Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP): The Embodiment of Emotions and Our Capacity to Tolerate Them

I have previously written about some of the therapeutic approaches I trained in after completing my initial professional training and master's degree, such as Somatic Experiencing (SE) and the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM). This time, I would like to share a little about another approach I have explored: Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP).

The more I study, the harder it becomes for me to believe in simple explanations of human experience. Over the years, I have explored numerous theories and therapeutic approaches, some supported by substantial scientific evidence, others still developing, and others relying more heavily on clinical experience.

Some of these trainings have profoundly changed the way I understand psychological processes and how I work in my practice, while others have had less of an impact. Nevertheless, each has offered me, to some extent, new perspectives, tools, or questions to reflect on.

I believe that the approaches and theories we resonate with are shaped not only by their theoretical foundations and scientific evidence, but also by our own histories, personalities, values, and ways of understanding the world.

In The Analyst's Vulnerability, one of my favourite books, Karen Maroda explores the inevitable subjectivity of the therapist and how who we are influences our work. This is a perspective that resonates deeply with me. Although professional training, clinical experience, and theoretical knowledge are essential, I don't believe we can completely separate the therapist as a person from the way they practise psychotherapy.

In fact, I think our preference for a particular therapeutic approach also reflects, to some extent, this subjectivity. We do not choose theories entirely rationally, and sometimes we may be drawn to a particular perspective precisely because it aligns with what we already believe or with the way we have come to understand our own experiences.

Although I have found approaches that resonate deeply with me and have become an important part of my practice, I remain curious and interested in exploring other perspectives. So, from time to time, I enrol in new courses or professional trainings, sometimes to deepen what I already know, and other times to understand different ways of working with psychological and bodily experience.

This is also how I came across Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP), an approach developed by Raja Selvam, PhD, a psychologist and somatic therapist whom I was already familiar with through Somatic Experiencing, where he is also a trainer.

I was particularly intrigued by his perspective on the embodiment of emotions and the idea that we can support emotional processing not only by understanding or regulating emotions, but also by developing our capacity to experience and tolerate them in the body, in a way that differs from other somatic approaches.

I therefore decided to undertake his international professional training programme for practitioners. I have to say that some of the principles and interventions proposed by Raja Selvam pleasantly surprised me, both in my own experiential process and, later, in my therapeutic practice.

Although I do not use ISP as my primary therapeutic approach, I have begun integrating certain interventions when I consider them appropriate for the therapeutic process. At times, using them as brief, targeted interventions has facilitated changes in how a person could experience an emotion. On other occasions, I have observed that they contributed to moving through moments when the therapeutic process seemed to be at a standstill.

I would therefore like to introduce some of the principles of this approach, without going into all its theoretical and technical aspects, but rather to explain what the embodiment of emotions involves and how it can be integrated into the therapeutic process.

What Is Integral Somatic Psychology?

Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP) is an approach developed by Raja Selvam, whose central clinical strategy is what he calls the embodiment of emotions. The approach is described in detail in his book, The Practice of Embodying Emotions: A Guide for Improving Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes.

One of the distinctive features of ISP is that it was developed as a complementary approach that can be integrated into different forms of therapy without necessarily replacing them.

Thus, the principles of emotional embodiment can be used both in predominantly verbal psychotherapies and in body-oriented approaches, including hands-on therapies such as craniosacral therapy, osteopathy, and other forms of bodywork.

Of course, the goals and professional competencies involved differ from one approach to another. Integrating emotional work does not mean that all these therapies become psychotherapy, but rather that attending to emotional experience may add another dimension to the interventions already being used.

At the heart of ISP is the idea that emotional difficulties are related not only to what we feel, but also to our capacity to experience and tolerate what we feel.

From this perspective, a greater capacity to remain in contact with our emotions may contribute not only to processing emotional experiences, but also to changes in how we think, relate to ourselves and others, and act in different situations.

What Does It Mean to Embody Emotions?

