

what is psychosexual somatics therapy?
I experience PST as a gift to self.
A plug-in back to clarity and connection to my authenticity.
This practise has really helped me in learning how to hold space for myself.
“PST draws from the multiple core disciplines of psychotherapy, trauma therapy, neuroscience, energy psychology clinical sexology, coaching and consciousness studies.”
-Mike Lousada and Louise Mazanti, creators of PST
Psychosexual Somatics® is a practise which aids us in getting to the root of our challenges. We enquire to see how the patterns that play out in our lives are a “second wave” as a result of core wounds that we have experienced, which we refer to as our “first wave”. Our core wounds are usually created by developmental or event traumas, and examples set in our childhoods. Once these ways of being and experiencing the world and relational dynamics have been patterned onto us, they have a way of repeating themselves in our lives until we become conscious of them. If we do not see these conditionings, we end up attract mirroring situations and traumas into our lives again and again…it can be a painful and exhausting repeat.
The therapeutic modality of Psychosexual Somatics® helps us to connect our first and second waves so that we can answer questions like…
“Why is this happening to me?”
…so that we can stop re-creating our traumas and write a new story.
Sometimes, even if our minds we can understand that,
“I’ve gone through this thing, it was really traumatic”
…similar situations can still occur that re-trigger these traumas. It’s not just the mind that’s holding onto this pain, it’s also in our bodies. Psychosexual Somatics® safely zooms in and looks at the ways in which we are avoiding the truth that is within our bodies because it is sometimes too painful to acknowledge and feel. If we continue with these avoidances, we create split characters within ourselves. Creating these personality splits is a way that we learn how to cope and survive under the circumstances of life.
For example...
If a woman grows up in a very religious and culturally traditional household where sex and emotions are seen as shameful things to celebrate or discuss, she may learn that she has to suppress her sexuality and feelings. This would create a split in her personality: a part of her which she feels unable to share, manifesting as her living a life of internal separation. If this is her internal experience, it would more than likely be projected out into the world as her external experience too. This could cause her to act out of rebellion when not around her family, potentially over-sexualising her intimate experiences with others in a performative and emotionally detached way. She may not be able to experience orgasms if she has internalised shame around her own pleasure and what it means to be a sexual and emotional being.
When parts of us are suppressed, they can become shameful
When there is shame around a part of us, it can create a shadow self
When we act from our shadow selves, we are more likely to cause harm to ourselves and to others.
In PST we get to know the different characters within us.
We don’t try to get rid of them,
we accept them and nurture them.
This helps us to bring not only understanding,
but integration within us.
The key goal is to find the gift that the different parts of ourselves offer: even the mad, bitchy part of you has a purpose that is valid! We are capable of holding both the shadow and light versions of ourselves. The more aware we become of our shadows (our avoidant behaviours, unconscious material and patterns) the more we can show up in relation with others and ourselves. This is a great resource to facilitate us to show up in an intimate, truthful and authentic way in our lives.
We come back to feeling.
This is not only a practise to intellectualise within your mind, this is a process to be experienced and felt within your body. Having said this, in PST our mission is to transform the neuro-pathways that we’ve created based on our experiences. This practise can help us to change those patterns in our minds, and this creates genuine changes on a body level. In PST we believe that any sexual issue has an emotional root cause. By addressing both the mind, emotions and the body, and by re-regulating the nervous system, we can fully resolve these issues.
Life is always going to be challenging. Shit happens all the time. PST is not about changing that fact, it’s about creating more strength and safety in your own container to hold space for yourself intimately when those things occur.
" Conflict grows out of challenges that are presented by spirit. It is a gift, meant to help us move forward. It is through conflict that we gain knowledge of ourselves and learn new situations for using our own gifts. Conflict is a wake up call, sent by spirit to remind us of the purpose we are here to fulfil. In an indigenous context it is seen as a blessing. It should not be nurtured; it should be listened to and proper steps should be taken to address the spirit behind the conflict. Two humans together are always prone and vulnerable to some conflict or other. Without conflict everything is going to look pretty boring."
-Sobonfu Somé