How We Co-Regulate With Our Clients

In the SomaField approach, we start with this simple truth: you are the field.

That means that what you’re hoping to cultivate in your client—safety, grounding, regulation, spaciousness—must live in you in the moment you’re inviting them into it.

We’re not directing the nervous system from the outside. We’re inviting it, moment by moment, to find a new rhythm by attuning to ours.

So if you want your client to ground, you ground.
If you want them to slow down, you slow down.
If you want them to feel safe, you become a safe place.

It’s not just that co-regulation matters—it’s that it’s happening all the time, whether we’re conscious of it or not. The more embodied and intentional we are with our own states, the more skillfully we can support theirs.

This is not about being perfect. It’s about being present.

Instead of telling a client to "take a deep breath," take one yourself.
Instead of saying, "It’s okay to take your time," let that be true in your pacing, your gaze, your tone, your breath.
Instead of asking them to feel safe, be someone they can feel safe with—someone who’s not pushing, rushing, or subtly needing them to be somewhere they’re not.

In SomaField, we practice this as an energetic posture. Grounding isn’t a technique—it’s a transmission. We offer the client the frequency we want to invite them into. And that starts with us.

Before your next session, try this:

• Feel your feet.
  

• Soften your belly.
  

• Slow your own tempo.
  

• Notice if there’s any part of you that’s bracing, rushing, or efforting—and meet it with kindness.
  

• And then walk into the session as the ground you hope your client will find.

When we remember that our state is the intervention, we stop trying to fix and start becoming the medicine.

If this resonates, share it with a fellow practitioner. We’re all learning to become better instruments for healing.