Transforming Touch

I believe true healing begins in the body. For many individuals who have experienced developmental trauma, chronic stress, or insecure attachment, the nervous system carries imprints that traditional talk therapy alone cannot always reach. That’s where Transforming Touch® comes in—a gentle, hands-on somatic therapy designed to support nervous system regulation, heal early developmental ruptures, and restore the foundation for secure connection with oneself and others.

What Is Transforming Touch®?

Transforming Touch® is part of the Transforming the Experience-Based Brain (TEB) model, developed by Stephen J. Terrell, PsyD, to address early developmental trauma, particularly disruptions that occur in the first years of life when the brain and body are still forming. During this time, the nervous system relies heavily on co-regulation from caregivers to learn how to feel safe, connected, and attuned to the world.

When those early needs aren’t met—due to neglect, inconsistent caregiving, medical trauma, abuse, or other disruptions—the body often becomes stuck in patterns of dysregulation, survival responses (fight, flight, freeze), and fragmented attachment. Transforming Touch® helps to gently repair these early ruptures through intentional, respectful touch and deep relational presence.

This modality supports the autonomic nervous system which is the part of us that is responsible for our stress responses and helps guide it back into a place of regulation, resilience, and rest. It invites the body to experience what it didn’t receive the first time around: attuned, nurturing support that allows for emotional safety and embodied healing.

How Transforming Touch® Supports Nervous System Regulation

Your nervous system is the foundation of your emotional and physical well-being. When it's out of balance, you may feel anxious, shut down, on edge, disconnected, overwhelmed, or reactive often without knowing why. These patterns are not your fault. They are adaptations your body created in response to early experiences that didn’t feel safe.

Transforming Touch® works directly with the brainstem and midbrain which are areas responsible for survival, threat detection, and early sensory processing. Through safe, respectful contact, this therapy calms overactive threat responses, supports vagus nerve regulation, and gently rewires the nervous system toward safety and trust.

Clients often report:

• Feeling calmer, more grounded, and more present

• Less anxiety or emotional overwhelm

• Increased ability to rest and sleep

• More spaciousness in their bodies and relationships

• A sense of being safe enough to explore deeper emotions or memories

Healing Insecure Attachment with Transforming Touch®

Attachment is the foundation of how we relate to others, to ourselves, and to the world. If your earliest relationships were marked by inconsistency, abandonment, fear, or neglect, you may have developed what’s called an insecure attachment style.

Secure Attachment

A secure attachment style develops when a child experiences consistent, attuned, and loving care. As a result, they grow up feeling safe to explore, express needs, set boundaries, and trust others. Securely attached adults tend to have balanced emotional regulation, healthy interdependence, and confidence in relationships.

Insecure Attachment Styles

• Anxious Attachment: Fear of abandonment, emotional highs and lows, seeking reassurance, difficulty trusting that others will stay.

• Avoidant Attachment: Difficulty with intimacy, self-reliance to an extreme, emotional detachment, discomfort with vulnerability.

• Disorganized Attachment: A mix of anxious and avoidant behaviors, often stemming from relational trauma. Individuals may long for closeness but fear it at the same time, often feeling unsafe in both connection and solitude.

Transforming Touch® provides a relational repair that supports the development of secure attachment by offering what was once missing: a consistent, attuned presence that does not demand performance, perfection, or protection. Over time, clients begin to feel:

• Safe in connection

• Able to ask for and receive support

• More regulated in moments of stress

• Less reactive in conflict

• More trusting of their own emotional experience

Who Can Benefit?

While Transforming Touch® supports anyone looking to reconnect with their body and regulate their nervous system, it’s particularly helpful for those who struggle with:

1. Mental Health Symptoms

Anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD, dissociation, and chronic stress often stem from a dysregulated nervous system. Transforming Touch® helps the body come out of survival mode and into a state where true healing can occur without re-traumatizing or pushing the system too fast.

2. Chronic Illness

The body and mind are deeply connected. Many chronic illnesses like autoimmune disorders, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and GI issues have roots in unresolved trauma or early stress. By working with the nervous system and supporting regulation, Transforming Touch® may help ease inflammation, improve digestion, and reduce pain or fatigue.

3. Relationship Challenges

Difficulty trusting others, setting boundaries, feeling emotionally safe, or staying connected during conflict are often signs of unresolved attachment trauma. Transforming Touch® offers a new blueprint for connection, helping clients experience relationships that feel steady, kind, and nourishing starting with the therapeutic relationship.

