Body-Based Trauma Healing in Oakland: A Path to Reconnection

Trauma doesn't just live in your thoughts—it settles into your body, showing up as tension you can't shake, exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix, or a constant sense of being on edge. If you're in Oakland and traditional talk therapy hasn't quite reached the deeper layers of what you're carrying, body-based trauma healing might offer the approach you've been looking for. I work with the understanding that your body holds wisdom about your experiences, and through somatic therapy, we can access healing that words alone sometimes can't reach.

What Body-Based Trauma Healing Really Means

Somatic therapy recognizes something essential: trauma changes not just how we think, but how we live in our bodies. When difficult experiences happen—whether recently or generations ago—our nervous systems adapt to survive. Sometimes those adaptations persist long after the danger has passed, leaving us with bodies that feel unsafe even when our minds know we're okay.

How Trauma Shows Up Physically

You might notice trauma in your body as:

• Chronic muscle tension, especially in your shoulders, neck, or jaw
• Digestive issues that don't have clear medical causes
• Difficulty sleeping or staying asleep
• Feeling disconnected from physical sensations
• Constant fatigue despite adequate rest
• A racing heart or shallow breathing even during calm moments

These aren't just side effects of stress—they're your body's way of communicating that something needs attention.

Why the Body Holds What Words Cannot

For many of us, especially those raised in families where emotions weren't openly discussed or where survival meant staying quiet, the body became the only place to store difficult feelings. Cultural expectations to maintain the appearance of calm, avoid burdening others, or prioritize family needs over personal distress often mean that what couldn't be spoken got locked away physically instead.

When parents or grandparents experienced migration, displacement, or the pressure of building new lives in unfamiliar places, their bodies learned specific ways of managing overwhelming circumstances. Those patterns—the hypervigilance, the constant doing, the inability to rest—often get passed down, not through stories, but through the nervous system itself.

How Somatic Therapy Works Differently

Traditional talk therapy helps you understand your experiences cognitively. You explore patterns, gain insights, and develop new perspectives on old struggles. That work is valuable, but often intellectually understanding why you feel a certain way doesn't actually change how you feel.

Somatic therapy approaches healing from a different angle. Instead of only analyzing experiences, we pay attention to what's happening in your body in the present moment. This might mean noticing where you hold tension when discussing a difficult topic, exploring what happens in your chest when you think about past experiences, or tracking how your breathing changes when you feel overwhelmed.

Working With Your Nervous System

Your nervous system learned to respond to threats in specific ways—maybe by fighting, fleeing, freezing, or appeasing. These responses made sense at the time, but they can become automatic patterns that no longer serve you. Through somatic work, we help your nervous system recognize that it can respond differently now.

This isn't about thinking your way out of stress. It's about giving your body new experiences of safety, so it can gradually release the patterns it's been holding.

The Unique Challenges Asian-American Adults Face

Growing up between cultures creates a specific kind of stress that's hard to name. You learn early to code-switch—adjusting how you speak, what you share, even how you hold your body depending on whether you're with family, at work, or navigating predominantly white spaces. This constant adaptation is exhausting, and over time, it can leave you feeling fragmented, like different versions of yourself exist in different contexts with no cohesive whole.

The Weight of Unspoken Expectations

Many of my clients carry expectations that were never directly stated but feel absolute nonetheless: succeed without making mistakes, honor family sacrifices through achievement, don't burden others with your struggles, maintain face, prioritize others’ needs over your own desires.

These expectations aren't inherently wrong, but when they become the only framework for making decisions, they can lead to:

• Perfectionism that drives you to exhaustion
• Difficulty identifying what you actually want versus what you should want
• Guilt when setting boundaries
• Anxiety about disappointing family despite significant accomplishments
• A persistent feeling that you're not enough

When Family History Lives in Your Body

Intergenerational trauma manifests in ways that are difficult to trace. You might experience chronic anxiety without clear triggers, feel responsible for everyone's emotional well-being, or struggle to trust that stability will last. These patterns often echo the survival strategies your parents or grandparents needed in their own lives—strategies that helped them endure displacement, economic uncertainty, or cultural marginalization.

The challenge is that what helped one generation survive can become limiting for the next. You're navigating circumstances your family couldn't have imagined, yet carrying nervous system patterns designed for different threats.