When we talk about emotions, we often refer to our ability to identify them, find a name for what we feel, understand them, express them, or regulate them. However, experiencing an emotion involves more than consciously recognising it or being able to explain what we are feeling.

Emotions involve complex processes that take place both in the brain and throughout the body. They may be accompanied by changes in breathing, heart rate, muscle tension, posture, autonomic nervous system activity, and other physiological processes.

For example, when we experience fear, we may notice an increased heart rate, changes in breathing, muscle tension, or an impulse to withdraw. Anger may be accompanied by warmth, tension, impulses to move, or changes in facial expression, while sadness may involve feelings of heaviness, changes in muscle tone, or alterations in breathing.

These manifestations are not the same for everyone, nor do they always occur in the same way. Emotional experience is influenced by numerous factors, including our personal history, relational context, previous experiences, personality, and the ways we have learned to relate to our emotions.

From the perspective of ISP, embodying an emotion involves expanding the conscious experience of that emotion into more areas of the body and developing the capacity to remain in contact with it for longer periods without becoming overwhelmed.

Raja Selvam begins with the observation that, although emotional experiences may involve numerous physiological systems, not all these processes are necessarily consciously accessible or available to support the experience of an emotion.

Sometimes, a person may experience fear predominantly in the chest, anger in the abdomen, or sadness as a constriction in the throat. At other times, they may be able to identify an emotion cognitively without perceiving many of its bodily manifestations.

Selvam proposes that expanding emotional experience into more areas of the body may help increase our capacity to tolerate it. To illustrate this principle, he uses a simple analogy: a weight may be easier to carry when it is distributed between two arms rather than supported by just one. Similarly, he suggests that a difficult emotional experience may become more tolerable when it is supported by a larger part of the organism.

It is important, however, to distinguish this explanation, which belongs to the theoretical model of ISP, from a scientific conclusion demonstrated across all clinical situations.

Although there is substantial research supporting the body's involvement in emotional experience, the specific mechanisms through which consciously expanding an emotion might produce the changes described by Selvam require further investigation.

Why Might We Need to Develop a Greater Capacity to Tolerate Emotions?

One of the ideas I find particularly relevant in this approach is the distinction between the intensity of an emotion and our capacity to tolerate it.

An emotion does not necessarily have to be very intense to become difficult to bear. Sometimes, even a relatively mild emotional experience may be perceived as threatening, particularly when, during our development, certain emotions could not be expressed, recognised, or supported within important relationships.

For example, someone who grew up in an environment where expressing anger was punished or associated with the risk of losing a relationship may learn to inhibit that emotion.

As an adult, they may struggle to recognise their dissatisfaction, say "no", or express their boundaries, even when they rationally understand that they have good reasons to do so.

In other situations, sadness may become associated with helplessness, vulnerability with danger, and joy or excitement with the risk of subsequent disappointment. Therefore, it is not only emotions we consider unpleasant that can become difficult to tolerate.

Sometimes, positive experiences such as closeness, love, joy, or a sense of fulfilment can also activate defensive mechanisms.

These mechanisms are not necessarily problematic in themselves. On the contrary, they may develop as ways of adapting to circumstances in which emotional experiences were too intense, too difficult, or insufficiently supported.

Nevertheless, what initially served a protective function may, in certain situations, come to limit a person's capacity to remain in contact with their own emotions, needs, and impulses.

From the perspective of ISP, therapeutic work also aims to increase this capacity for affect tolerance.

This is not about learning to endure any situation or becoming more tolerant of harmful relational experiences. Rather, it is about being able to remain in contact with our emotional responses so that we can recognise them, understand them, and use them as meaningful information about what we are experiencing.

For example, being able to feel anger without immediately inhibiting it, but also without acting impulsively, may allow us to recognise a personal boundary.

Similarly, being able to remain in contact with sadness may facilitate the processing of a loss, without the person having to continually distance themselves from the painful experience.

