- May create tension in chest, shallow breathing, restlessness in limbs
- Often tries to protect by scanning for dangers and preparing for problems
- Needs reassurance and safe nervous system regulation
The Sad Part
- Often felt as heaviness in chest, fatigue, or a sinking feeling
- May be honoring losses or processing unexpressed grief
- Needs gentle acknowledgment and permission to feel
The Angry Part
- Typically shows up as heat, tension in jaw/fists, surging energy
- Usually protecting boundaries or responding to injustice
- Needs to be heard and have its protective function honored
The Overwhelmed Part
- Feels like scattered energy, inability to focus, or complete shutdown
- Often managing too much input or responsibility
- Needs simplification and nervous system calming
Understanding these somatic signatures helps you recognize when different parts are activated and respond appropriately rather than being consumed by them.
The Somatic Therapy Approach to Parts Work
Traditional therapy often works primarily through talking and thinking. Somatic therapy adds the crucial dimension of body awareness, helping you:
Feel Your Parts Physically
Learning to notice how anxiety, sadness, or anger actually feel in your body creates space between you and these experiences. When you can say “I notice anxiety in my chest” rather than “I am anxious,” everything changes.
Regulate Your Nervous System
Each part has different nervous system states. Your anxious part might be in hyperarousal (fight/flight), while your depressed part might be in hypoarousal (shutdown/freeze). Somatic therapy teaches you how to bring regulation to these states.
Create Safety for All Parts
Parts often become extreme when they don’t feel safe or heard. Through somatic techniques, you can create internal safety that allows parts to relax and trust your core Self to take care of things.
Integrate Rather Than Eliminate
The goal isn’t to get rid of difficult parts but to develop a healthy relationship with them. Your anxious part might become a valuable intuitive guide when it’s not overwhelming you. Your angry part might become effective boundary-setting when it’s not explosive.
Common Parts and Their Somatic Healing Needs
The People-Pleasing Part
Somatic signs: Chronic muscle tension, difficulty breathing deeply, collapsed posture Healing approach: Learning to feel your own needs in your body, practicing saying no from a grounded place, developing internal support rather than seeking external approval
The Perfectionist Part
Somatic signs: Rigid holding patterns, inability to relax, chronic fatigue from overeffort Healing approach: Practicing “good enough,” learning to feel accomplishment in your body, developing self-compassion for mistakes
The Hypervigilant Part
Somatic signs: Scanning eyes, tense shoulders, startled responses Healing approach: Nervous system regulation practices, creating felt safety, grounding techniques
The Shutdown Part
Somatic signs: Numbness, disconnection, chronic fatigue, feeling “not here” Healing approach: Gentle activation, reconnecting with body sensations, building capacity for feeling
Practical Somatic Parts Work for Daily Life
The Body Scan Check-In
Throughout your day, pause and scan your body while asking: “Which part of me is activated right now?” Notice physical sensations and what they might be telling you about your inner state.
The Parts Dialogue
When you notice a strong emotion, try this somatic approach:
- Feel where the emotion lives in your body
- Breathe with that area gently
- Ask: “What part of me is feeling this?”
- Listen with your body as much as your mind
- Ask: “What does this part need from me right now?”
Nervous System Regulation for Parts
Different parts need different types of nervous system support:
- Activated parts (anxiety, anger) might need calming through longer exhales, gentle movement, or cooling practices
- Shutdown parts (depression, numbness) might need gentle activation through movement, warmth, or connecting with others
The Permission Practice: A Somatic Approach to Self-Compassion
One of the most powerful aspects of inner parts healing through somatic therapy is learning to give yourself permission to feel whatever you’re feeling without judgment.
This isn’t about wallowing in difficult emotions, but about creating enough safety in your nervous system that parts don’t have to be extreme to get your attention.
When you offer your parts unconditional presence—the same way you might offer it to a distressed child—something profound happens: they begin to trust your core Self to take care of things, and they can relax into their healthy functions.
