The Method
We may understand a pattern and still feel it take hold: a tightening in the chest, a familiar fear, words we cannot bring ourselves to say. These experiences invite attention to what is happening in the body as well as in our thoughts.
Somatic Integration Therapy begins with presence, deep listening, and respect for the body’s wisdom. In a safe, attuned relationship, we make room for sensations, feelings, and images to emerge, trusting the pace at which each person can meet them.
Depth psychology and the yogic traditions offer ways of understanding these experiences. Jungian complexes and yogic granthis, or knots, illuminate how patterns of emotion, memory, and identification can constrict our lives. Through patient attention and practice, these knots can soften, opening greater freedom in how we live and relate.
Eight pillars guide how we accompany others and how we meet ourselves. Together, they form the Somatic Integration Therapy (SIT) framework.
The 8 Pillars
1. Safety is Sacred
All transformation begins with safety. We cultivate environments of trust, attunement, and nonviolence.
2. Respect for the Body as Teacher
The body holds memory, truth, and pathways to healing. Somatic awareness is central to all SIT work.
3. Practice as Dialogue
We approach symptoms, images, and sensations as part of a dialogue between conscious and unconscious, psyche and soma.
4. Honest Presence
Authenticity in both practitioner and client creates the conditions for integration. When a coach shows up with honesty and transparency, it invites the client to do the same. Then, mutual authenticity allows what is true to emerge and be held with compassion.
5. Relational Responsibility
Healing unfolds in relationship. Practitioners are co-participants who honor boundaries, repair ruptures, and model integrity.
7. Wholeness as a Guiding Star
The aim is not perfection but wholeness: integration of opposites, embodiment of truth, and recognition of the Self.
6. Honor the Lineages
We acknowledge and respect the lineages that inform SIT. They include depth psychology, yoga, contemplative practice, somatics, interpersonal neurobiology, and trauma research.
8. Ethics are Embodied
Ethics in SIT are not abstract rules but lived, felt, and embodied commitments. We hold responsibility for power dynamics, integrity, and humility in every interaction.
Bringing the Principles into Practice:
From this ground, ten principles of transformational coaching and a seven-step Arc of Practice give the framework its working shape. The principles are living commitments that shape how we hold space, listen, and engage with those we serve. The Arc of Practice is The Somatic Integration Method™: a model for structuring a session so that what emerges can be met and integrated rather than simply discussed. Both are taught in full within the certification.
*Somatic Integration Therapy was developed by Leanne Whitney, PhD, CPC, CYT and Shilah Sarkissian, RAYT, CPC, E-RYT 500.