Somatic Healing and Integration

Somatic Healing and Integration

A journey of reconnection, embodied wisdom, and creative aliveness.

At the heart of Embodied Art of Life is the belief that healing naturally occurs through returning to yourself by unraveling the layers of cultural conditioning, fear-based patterns, and internal conflicts that have kept you constrained, and by rediscovering the joy, pleasure, and aliveness that are your birthright.

Somatic Healing and Integration is an invitation to explore your journey through the body, where sensations serve as a roadmap to your authentic truth. Wherever you are is where we begin.

Everyone's journey is unique and unfolds organically. However, common phases in this journey include:

Phase 1: Somatic Awareness & Nervous System Stabilization

We begin by establishing a meeting point: a space to listen, observe, and acknowledge what is present for you in the moment. Approaching this self-inquiry with curiosity and respect, I help you attune to your nervous system, physiology, and internal emotional landscape in real time. Through guided somatic awareness practices, you get to refine your interoceptive sensitivity, learning to recognize sensations as meaningful signals that carry valuable information. This stage lays the groundwork for understanding where tension is held, how your body communicates, and what it needs to restore balance.

Phase 2: Self-Regulation Through Grounding, Resourcing & Boundaries

Regulation is not about suppressing emotions or forcing stillness; it is about creating conditions where the body feels safe enough to exhale. Through breathwork, grounding techniques, and sensory awareness, we support your nervous system to settle by feeling and sensing its way there gradually, through re-building trust and sense of safety.

The journey of building self-trust begins by attuning to your body’s signals. As a trauma-informed practitioner, I guide this process slowly and intentionally, ensuring that we move at a pace that feels safe. Together, we titrate uncomfortable sensations, using the body as a resource by also connecting to places that feel stable and grounding. Gradually, this reestablishes a felt sense of safety, stability, strength, and rootedness. The ability to sense nourishment from within is essential for trauma recovery.

Over time, the contrast between expansion and contraction becomes more vivid, serving as a reliable guide for recognizing the sensations of a true “yes” and a firm “no.” By practicing how to honor these signals, you build confidence in your ability to care for yourself, creating new imprints that reshape your relationship with your body. This is the foundation to befriending your body.

As this process unfolds, chronic tension begins to release. It is typically experienced as a profound energetic liberation, as the energy once used for bracing and holding tension is freed up for vitality. As trust in your instincts deepens, so does your sense of security within yourself and your capacity for personal agency.

This process facilitates repair in trauma healing, where the sense of self may have been lost due to boundary ruptures and violations. When this occurs, it can be difficult to feel connected to personal preferences and desires, as disconnection from the body creates uncertainty about what feels right or wrong. However, as you reconnect with your body in a nurturing, supportive, and empowering way, your sense of self naturally returns. Your likes and dislikes become clearer, your “yes” and “no” more distinct. The key is practicing how to honor them in daily life. Reestablishing this boundary takes time, but it is an essential part of reclaiming agency and self-trust.

The length of this phase is unique to each individual, depending on their trauma history.

Phase 3: Reconnecting to Pleasure, Empowerment & Aliveness

In our practice space, I encourage patience and presence, guiding you to stay with what arises and uncover the hidden wisdom held within your sensations. Physical tension often carries deeper information, and through the prior phases, we have had the opportunity to acknowledge, explore, and express what emerges. Rather than ignoring or suppressing these sensations when they feel inconvenient, we create space to respond to them with awareness and care, cultivating a kind and nurturing relationship with your body.

You are invited to let your imagination flow in dialogue with me by sharing the images, emotions, and stories that surface in connection with bodily sensations while observing any shifts and changes. I offer relevant cues to deepen your awareness, accompanying you on this journey of discovery. This process supports integration and builds trust, allowing your body to recognize that you are listening, paying attention, and honoring its messages.

As the nervous system finds safety, the body naturally softens, creating a profound sense of liberation, freedom in movement, and authentic expression. If you have spent much of your life bracing, restricting, forcing, or pushing through, this newfound ease may feel unfamiliar, but it is precisely what opens the door to new possibilities.

The Reconnecting to Pleasure, Empowerment & Aliveness phase invites you into a new way of experiencing life, one that is aligned with ease and flow. As you attune to your natural rhythms, energy begins to move through you effortlessly, awakening creativity, inspiration, and a profound sense of connection with life itself. You step into the experience of organic engagement, collaboration, and co-creation, moving in harmony with the dance of the universe as your most fully expressed self. This way of living is what I call Embodied Art of Life: following the wholehearted “Yes” that resonates from with

Additional Offerings for Deepening Somatic Healing & Integration

For those seeking to further explore somatic healing in immersive and experiential ways, I offer:

• AGUAHARA JOURNEY – A fluid, aquatic journey that facilitates deep relaxation, nervous system stabilization, and trauma release through water-based movement.

• EARTH :: BODY :: CONTACT – Immersive workshops and retreats exploring the intersection of somatics, nature, and human connection.

About Zuzzie

Zuzzie Kapas holds a Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Neuroscience and a Master’s degree and post-master’s specialization in Somatic Psychotherapy from Antioch University in Santa Barbara, California. She sources from her training informed by evidence-based somatic modalities, such as Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training, in addition to over a decade-long experience working with somatic movement therapies, such as Body-Mind Centering and Authentic Movement. Zuzzie utilizes her understanding of Epigenetics and Behavioral Neuroscience acquired through her undergraduate and post-graduate research on the neuroplasticity of the brain at the University of California in Santa Barbara and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.

Zuzzie has provided somatic healing and integration sessions as a clinician at mental health treatment facilities throughout the Greater Los Angeles Area. She has been an integral part of treatment teams across eleven mental health programs. Zuzzie’s Somatic Healing and Integration sessions have been helpful to clients in recovery from eating disorders, traumatic dissociation, c-PTSD, OCD, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and substance induced psychosis. Sessions have been also helpful in preparation for psychedelic-assisted therapy and post-session integration. 

As of 2025, Zuzzie has stepped away from working in clinical settings and is no longer offering Somatic Healing and Integration in a clinical capacity. This page remains as an archive for those interested in her past work and influences.

Through years of facilitating deep, transformative work with numerous clients, Zuzzie developed a sophisticated understanding of the full spectrum of human experience, embodiment, and the complexities of consciousness. While she no longer works as a clinician, this experience continues to inform her work as an interdisciplinary artist.

For those seeking support with trauma healing and somatic integration, Zuzzie maintains a curated list of trusted referrals and is happy to connect inquiries with a provider who best aligns with individual needs.