Our guided practice, “Permission to Not Be Okay,” specifically addresses this need for self-compassion during difficult times, teaching you how to:
- Create nervous system safety for vulnerable parts
- Offer yourself the same kindness you’d give a friend
- Release the pressure to be positive all the time
- Understand difficult emotions as temporary visitors, not permanent residents
[Experience the full guided practice here →
When to Seek Professional Somatic Therapy Support
While self-practice is valuable, sometimes parts work benefits from professional guidance, especially when:
- Parts feel too overwhelming to work with alone
- There’s a history of trauma that created protective parts
- You feel stuck in patterns despite self-help efforts
- Parts seem to be in conflict with each other
- You want deeper integration and healing
In somatic therapy sessions, we can:
- Help you develop safety and regulation in your nervous system
- Guide you through more complex parts dialogues
- Address trauma that may be keeping parts stuck in protective patterns
- Teach you personalized somatic tools for working with your specific parts
- Support integration so your core Self can lead with compassion
The Transformative Power of Inner Parts Healing
When people learn to relate to their emotions as parts rather than their identity, the changes can be remarkable:
Emotional Freedom
Instead of being consumed by anxiety or depression, you develop the ability to say: “Part of me is feeling anxious right now, and that’s okay. I can care for this part while also staying connected to my whole self.”
Increased Self-Compassion
When you understand that your difficult parts developed to protect you, it becomes much easier to treat yourself with kindness rather than criticism.
Better Relationships
When you’re not identified with your emotional states, you can show up more authentically in relationships. Your parts don’t have to manage other people’s reactions.
Nervous System Resilience
Learning to regulate different parts’ nervous system states increases your overall capacity to handle life’s challenges.
Authentic Self-Expression
When parts feel safe and heard, your core Self can emerge more fully, leading to more authentic choices and creative expression.
Our Revolutionary Guided Practice: You Are Not Your Emotions
To support your journey into inner parts healing, I’ve created a comprehensive guided practice called “You Are Not Your Emotions: Meeting the Different Parts of Yourself.”
This somatic therapy meditation teaches you:
- How to recognize when you’re identified with emotions versus observing them
- Practical tools for creating space between you and overwhelming feelings
- Gentle ways to meet different parts of yourself with curiosity
- Somatic techniques for regulating different emotional states
- Daily practices for maintaining healthy relationships with your parts
[Transform your relationship with emotions here →] [VIDEO_LINK_PLACEHOLDER]
This practice is particularly powerful for:
- Anyone struggling with emotional overwhelm or feeling “controlled” by their emotions
- People who want to develop greater emotional resilience and self-awareness
- Those interested in parts work but wanting a gentle, accessible introduction
- Anyone seeking alternatives to suppressing or being consumed by difficult feelings
Integration: Living from Your Whole Self
The ultimate goal of inner parts healing through somatic therapy isn’t to eliminate difficult emotions or challenging parts of yourself. It’s to develop what we call “Self-leadership”—the ability to live from your core Self while caring for all your parts with wisdom and compassion.
When you’re living from Self-leadership:
- You can feel anxious without being controlled by anxiety
- You can experience sadness without losing hope
- You can feel anger without being destructive
- You can be vulnerable without being overwhelmed
This is the freedom that somatic therapy and parts work can offer: not the absence of difficult emotions, but a transformed relationship with your entire emotional landscape.
Your Journey in Somatic Therapy and Parts Work
If you’re in Ireland and feeling called to explore inner parts healing more deeply, somatic therapy can provide the safe, supportive environment needed for this transformative work.
In our work together, we might explore:
- How your unique parts show up in your body and nervous system
- What protective functions your difficult parts serve
- How to create lasting safety and regulation in your system
- Ways to integrate parts work into your daily life
- Healing any trauma that may be keeping parts stuck in protective patterns
Connect with Somatic Therapy Support in Ireland
Ready to discover the freedom that comes from understanding you are not your emotions? I offer gentle, trauma-informed somatic therapy that honors all parts of who you are:
🌐 Somatic Therapy: somatictherapyireland.com
🌐 Holistic Therapy: blissfulevolution.com
🌐 Family Constellations: familyconstellationseurope.com
Whether you’re just beginning to explore parts work or ready for deeper therapeutic support, remember: you are so much more than any emotion you experience. You are the loving awareness that can hold all of your human experience with compassion.
Your parts are not problems to be solved—they’re aspects of yourself that deserve understanding, care, and integration. Through somatic therapy and inner parts healing, you can learn to live from this truth and discover the profound freedom it offers.