Of course, the capacity to tolerate an emotion is not the only factor involved in psychological change. The context in which the emotion arises, the meaning it holds for the person, the resources available to them, and the relationships in which it can be expressed and understood are also important.

The Relationship Between Emotions, the Body, Cognition, and Behaviour

Another important aspect of ISP is its perspective on the relationship between the body, emotions, thinking, and behaviour.

Traditionally, cognitive processes have been studied predominantly in relation to brain functioning. However, research in the field of embodied cognition has contributed to a broader understanding of how cognitive processes are influenced by the body and by the organism's interaction with its environment.

From this perspective, thinking, perception, emotions, and behaviour do not function as entirely separate processes, but influence one another.

Raja Selvam incorporates these perspectives into his model, giving emotional experience a central role. He argues that difficulties in experiencing and tolerating certain emotions may influence both cognitive processes and behaviour.

For example, we may understand perfectly well, at a rational level, that we have the right to establish boundaries in a relationship and yet find it extremely difficult to do so.

Sometimes, this difficulty may be associated with emotions such as fear, guilt, or shame, which become difficult to tolerate when we try to act differently.

In other situations, a person may understand that they are not responsible for other people's emotional reactions, yet continue to experience intense guilt when they try to prioritise their own needs.

In such contexts, cognitive exploration may be important, but not always sufficient to bring about the desired change. Working with emotional and bodily experience may therefore offer a complementary way of supporting the therapeutic process. This does not mean that all cognitive or behavioural difficulties are rooted in insufficiently processed emotions, nor that body-oriented work is necessary in every situation.

Rather, ISP offers an additional perspective on how emotional experience may contribute to the maintenance of certain psychological difficulties.

How Is the Embodiment of Emotions Practised in ISP?

Although the theoretical model is quite extensive, the interventions used in ISP may, at first glance, seem relatively simple.

Raja Selvam describes four main components of the emotional embodiment process: the situation, the emotion, the expansion of emotional experience, and integration.

These are not necessarily rigid stages that must always be followed in the same order, but rather aspects of the therapeutic process that can be revisited depending on what emerges during the work.

Generally, we begin with a situation that is relevant to the person and activates a particular emotional experience. This may be a current situation, a past experience, or a relational difficulty that continues to cause distress.

We then explore the associated emotions, including how they are experienced in the body. Sometimes, the emotion is easy to identify, while at other times, more time may be needed to recognise it or to distinguish between several emotional experiences.

An important aspect is supporting the emotional experience, including through the therapeutic relationship, empathy, and validation.

In ISP, working with the body does not mean abandoning psychological exploration or the context in which the emotion arose.

Different interventions may then be used to facilitate the expansion of emotional experience and support the organism's capacity to tolerate it. These interventions may include directing attention towards certain areas of the body, awareness of breathing, gentle movements, exploring bodily sensations, or using self-touch.

For example, a person may be invited to place a hand on a particular area of their body, notice changes that occur as they breathe, or explore a gentle movement while remaining in contact with the emotion and the situation that activated it.

In certain contexts, touch provided by the therapist may also be used, when appropriate, with explicit consent and with respect for the person's boundaries and individual needs.

Touch or self-touch is not used simply for relaxation. It may help support bodily awareness, facilitate contact with particular areas of the body, and explore the possibility of emotional experience becoming more expansive and tolerable.

At the same time, breathing and movement may be used to observe and influence certain physiological responses associated with emotions.

An important point is that the aim is neither to provoke an intense emotional release nor to eliminate discomfort as quickly as possible.

In ISP, the expansion of emotional experience is accompanied by attention to the regulation of the organism, so that the person can remain in contact with the emotion without becoming overwhelmed.

The intensity, duration, and depth of the interventions are adapted to the person's capacity. Sometimes, the work may involve only a few moments of bodily exploration, while at other times it may occupy a larger part of the session.

A final aspect of the process is integration, which involves noticing any changes that may have occurred in bodily, emotional, cognitive, or behavioural experience.