Primitive Reflex Integration

One of the lesser-known but powerful aspects of Transforming Touch® is its support of primitive reflex integration. Primitive reflexes are automatic movements that infants are born with to help them survive, bond, and develop. These reflexes are meant to integrate naturally in the first years of life.

However, if a child experiences early trauma, stress, or disruptions (birth trauma, medical interventions, lack of touch), these reflexes may remain active into adulthood. This can result in a host of challenges, including:

• Poor coordination or balance

• Sensitivity to light, sound, or touch

• Trouble with focus and attention

• Emotional reactivity

• Startle responses or hypervigilance

• Chronic tension or motor restlessness

Transforming Touch® helps the nervous system complete these developmental tasks by bringing the body into a state where it can safely release or integrate reflexive patterns that were previously stuck.

How Do I Know If I Have Unintegrated Reflexes?

You may have unintegrated reflexes if:

• You feel constantly on edge or startled easily

• You have trouble sitting still or relaxing

• You experience “mystery” symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, or headaches

• You struggle with sensory sensitivities or motor coordination

• You feel emotionally reactive, especially under stress

• You often feel like you’re “too much” or “not enough” in relationships

You don’t need to have a specific diagnosis to benefit. If you sense that your body is carrying something your mind can’t fully explain, your nervous system may be asking for a different kind of support.

What to Expect in a Transforming Touch® Session

Sessions are conducted fully clothed, either in person or through a blend of guided self-touch and co-regulation for remote clients. You will be met with warmth, compassion, and attunement. The work is gentle, non-invasive, your body leads the pace and there is never any pushing or forcing.

Each session may include:

• Light, supportive touch to areas such as the feet, back, or shoulders

• Grounding techniques and co-regulation practices

• Verbal processing only when appropriate and helpful

• Ongoing tracking of your nervous system’s cues to support integration

You Deserve to Feel Safe in Your Body

If you’ve felt stuck in patterns that you can’t think your way out of, if you’ve done years of talk therapy and are still struggling to feel safe, or if you’re longing to experience deeper connection and ease, Transforming Touch® might be the missing piece.

At Embodied Wholeness, I honor your body’s wisdom and capacity for healing. You're not broken. Your system just needs the right kind of support to remember how to feel safe, regulated, and whole.

Schedule a consultation today to see if Transforming Touch® is the right next step for you.

Frequently Asked Questions About Transforming Touch

1. What is Transforming Touch®, and how is it different from traditional talk therapy?
   Transforming Touch® is a hands-on somatic therapy that’s part of the Transforming the Experience-Based Brain (TEB) model. It was developed to address early developmental trauma and how it shows up in the nervous system, especially from early childhood when the brain/body are still forming.

   Unlike traditional therapy, which tends to focus mostly on thoughts, emotions, and narrative, Transforming Touch® works with the body through gentle, intentional touch and deep relational presence. It aims to support nervous system regulation, repair early attachment ruptures, and integrate patterns of survival such as fight, flight, or freeze.

2. Who can benefit from Transforming Touch®?
   This modality is useful for a wide range of clients, especially those who:

   • Experience mental health symptoms like anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD, dissociation, or chronic stress.

   • Live with chronic illness (e.g. autoimmune disorders, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, digestive issues), where early stress or trauma may be contributing to physical and emotional dysregulation.

   • Struggle with relationship issues—such as difficulty trusting others, setting boundaries, or staying emotionally safe or connected, especially if attachment was insecure in early relationships.

   Even if you don’t have a formal diagnosis, if you feel like something is “off” in your body or that it’s carrying more than what your mind can explain, Transforming Touch® might be helpful.

3. What does a typical Transforming Touch® session look like?
   Here’s what to expect:

   • Sessions are fully clothed.

   • They can be in person or virtual, using guided self-touch and co-regulation for clients who aren’t local.

   • The work is gentle and non-invasive: your body leads the pace; nothing is forced or pushed.

   • Components might include light, supportive touch (e.g. feet, back, shoulders), grounding techniques, verbal processing when helpful, tracking of nervous system cues during the session to support integration.

4. How do I know when I should schedule a consultation / appointment for Transforming Touch®?
   You might consider scheduling a consultation if:

   • You’ve done talk therapy and still feel stuck in patterns of anxiety, emotional overwhelm, dissociation, or reactivity.

   • Your body is showing symptoms like persistent tension, sensitivity to touch or sensory input, trouble relaxing, or sleep disturbances that seem connected to early trauma or stress.

   • You feel disconnected from your body or what you experience emotionally, or you long for deeper safety and connection (both with yourself and relationships).