What is creative somatic experiencing - with Rachel Penn

After spending thousands on conventional therapy and hitting many road blocks in her own healing journey, Rachel Penn met an art therapist, who turned her life around in just two sessions. Rachel swore to herself that she would follow a similar path once she felt she had healed enough to be of service to others. 5 years later she began her journey into creative therapies.

Rachel felt there was an important piece missing in her training: the incorporation of the body, the nervous system, a sense of hope, connection and the incorporation of a souls mythology. So she went back to study Somatic Experiencing and now specializes in providing this unique creative therapy to people in addiction recovery and torture survivors.

1:20 Rachel shares her story of anxiety and recovery through art therapy.

4:30 Rachel provides an introduction to somatic experiencing.

9:37 Karly shares how leaning into artful expression of her feelings has been helpful.

11:16 Karly and Rachel chat about anger: the need to express over repress and society’s discomfort with angry displays.

14:33 The fine line between embracing emotions and being engulfed by them.

17:14 The loss of creativity and identity through the teen years and finding a way back.

20:37 Karly and Rachel discuss the current day focus on turning “passion into profit” and the need for an end goal for all pursuits.

25:45 Rachel delves a little deeper into the benefits of somatic experiencing.

28:02 Rachel shares how she has seen art therapy to help with trauma and addiction. Karly shares her own experience of writing her memoir and getting a new perspective on herself.

34:11 The benefit of slowing down the process of making art to allow the therapeutic benefit to occur.

36:14 Rachel provides a beautiful perspective on allowing our bodies to be a container for our feelings.

40:48 Karly asks Rachel what her chosen creative expression is at this stage of her life.

42:25 An invitation from Rachel to get started with a squiggle drawing!

Connect with Karly Nimmo at karlynimmo.com, Facebook and Instagram

You can find Rachel Penn on Facebook