What is SOMA Massage?

Jan Normanton • December 10, 2025

A powerful antidote to the hurriedness of life.

Listen to this article

click to watch this article
If you are stressed, consider somatic massage or somatic coaching and know that your body has a whole set of inbuilt ways to help you manage your inner states.

If you’ve been feeling swept away by the pace of life, endlessly doing, tending to others, chasing outcomes, or simply living on autopilot, it may be time to come back to yourself.


SOMA Massage offers just that: a gentle, grounded invitation to reconnect with your body, your breath, and your being.


Unlike traditional massage that often focuses on fixing or manipulating the body, SOMA Massage takes a different approach. It is not about pushing, pulling, or prodding. Instead, it is about meeting you exactly where you are; physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically.


At its core, SOMA Massage is a healing practice that begins even before you lie down on the massage table. Sessions start with a conversation, an exploration of what might be present for you. Whether it’s tension in your body, racing thoughts, emotional overwhelm, or energetic fatigue, this space honours all of it.


Together, we look at what might be bothering you, not just physically, but mentally or spiritually, and how we can support your return to balance through the session and beyond. You’ll also be offered simple, accessible somatic practices you can use outside of your treatment to continue your healing journey and return to your baseline.


When you lie on the table, you’re not there to be fixed, you’re there to be held, witnessed, and supported. The bodywork is slow, mindful, and deeply calming. It goes beyond the physical to work on the level of the nervous system, inviting your body into a state of regulation and rest. You may notice your muscles softening, your mind quieting, and your emotions gently settling.


SOMA Massage is a powerful antidote to the hurriedness of life. It offers a space where anxiety, stress, and overwhelm can dissolve, where you can simply be yourself, free from expectations.


You may find, perhaps for the first time in a long time, what it feels like to truly land in your body. To feel seen, accepted, and validated, not just by the therapist, but by yourself.


And that’s the real gift: a permission slip to return home to yourself.


By janetnormanton December 31, 2025
Trauma and stress aren't matter in the muscles; it’s physiology imprinted in the nervous system.
Understanding the Nervous System: Beyond Rest and Digest
By Jan Normanton October 26, 2025
A resilient, robust nervous system is key to healing and wellbeing, allowing you to manage life's challenges effectively while enjoying periods of deep relaxation.
Safety is the cornerstone of healing.
By Jan Normanton September 14, 2025
Creating a safe environment is essential to reduce anxiety and stress, and encourage a sense of control and agency in clients
Does it feel like a hustle being on your healing journey?
By Jan Normanton September 11, 2025
May you remember when you’re on that hamsterwheel of healing, feeling it’s like a hustle to just slow down, breathe and drop into who you are and make peace with that and enjoy yourself!
Connection is key to a contented life
By Jan Normanton August 31, 2025
Connection to self, others, life itself offers safety and can provide the cornerstone of contentment and love. Whilst disconnection to self, others, life poses threat and so can cause the opposites – unhappiness and fear
Change can be challenging to a nervous system that seeks safety
By Jan Normanton May 25, 2025
Leaning into a change process that feels safer, planned, paced, can offer a smoother journey into what we do want, whilst tempering and taming the fears, doubts and sense of regression that may present themselves along the way
Why consider a bottom up approach to healing rather than a top down one
By Jan Normanton May 7, 2025
Whilst talking therapies have a significant role in healing in their own right, we can end up inadvertently holding up our healing process by getting invested in talking ABOUT our issues rather than dealing directly WITH our issues via the body – the place of trauma
Pay attention to where you place your attention to remain connected and grounded within
By Jan Normanton May 4, 2025
Distraction is everywhere! If we allow ourselves to engage like a kid in a candy shop, taking it all in with gusto, we can end up frazzled and fragmented, feeling less than safe and sound within
Paying attention and tending to our body can pay dividends and engender trust in ourselves
By Jan Normanton April 30, 2025
Paying attention and tending to our body can pay dividends, engendering trust and allowing us to show up in life in a dynamic and flowing way rather than fixated rules and regulations made up by the mind to keep us safe and based on old paradigms that may no longer serve us.
Direct embodied experience offers us the informed decision making tool that the brain can’t offer
By Jan Normanton April 16, 2025
It’s only through direct embodied experience where can make an informed decision about who we are and then really get to know ourselves. Relying upon the brain is only part of the picture and a skewed one at that full of external influences and second hand beliefs
Show More