How I work
Jentle Soma
Somatic resolution sessions with Jenna Nye, in person in Walton-on-Thames and online.
A gentle way to release the triggers. The thoughts that go round and round, the feelings that kick your arse, and the way the trigger feels in your body.
Jentle Soma is the name for how I work one to one. It brings together Havening Techniques® and the advanced psychosensory protocols I have developed over years of practice, which I teach to other practitioners as SomaGenics Training.
Three layers, one session
When something stays stuck, it is rarely in just one place. Jentle Soma works with all three layers in a single resolution session:
- The alarm. How the experience was encoded as a threat in the brain's alarm system, the amygdala.
- The body. How that alarm shows up as sensation, tension or pain.
- The beliefs. How it shows up in what you believe about yourself, or about the world.
Havening works mainly with the first layer, and often the other two shift with it. The protocols I have developed go deeper into all three.
Management and resolution are not the same
Much of what people are offered is about management: learning to live with reactions, working around triggers, regulating what continues to fire. Management can be useful. But it is not the same as resolution.
Resolution means the reaction no longer fires. Not because it is controlled or overridden, but because the nervous system has resolved it from threat to no threat.
What happens in a session
We start where you are. If you’re nervous about your first session, good. Those nerves give us something real to work with, so you get to feel what the tools do straight away. If not, we usually start with something small, so you can get a feel for how we work together and what feels right for you.
We use touch, your own. Touch is how we first learned we were safe and connected. In sessions we use self-Havening, gentle touch with the palms of your own hands. I do it alongside you, so we are in it together. Then you forget all about your hands and get into the exercises.
You choose what we work on. I will ask what you are bringing today. If you would like help, we find something that is firing in your daily life and getting in the way of you being you.
You choose how. I usually offer you one of two different exercises. They involve palm touch, different processes, games and choice. You only tell me the details if you want to.
We resolve, then move towards. We work with what you have until it settles, is comfortable or resolves. Then we turn towards what you want, and prime the nervous system to move towards it. If that feels like too much, we make space for you to be open to it one day.
We finish light. We end with something light, often fun, to get your nervous system ready to leave the session and ready for what is to come.
Always your words, always what is going on for you, and only until you have had enough. You stay awake, aware and in charge throughout. Nothing is done to you. You are not analysed, and you are not asked to relive anything.
Many people look back on their session and remember that the games were fun, the distractions were great, they had tools to use in between, and they could feel it working in real time.
What I work with
Anxiety · Emotional pain and trauma · Pain in the body · Phobias and fears · Grief
Questions people ask about Jentle Soma
Is Jentle Soma a kind of somatic therapy?
In the sense that it works with the body as well as the mind, yes. It is not psychotherapy or counselling, and it is not medical treatment. It works with how an experience presents itself in your nervous system, your body and your beliefs, rather than with talking it through. I specialise in somatic resolution. If you feel a situation or a feeling in your body, we can work on resolving it so it no longer fires, if that is what you want.
How do I know if I need somatic work?
If you understand your patterns and still react. If a feeling has a location in your body. If you have talked something through, sometimes for years, and it still fires. Those are usually signs that the body is holding what the mind has already understood. Road rage that leaves you tense or hot. Sadness during a film that makes your heart ache. Sudden news that leaves you shaking with fear. These are the kinds of reactions somatic resolution works to resolve.
Do I have to talk about my past?
No. You only share what you want to. Much of this work can be done without telling me the story at all. The work is disclosure free. Sometimes, once the trigger has resolved, there is space, and the story wants to come out. That is always your choice.
Can I do this alongside therapy?
Yes. Many people do. Keep your therapist, your doctor and your appointments. This work sits alongside your care, never in place of it.
Is this right for you?
This work is for people who understand their patterns, and who want the reactions themselves to stop.
If you are in crisis right now, please contact your GP, NHS 111 or the Samaritans on 116 123 first.
Sessions are 90 minutes, in person in Walton-on-Thames or online by Zoom wherever you are in the world. Fees and booking →
Keep reading
Start where you are.
A free 20-minute call to see if this work is right for you. If it isn't, I'll tell you.