Aftercare: What to expect after sessions

After sessions, your nervous system often continues to process, integrate and reorganise for the next 1-3 days (and sometimes longer). This is a normal and healthy part of the work. You don’t need to do anything for this to happen - your system knows what it’s doing.

Below are some things you might notice and some simple ways to support yourself.

You may notice shifts - THIS IS NORMAL.

As your nervous system continues working in the background, you might notice:

  • changes in energy (more or less)

  • changes in emotion or a feeling of vulnerability

  • dreams

  • body sensations

  • symptoms shifting or intensifying briefly.

These changes are part of the integration process. They don’t mean anything is wrong. They will typically settle within a few days.

If something feels confusing or concerning, please email me. I’m here to support you between sessions if anything comes up.

If you feel tired

Tiredness is common. It’s your system saying: I’m doing a lot right now. It can help to slow down or rest, where this is possible, to allow your nervous system to do this work in the background.

If resting feels unfamiliar or challenging, which is common, you might consider allowing just 1% more rest or slowness than usual. Small amounts make a real difference.

If you feel energetic

Some people feel a burst of energy after a session. This may feel exciting or unfamiliar. If this happens, you might consider not using it all right away.

You might try using just 10% of that energy, for example, and let the rest stay inside your system to support integration. You can even simply imagine using the energy rather than acting on it.

Over time, you might notice a steadier and more sustainable energy increase - which is different from this temporary post-session lift.

YOU MIGHT FEEL SOFTER OR MORE OPEN

Sometimes after SE work, people feel tender, spacious, emotional or more connected to themselves. This “softness” is a sign of shift and integration. Being gentle toward yourself helps these changes settle in.

You may notice more sensations, emotions or subtle shifts in your body. This doesn’t mean things are getting worse. It usually means your system is becoming more available and you are becoming more attuned to your inner experience. You don’t need to analyse what you notice, even though it’s common to want to do so. Perhaps you can just let it be there, and know that it will pass in time.

You can mention any curiosities or things you observe in the next session.

A FEW SIMPLE SUPPORTS FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAY OR WEEK

  • Keep plans light if you can

  • Eat and drink regularly

  • If you feel activated - try and bring your attention back to the present moment. For example, notice your feet on the ground, or the support of your seat, or look around the room and take in the safety of your surroundings. You might also try a containing self hug (wrapping arms around yourself and noticing the support) if that feels supportive.

  • If emotions arise, you don’t need to “do” anything with them. Just allow them to move through, if possible.

  • Small grounding actions and keeping focused on the present are enough.

WHEN TO REACH OUT

Please email me if:

  • Something feels overwhelming or unusually intense

  • You’re unsure whether what you’re experiencing is normal

  • You’d like clarity, reassurance or guidance.

You don’t need to wait until the next session if something’s concerning you - it’s important that you feel steady and supported as you move through this work.

A note on autonomic discharge

Autonomic nervous system discharge (discharge for short) occurs when a nervous system begins to come out of shock or survival-based arousal. It’s the way the body moves the energy or activation that’s been bound up inside, out and through. It’s a really good thing - it’s the autonomic nervous system doing what it knows how to do - and we want to allow it to happen. Animals do this naturally (notice how often a dog or cat shakes their body off!). As humans, we often suppress or override it.

As one example, I had a car accident years ago. Once it was over, and I’d got to safety, my legs started trembling massively. This was my body trying to discharge the shock. I didn’t know what it was at the time, and part of me wondered if it meant something was wrong. I was also worried about what others would think! So I shut it down a bit.

Knowing what I do now, and having many years of experience with it (through earthquakes, dental procedures, and emergency health visits, as well as through many years of my own SE sessions), it would have been ideal to allow this process to continue until it settled.

These are all examples of when it happens in the immediate aftermath of an overwhelming event. But discharge commonly occurs within SE sessions or afterward. That’s because in sessions, we’re connecting with the autonomic nervous system physiology that holds the bound survival energy.

Discharge can look big or small. It might look like the whole lower body trembling - through hips, pelvis, and legs. Or faint trembling in the jaw. It might simply involve tears. Or a tingling sensation through a particular location in the body.

Ideally, you’ll want to go with it, and let the body do what it knows how to do. The most important thing is that you’re able to stay present with it. That might be through for example staying connected to what you see in your environment through sight or touch, or through hands on your body, providing supportive self-contact. It might be by gently naming what’s happening.

Often, after a discharge happens, you’ll become a bit more present, calm, and relaxed. You may feel sleepy and tired. The body has just done a piece of work! Best to allow rest if you can.

If the discharge process feels overwhelming, scary, or you start to feel disconnected - it’s okay if you have to shut it down or distract yourself by doing something else. The discharge will still be able to move through another time when the conditions are right.

The main thing is that you’re aware this can be part of the process of somatic work, and not to be afraid of it. If you have any questions around something you’re noticing, let me know and we can talk it through.

This article by Dave Berger, SEP, provides a more in-depth explanation of discharge, for those who are interested.