Somatic EMDR Therapy in Bellingham, WA: Overcome Your Fear of Being Seen
Struggling to Put Yourself Out There?
You're Not Alone.
I've avoided writing this post for months, moving between freeze and dissociative states, staring at a blank screen. The perfect recipe for the inner critic to run wild:
→ “This is so stupid; nobody cares about what you have to say”
→ “You can never stick to anything you start”
→ “You’re lazy, scattered and unfocused”
→ “This doesn’t matter; nothing matters”
The list goes on.
And on.
And another day passes without posting the blog.
Sound familiar?
I’m Brianna Clement, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Somatic (body-based) Psychotherapist in Bellingham, Washington. I help ambitious professionals navigate the nightmare of traumatic loss so they can build the connected, creative, and meaningful life they deeply desire.
The Underlying Reality of Perfectionism
Procrastination and perfectionism aren’t character flaws; they’re nervous system responses to threat. When our system senses danger, even in subtle ways, it automatically moves to protect us.
If we don’t slow down to notice our avoidance patterns, we end up looping in chronic reacting instead of mindful responding.
We've all felt this: the initial spark of inspiration followed by the heavy drop of resignation when it doesn't catch flame. Frustrating as it is, it makes evolutionary sense. Our brains evolved to prioritize threat detection over creative risk-taking.
What’s threatening about something as simple as writing a blog post?
My clients often hear me say, “it’s not about what it’s about".
If I only looked at the task itself and my shutdown/avoidance pattern, it would be easy to spiral into self sabotage. And trust me, I’ve done plenty of that. It never helps.
Stuck in Survival Mode
While the inner critic can sometimes light a fire under us, the energy it produces is either chaotically unfocused or rigidly narrow. Neither leads to the sustainable growth, creativity, or sense of safety we actually need to move forward with ease.
The Science Behind the Brain-Body Stress Connection
The amygdala is like your brain’s built-in alarm system, constantly scanning for danger and deciding when to sound the alarm. This internal system helped our ancestors survive, but unfortunately, it hasn’t evolved with the life and mind of a modern human being. Even though my empty computer screen is not a tiger about to attack me, the amygdala cannot discern the difference on its own.
When something once felt too big or too scary to fight or escape from (common in complex trauma), the amygdala can hit the overload button. The body may freeze like a deer in the headlights or completely shut down when the stress response is chronically activated. Both freeze and faint responses are your nervous system’s way of protecting you when things feel too overwhelming to handle.
Freeze 🧊
Still, alert 👀
Heightened tension, elevated heart rate ❤️🔥
High muscular tone 💪, body rigid
Hyperaware of surroundings 👂👁️
→ While freeze looks still on the outside, the inside is marked by an elevated heart rate, increased tension, and tonic immobility (high muscular tone). The senses are hyperaware of everything happening around you, but the body remains still.
Faint 😵💫
Still, collapsed 🛌
Foggy, disconnected 🌫️
Low muscular tone 🪶, low energy
Heaviness in body, edging toward dissociation ⚖️
→ The faint response, on the other hand, looks similar from the outside but the body has collapsed immobility. There is low muscular tone, low energy, and fogginess. There might be a feeling of heaviness in the body, edging closer to dissociation and disconnection.
Shifting from Criticism to Compassion
Starting something new and creative requires integrating both hemispheres of the brain — the right side's intuition and creativity with the left side's analytical tact that helps ground those floating ideas into something tangible.
Perfectionism utilizes the self-critic to avoid feeling uncomfortable emotions and sensations. As soon as you enter the right hemisphere, the self-critic may bully you back over to the left, convincing you of all the reasons not to begin that new project. You’re left feeling ashamed, accompanied by negative beliefs about yourself.
The Attacking Parent: Fear Disguised as Control
Your inner critic is less of a bully and more of a well-intentioned but unsuccessful protective parent that hasn’t evolved with you, much like your amygdala.
Imagine a parent chasing after their toddler who is running toward a busy street and strikes the child out of sheer terror. While physical harm is never justified, the parent’s automatic response comes from the overwhelming fear of failing to protect in that split second.
Your inner critic is like that terrified, attacking parent who doesn’t understand that you’re no longer a toddler.
The critic doesn’t yet realize that you are not in actual danger in the present moment. As strange as it sounds, even when your mind knows you’re safe, your body might not be on the same page.
Making Peace with Your Inner Protector
When your visceral response doesn’t match your environment, your body may believe you are a younger, more vulnerable version of yourself. Your nervous system sends signals to the brain saying “Help!” and suddenly, you’re caught in an internal battle between past and present.
Recognizing that your inner critic is actually trying to protect this younger part of you is a powerful shift in perspective. The responsibility then falls to your adult self to step in and bring this protective part into conscious dialogue.
Why? Because these protective parts are the reason your inner child survived. They formed when you were too young to fight or flee from a situation that felt threatening. Often, we don’t even know what they were protecting us from, that’s part of how dissociation works. But one thing is certain: ignoring your inner critic is like a teacher leaving a kindergarten classroom unattended for thirty seconds—the kids will run wild.