Identity and Belonging

Questions about identity don't live only in your mind—they show up as physical sensations too. The tension of feeling "not enough" in either cultural context, the exhaustion of explaining yourself repeatedly, the disconnection that comes from rarely seeing your full experience reflected back to you—all of this accumulates in your body.

You might notice this as a feeling of never quite settling, difficulty relaxing fully, or a sense that you're performing rather than simply being yourself.

My Approach to Healing

I integrate several modalities because healing isn't linear and no single approach works for everyone. Your experiences are specific to you, shaped by your family history, cultural background, and personal journey. Our work together reflects that specificity.

Attachment-Focused EMDR

Attachment-focused EMDR helps process difficult memories and experiences by working with how your brain naturally heals from trauma. When we focus on attachment, we're looking at how early relationships shaped your sense of safety and connection. This is particularly relevant when exploring how family dynamics, immigration experiences, or cultural displacement affected your ability to trust, set boundaries, or feel secure in relationships.

Through this work, we can reduce the emotional charge of painful memories while strengthening your capacity for healthier, more secure connections with yourself and others.

Somatic Therapy for Body Awareness

This is where we directly address how trauma lives in your physical experience. We might explore:

• What happens in your body when you think about setting a boundary
• Where you hold tension and what it might be protecting you from
• How to recognize your body's signals before you reach overwhelm
• Ways to restore a sense of safety in your physical self

The goal is reconnection—learning to inhabit your body as a source of information and wisdom rather than something to override or ignore.

Parts Work for Internal Conflicts

You might have one part of you that pushes hard for achievement while another part feels exhausted and wants to rest. One part might honor family traditions while another seeks independence. These aren't contradictions to eliminate—they're different aspects of you that developed for good reasons.

Parts work helps you develop compassion for all of yourself, understand what each part needs, and find ways for them to work together rather than pulling you in different directions. This approach is particularly helpful when you're navigating conflicting cultural values or trying to honor family while also building your own path.

What We Address in Therapy

Anxiety That Won't Settle

Anxiety often shows up as a constant hum of worry, difficulty relaxing even when nothing's objectively wrong, or physical symptoms like racing thoughts, tight chest, or restlessness. For many Asian-American adults, anxiety is deeply connected to the pressure of meeting your family’s expectations, achieving enough to justify your parents' sacrifices, or maintaining harmony while suppressing your own needs.

We work with both the cognitive patterns that fuel anxiety and the physical experience of it, helping your nervous system learn that it's safe to let your guard down.

Depression and Disconnection

Depression doesn't always look like obvious sadness. Sometimes it's numbness, going through motions without feeling present, or a persistent sense that nothing matters. When you've spent years prioritizing others' needs or suppressing parts of yourself to fit in, depression can be your system's way of shutting down under the weight of it all.

Through somatic work, we help restore your connection to feeling, gently bringing you back into relationship with yourself and what matters to you.

Perfectionism and Burnout

Perfectionism often began as a survival strategy—if you did everything right, you'd be safe, accepted, valued. But perfectionism is exhausting and ultimately unsustainable. Burnout happens when you've been running on empty for too long, trying to meet impossible standards.

We explore where these patterns originated, what they're protecting you from, and how to differentiate your worth from your productivity. This includes learning to rest without guilt and recognizing that good enough truly is enough.

Guilt and Shame

Guilt says you did something wrong. Shame says you are something wrong. Both can be overwhelming, especially when tied to cultural expectations about obedience, success, or family loyalty. Setting boundaries might trigger guilt. Wanting something different from what your parents wanted for you might trigger shame.

Our work involves understanding where these feelings come from, distinguishing between helpful guilt that guides values-aligned behavior and unhelpful guilt that keeps you stuck, and developing self-compassion.

Relationship Patterns

Maybe you find yourself always accommodating others, struggling to voice what you need, or repeating dynamics that leave you feeling unseen. Relationship patterns often reflect early learning about connection, safety, and what's required to maintain bonds.

We work on building your capacity for authentic connection—where you can be yourself, express needs, navigate conflict, and maintain relationships without losing yourself in the process.

Caretaking and Codependency

If you were taught that your value comes from what you do for others, you might find yourself constantly giving while running on empty. Caretaking becomes problematic when it's compulsive rather than chosen, when you neglect your own needs to meet everyone else's, or when resentment builds beneath the surface.