For example, the person may notice that the emotion has become easier to tolerate, that a different perspective on the situation has emerged, or that certain possibilities for action feel more accessible.

However, such changes do not always occur immediately, nor can they be predicted or guaranteed.

How I Integrate This Approach into My Practice

I do not believe psychotherapy should be viewed as a competition between approaches, in which we try to determine which method is the best, independently of the person and the context.

At the same time, evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions is important and should guide our practice.

Nevertheless, it also matters for whom a particular intervention is appropriate, at what point in the therapeutic process it is used, what the person's goals are, and how it fits within the therapeutic relationship.

In my psychotherapy practice, I use certain ISP interventions as part of an integrative approach, when I consider that they may support the therapeutic process. I do not work exclusively with this method.

For me, understanding a person's experience involves more than exploring the bodily manifestations of emotions. Their life history, significant relationships, adaptive strategies, internal conflicts, and the meanings they attribute to their experiences remain important aspects of the psychotherapeutic process.

At the same time, I have observed that there are situations in which interventions focused on the embodiment of emotions can offer something additional. Sometimes, a person may be able to talk about an emotion and understand it very well, yet find it difficult to remain in contact with the experience itself. At other times, the emotion quickly becomes overwhelming, or there is a tendency to inhibit it, control it, or distance oneself from it.

In some of these moments, using ISP interventions has facilitated a change in how the emotion could be experienced and tolerated.

I have also encountered situations in which, after a period of verbal exploration, a relatively brief bodily intervention contributed to the emergence of a new understanding or a shift in the therapeutic process.

These experiences pleasantly surprised me, including during my own experiential work throughout the training, and made me curious to continue exploring the possibilities of this approach.

Nevertheless, I believe it is important to distinguish clinical observations from evidence regarding the effectiveness of an intervention.

The fact that I have observed changes in certain situations does not mean that these can be attributed exclusively to the method or that the same results will occur for everyone.

The psychotherapeutic process is complex, and change may be influenced by numerous factors, including the therapeutic relationship, the timing of an intervention, and the person's experiences and resources.

Some Final Reflections

One of the aspects I appreciated in this training was the emphasis on the difference between identifying an emotion, understanding it, and having the capacity to experience it.

Although these processes are interconnected, they are not necessarily equivalent.

We may understand why we are afraid without being able to tolerate fear when it arises. We may recognise that we are angry, yet find it difficult to remain in contact with that emotion without inhibiting it or acting impulsively. We may talk about sadness and loss without always being able to access the emotional experience associated with them.

At the same time, being able to experience an emotion does not automatically mean that we have understood its meaning or that the psychological difficulty has been resolved.

Therefore, I do not believe that working with emotions can be reduced either to understanding them cognitively or to expressing or experiencing them in the body. Each of these dimensions may play an important role, depending on the person and the therapeutic process.

From this perspective, ISP has offered me additional tools that I can integrate into the psychotherapeutic process without replacing the approaches I already work with.

I believe that one of the challenges of our profession is precisely being able to recognise the value of an approach without turning it into a universal explanation of human experience.

We may observe changes in therapeutic practice without always knowing with certainty what produced them. We may find certain interventions useful without assuming that all the theoretical explanations accompanying them have been scientifically demonstrated. And we may be drawn to a method without allowing that attraction to prevent us from critically examining both its possibilities and its limitations.

In fact, the more I have studied psychology, the more cautious I have become about absolute or reductionist explanations, including those that come from theories I resonate with.

For me, curiosity and critical thinking are not incompatible. On the contrary, I believe they can support one another.

It is precisely this curiosity that has led me to continue exploring different therapeutic approaches, even after discovering several that have profoundly influenced my practice.

And ISP is one of those approaches that, without fundamentally changing my perspective on psychotherapy, has offered me new possibilities for working with emotional and bodily experience and, at the same time, new questions to reflect on.