How Embodiment Transforms Awareness
Somatic EMDR therapy online across Washington, as well as in-person in Bellingham
The first step is to become aware when a stress response is being activated. When you’re stuck in freeze, your attention narrows and your nervous system constricts. Before your attention can broaden, your body needs to physically mobilize out of that frozen state. Because so much activation is happening internally, large mobilizing movements are your best friend:
Shaking arms and legs
Coming into a plank, rocking back and forth
Push-ups
Wall sits
Feel free to mix and match! I personally enjoy starting with a simple compound exercise like a plank or wall sit and then moving into a full body shake.
If you notice you’re more in the realm of dorsal vagal shutdown with brain fog, emotional numbness, or heaviness, try easing into movement with smaller gestures. It may help to follow these steps:
Notice the breath without forcing it to change.
Press your feet into the ground and sit back slightly.
Lift your shoulders and chin.
Settle back into your seat with a more lengthened spine.
Create space for the diaphragm to support the breath.
Deepen your inhalations and follow your exhalations all the way to the end.
Inhale to lift and lengthen.
Exhale to soften and settle into gravity.
If focusing on the breath feels overwhelming or overstimulating, try wiggling your toes or fingertips, or place a palm over your heart and gently apply pressure.
You might also move by widening your gaze, letting your eyes walk around the room until they find something to rest on. This helps resource your nervous system with a reminder that you are safe now, as your adult self in the present moment.
A phrase I often share with clients is, “We are simply letting your body know that it’s in the room with us.”
The Power of Play and Presence in Body-Based Therapy
Somatic EMDR Therapy for midlife professionals in Bellingham, WA and online across Seattle
In my Bellingham practice and online sessions, we often begin by honoring the ritual of stepping into the therapeutic space and dropping below the head into the body. This may look like a gentle 15-minute yoga flow, a mindful check-in (similar to a guided meditation), a body scan, or a brief somatic practice, tailored to what each client needs in the moment.
If this sounds uncomfortable or even a little silly, that’s sometimes the point. When we’re stuck in our heads, it’s easy to take ourselves too seriously. Shifting attention downward into the body helps soften rigidity and invite a sense of curiosity, openness, and play.
Somatic EMDR: Releasing Stuck Trauma Responses
Somatic essentially means of the body. Somatic therapy views the body as a valid and essential source of information and helps us access our innate wisdom. In my practice, I often integrate Somatic EMDR with other evidenced-based modalities for a holistic, mind-body-soul approach to healing.
Traditional EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps reduce distress from traumatic memories through bilateral stimulation—such as eye movements, tapping, or alternating sounds. These rhythmic movements cross the body’s midline to integrate right and left hemispheres of the brain to loosen and release blocked stress and trauma responses.
While EMDR is highly effective, Somatic EMDR goes a step further by centering the body in the healing process. Beyond eye movements, we may incorporate full-body movements—like gentle twisting, swaying, or intuitive gestures—to help release stuck survival energy and complete unfinished trauma responses.
During sessions, I weave these movements into talk therapy while seated, standing, on a yoga mat, or even walking outside. The intention is to help the body find a natural sense of completion, allowing the nervous system to recalibrate toward balance. As the body integrates these experiences, negative self-beliefs can transform into a more cohesive and strength-based narrative.
Building Nervous System Resilience
A common misconception about somatic psychotherapy is that we are striving to maintain a calm and stress-free state. Quite the opposite. We are here to build capacity, not escape sensation.
In Somatic EMDR, we gently approach avoided sensations, emotions, and memories while maintaining dual awareness, keeping one foot anchored in the present. Moving between emotional activation and deactivation through cues of safety helps the nervous system access its natural ability to regulate and adapt to stress. This movement between intensity and ease is where resilience is rediscovered.
Healing Shame with Somatic EMDR
You do not have to greet every day with overwhelm. If you're ready to explore bold forms of self-expression and reconnect with your authentic self, Somatic EMDR offers a pathway to work with your body rather than against it.
Learning how to stay present with your inner experience opens a new way of relating to patterns of avoidance, shutdown, or withdrawal from the world. Slowing down the mind and witnessing how your body is holding these patterns is the first step to rebuilding trust with your intuition.
When we can’t be who we truly are, suffering takes root. Our protective parts convince us to stay small, hide our vulnerability, and cling to what feels familiar. Even your inner critic is trying to protect you—but it’s your job to meet those parts with compassion and help your body feel safe enough to take the next courageous step.
You get to choose your own pace, but having a supportive therapist beside you can offer the steadiness needed to keep building your visibility muscle.
If you are ready to explore how Somatic EMDR or other body-based approaches can help you strengthen your capacity to meet life’s challenges, reach out to learn more. Coming home to your embodied self restores what overwhelm and shame once fragmented—reminding you that your free expression not only belongs in this world, it’s needed.
Somatic EMDR Therapy for overwhelm, shame, and disconnection in Bellingham and across the greater Seattle area
Brianna Clement is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor based in Bellingham and online throughout Washington. She integrates Somatic EMDR, Yoga-Based Therapy, and Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy for ambitious midlife professionals struggling to move through grief after traumatic loss. Brianna’s approach is trauma-informed and depth oriented to help clients rebuild relational intimacy and discover their inner calling. At Intra Psychotherapy & Embodiment, she is committed to integrating psychoanalytic wisdom with modern, research-backed methods to create meaningful change at the emotional core.
