Somatic Sense Rooms

This story is from an actual session, shared with permission.

Why am I blocked from being…me?

In her 40s, she quit her highly successful career, because she was determined to do something more satisfying. Still, she had a block to becoming her authentic self. She feared that her true self would be shut down. Or unsuccessful. Or something bad. She knew she should believe in herself. And that her genuine creativity and uniqueness was what brought joy to the world. She intellectually knew that being herself was the way she wanted to exist, and what she wanted for others. But something in her psyche just wouldn't fully let her.

I asked:

“When was the first time you felt this fear?”

When did you first learn you could be judged and shut down for sharing your genuine self?

She replied:

“It happened in first grade.”

Then, I invited her to find the Sense Room of her first grade classroom in the woods.

What is a Sense Room?

In forest therapy, there are many kinds of invitations we make to explore the woods or prairie around us, with curiosity and openness to mutuality with all beings in the web of life. We invite people to consider a certain way of exploring. Sometimes it’s based on a physical sense, such as “Let your nose lead you in any direction. If you catch a smell wafting on the wind, perhaps you want to trace it for a while.”

Sometimes it is based on an internal sense, such as proprioception, but there are dozens. One of the invitations is to find a sense room in the woods. This could be a kitchen, a bedroom, or a sports field. Anything that your inner body senses is "there." Once I gave the invitation to let your 8-year-old inner child find a sense room in the woods. What does s/he/they need: a place to cuddle and take a nap, a place to hide and be alone, or a place to build and play?

First Grade Sense Room

I explained that she could wander around until she saw a place that felt like it could be her first grade desk, however the trees and plants and slopes in the ground gave that feeling.

She checked out the surrounding environment. Finally she sat on a log, and said, “This is it.” I asked if I could role play her teacher, and she consented, knowing that at any time, she could stop the role play.

The teacher's assignment was to color in a coloring page that had an outline of a child.

“What is that?” the teacher asks, frowning.

“It’s a picture of me.” She waits.

“Why is that hair purple? Why are your eyes purple?!

Those aren't real body colors.

You're going to fail first grade.”

In a role play, one invitation is to go back into the neurological pathways of a memory, and introduce something new. So I invited her to speak from the truth she knew deep inside- without fearing the teacher's punishment.

She bravely responds to the teacher:

“Well, I think it's beautiful, and I don't see anything wrong with it.”

I asked her what else she needed in this moment.

To rewrite the internal script, she said she would like her dad to come in. And so, I became Dad, intuiting what I needed to say.

How does this help if it’s not accurate?

It's similar to Family Constellations work (developed by psychotherapist Bert Hellinger), where we step into an energetic field where we agree to enter into someone else's life story as a particular character. Sometimes the collective unconscious will feed our gut knowing of exactly how to act, and sometimes it’s a bit off. But that, too, is an opportunity for the person to stand in their own confidence when they change the actor's position, or respond back from their truth.

If you're curious how this works scientifically, you could research information about memory mapping and stepping into memory centers. I'm not a neuroscientist, but what I know is--- it often works. I trust in the science of trial-and-error for the personal alleviation of mental pain. I have read scientific research that shows the mind’s map exist outside of the space of the physical brain and extends into the atmosphere around the head and body. So whenever we externalize our interior process, whether with plants or art or writing, we are in direct connection with the mind’s thinking process.

Dad on the Scene

I walk in the classroom to pick up my little girl and say, “Hi, honey, how is school today?” in a deep dad voice.

“I drew this picture of me and who I want to be when I grow up. But the teacher said it wasn't realistic and that I might fail first grade.”

I leaned in close and softly whispered, “I don't think that teacher knows what she is talking about. You're very smart and creative. I'd like to take that picture home and put it up on the fridge.

My client nodded- that was exactly what she wanted- for her unique creativity to be celebrated.

And she walked out of that first grade classroom, in her 40-something year old body, with the verve of her 7-year-old inner child back in confidence.

And she walked further into the now-version-of-purple that she's meant to rock in this world.

Circle of Elders

Another kind of a Sense Room is finding a circle of elders. To step into this Sense Room, you wander around on land with trees until you find some trees that are in a rough shape of a circle. Spend time greeting each tree and asking if they would be willing to sit in your circle of elders and offer you some wisdom or advice. You can ask each tree if they'll take on the energy of a real elder in your life, such as a teacher, an ancestor, a guide, or a good friend. You can welcome each person-tree to the circle (and introduce them to each other if you want).

Then,

1. Sit in the circle and center in your body.

2. Feel the longing in your soul or a burning question in your heart, and ask it to the circle of elders.

3. Turn to look at each one of them and listen for their response. Feel free to sit, stand, or lay down and rest there a while.

4. When you're ready to leave, make a gratitude offering: perhaps a sip of water from your water bottle poured at the root of each tree, or setting a pretty leaf that you find on the ground next to each tree, or leaving a symbolic rock in the middle of their circle. Perhaps you sing a song, our make a bow of respect.

How to Try a Somatic Sense Room on your Own

1. Say out loud to the woods or nature setting you're in, “I want to find a place where I can...”

2. When your gut tells you a place might work, ask the trees plants and beings if you can hang out there for a while.

3. Start with what happened, and let enter in what needed to happen. You can play multiple roles by changing positions.

4. Thank your plant and animal companions for sharing this time in space.

Getting into our deep psyches through our bodies is the blessing of somatic healing. Getting into our bodies by paying attention to how they feel in various situations and experiences is somatic attunement.

Some people have told me, “I’m not sure if I could do that… I’ve never tried anything like that before.”

I hear ya.

And, for many of my clients, it is their first time. It was for her.

You don’t know what you can heal, until you try.

🌷 I'D LOVE TO INCLUDE ANY OF YOUR QUESTIONS. PLEASE WRITE ME. :)

© Shannon Gorres, 2025. Written by a human, not AI or chatGPT. Please contact me to request permission before sharing. I will give you permission to share sections of it when you include "by Shannon Gorres, www.DivineNatureTherapy.com"