Healing involves learning to recognize your limits, set boundaries without guilt, and understand that relationships can have space for your needs.

What to Expect When We Work Together

Starting therapy takes courage. You're choosing to invest in yourself, which might feel unfamiliar if you're used to prioritizing everyone else.

Initial Consultation

We begin with a free 20-minute consultation where you can share what brings you to therapy and ask questions about how I work. This helps us both determine if we're a good fit. There's no pressure—this is just a conversation.

First Session and Beyond

In our first full session, we'll explore your story, current struggles, and goals. I want to understand your family background, cultural context, and what healing means to you. This isn't a checklist I'm working through—it's about building understanding together.

From there, we typically meet weekly, either online or in-person in Oakland. Sometimes I might suggest small practices between sessions—nothing overwhelming, just ways to continue the work in your daily life.

What Changes Look Like

Healing isn't always linear. Some weeks you'll feel significant shifts; other times progress feels subtle. Over time, you might notice:

• Physical symptoms improving—better sleep, less tension, more energy
• Greater awareness of your needs before hitting overwhelm
• More ease in setting boundaries
• Reduced guilt when prioritizing yourself
• Clearer sense of who you are across different contexts
• Improved capacity to stay present during difficult emotions
• Stronger, more authentic relationships

The goal isn't perfection. It's building a life where you feel more connected to yourself, where your body feels like a safe place to inhabit, and where you can honor both your heritage and your own individual path.

Taking the Next Step

If you're ready to explore body-based trauma healing, or if you're simply curious whether this approach might help, I invite you to reach out. Healing happens in relationship—with yourself, with your body, and with someone who sees and understands your experience.

You don't have to carry everything alone. The patterns you're struggling with make sense given what you've experienced, and they can change. Your body's wisdom is still there, even if it feels buried under years of adaptation and survival. Together, we can help you reconnect with it.

Therapy is available online throughout California and in-person in Oakland. To learn more about my approach or to schedule your free consultation, visit my website or reach out directly. You deserve support that honors your whole experience—cultural, familial, and individual.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes body-based therapy different from regular therapy?

Traditional therapy focuses primarily on thoughts and verbal processing. Body-based therapy includes that, but also works directly with physical sensations, nervous system responses, and how trauma lives in your body. This can be especially helpful when talking alone hasn't created the shifts you're looking for, or when you experience physical symptoms connected to emotional struggles.

How does intergenerational trauma actually work?

Trauma responses can be passed down through how parents interact with children, what coping strategies are modeled, and even through epigenetic changes that affect nervous system development. You might carry anxiety or hypervigilance that echoes your parents' or grandparents' experiences, even without direct knowledge of what they endured. This isn't your fault—it's how families adapt to survive difficult circumstances.

Will I have to talk in detail about traumatic events?

Not necessarily. While some processing involves discussing what happened, somatic therapy often works with present-moment sensations and responses rather than detailed narratives. We can work with what your body holds without you having to repeatedly describe traumatic events. You control the pace and depth of what we explore.

Is this only for people with major trauma?

No. Somatic therapy helps anyone who feels disconnected from their body, carries chronic stress or tension, struggles with anxiety or depression, or wants to understand how their physical and emotional experiences connect. You don't need to have experienced a single dramatic event to benefit from this work.

How long does therapy take?

This varies significantly depending on your goals, history, and what you're addressing. Some people notice meaningful shifts within a few months, while deeper work takes longer. We'll regularly check in about your progress and adjust our approach as needed. Therapy isn't about checking boxes—it's about creating sustainable change.

Do you work with couples or families?

Yes. I offer couples therapy and family therapy using emotionally-focused approaches that help strengthen bonds and improve communication. This can be particularly helpful when navigating cultural differences, intergenerational conflicts, or relationship patterns that aren't serving you.

What if I'm not sure therapy is right for me?

That's completely understandable. The free consultation gives you a chance to ask questions and get a sense of whether this feels like the right step. There's no obligation, and it's okay to take time to decide. Therapy works best when you feel ready to engage with the process.

Can I do therapy if I have a busy schedule?

Yes. I offer both online and in-person options to accommodate different needs and schedules. We'll work together to find consistent times that fit your life, and sessions can be rescheduled when unexpected conflicts arise. The goal is to make therapy accessible, not another source of stress.