Integrative Somatic Acupuncture (ISA)
Integrative Somatic Acupuncture (ISA) builds on the foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) while bringing particular attention to your lived experience – how you experience what is happening in your body, how your nervous system responds, and how your physical and emotional experience connects with your life.
Acupuncture is an important part of this work, woven together with somatic and nervous-system-informed approaches according to what is needed in each session. Sometimes acupuncture is at the center of the treatment; at other times, somatic awareness, breath, guided awareness, or deep listening may take a more central role. Sometimes the somatic process initiates something that acupuncture then supports or completes.
This work also brings an alchemical perspective. Rather than viewing every difficulty simply as something to eliminate, we can become curious about what it may be asking of you and what may be ready to change or emerge. The work is not only about restoring balance, but about helping you understand how your body and nervous system respond to life, develop greater capacity to stay connected to yourself through periods of change, and discover what you may be ready to release, reclaim, or become.
WHAT IS INTEGRATIVE SOMATIC ACUPUNCTURE?
Integrative Somatic Acupuncture (ISA) builds on the foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) while bringing particular attention to your lived experience – how you experience what is happening in your body, how your nervous system responds, and how your physical and emotional experience connects with your life.
The word somatic simply means ‘relating to the body’.
In this work, we pay attention to what you can actually notice within yourself: sensations, tension, breathing, energy, activation, fatigue, emotions, and your ability to settle and feel present. Rather than treating these experiences as separate from your physical health, we explore how they may be connected.
Over time, we begin to develop a personal map of your nervous system – recognizing patterns in how you respond to stress, relationships, change, rest, and everyday life. This may bring awareness to familiar patterns of tension, activation, protection, disconnection, or exhaustion.
Acupuncture is an important part of the work, woven together with somatic and nervous-system-informed approaches according to what is needed in each session. Sometimes acupuncture is at the center of the treatment; at other times, somatic awareness, breath, guided awareness, or deep listening may take a more central role. Sometimes the somatic process begins something that acupuncture then supports or completes.
The work also brings an alchemical perspective: rather than viewing every difficulty simply as something to eliminate, we can become curious about what it may be asking of you and what may be ready to change or emerge.
In this way, the work is not only about restoring balance, but about helping you understand how your body and nervous system respond to life, develop greater capacity to stay connected to yourself through periods of change, and discover what you may be ready to release, reclaim, or become.
The Integrative Somatic Acupuncture Approach
~ A deeper approach to your health, your body, and your life. ~
You may have reached a point in your life where something no longer feels the way it used to. Your body may be changing. You may be carrying more stress than your body can comfortably hold. You may feel overwhelmed, depleted, disconnected, or simply unsure of what you need. You may not have one clear problem to fix. You may simply sense that something is shifting: in your body, your emotions, your relationships, or the way you experience yourself and want support as you move through it.
This is where our work begins.
Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture provide the foundation to this approach. It also employs a somatic and nervous-system-informed focus to better understand your life experience, alongside an alchemical philosophy that sees stubborn symptoms, periods of difficulty and disruption, as part of a deeper process of transformation.
Healing is not about returning to who you were. It is about listening closely enough to discover who you are becoming.
Integrative Somatic Acupuncture is the umbrella approach through which the practitioner can address two primary areas of focus:
- Women’s Hormonal and Mental Emotional Health
- Nervous System Regulation and Stress Management
How is Integrative Somatic Acupuncture different from typical TCM Acupuncture?
TCM Acupuncture, in itself, is a phenomenal healing practice that views the body as an interconnected whole. Rather than treating symptoms in isolation, it considers how physical, emotional, mental, environmental, and lifestyle factors may contribute to a person’s overall pattern of health and imbalance. Acupuncture, and other TCM approaches, are then used to support balance, resilience, and the body’s natural capacity to heal.
Integrative Somatic Acupuncture builds on this foundation by bringing particular attention to your lived experience, how patterns are felt and expressed in your body, how your nervous system responds, and how these experiences connect with your life.
Rather than focusing solely on “What symptom are you experiencing?” we also explore:
- How are you experiencing this in your body?
- What happens when you slow down enough to notice?
- Where do you hold tension or stress?
- What happens in your body when you feel overwhelmed or depleted?
- What helps you feel more settled, present and connected?
This may bring awareness to patterns of tension, activation, protection, disconnection, or exhaustion that have become familiar ways of responding.
From this perspective, healing is not simply about eliminating symptoms or returning to a previous state. It is about developing a greater sense of safety and connection within yourself, expanding your capacity to move through stress and change, and supporting your nervous system in finding its way back toward regulation.
By bringing together the wisdom of TCM Acupuncture with a somatic, nervous-system-informed approach, the work invites you to listen more deeply to your body, recognize the patterns that have helped you navigate life, and gradually create new possibilities for how you respond, connect, rest, and heal.
The Value of 'Nervous-System-Informed Care'
Your nervous system influences how you experience stress, rest, sleep, energy, emotions, and your ability to feel settled and present.
Nervous-system-informed care is not simply about making you calm. It is about developing greater capacity to stay connected to yourself while moving through stress, emotion, uncertainty, and change.
As your capacity grows, you may find it easier to rest, recognize your needs, establish boundaries, move through difficult emotions, and respond to life with greater flexibility.
The aim is to help you build a stronger internal foundation, something you can draw on not only during treatment, but in the way you move through everyday life.
Two Main Areas of Focus
① Women’s Hormonal and Mental Emotional Health
Women move through distinct physical, hormonal and emotional life cycles, and some of these changes can mark profound periods of transition.
Perimenopause and menopause, in particular, can be experienced not only as hormonal transitions, but as significant thresholds in a woman’s life – an initiation into a new state of being.
Changes in sleep, mood, energy, stress, menstrual patterns and the way you experience your body are important messages during this transition.
These shifts can invite a deeper level of reflection:
- Who am I becoming?
- What is changing in the way I relate to my body and myself?
- What aspects of my previous identity, roles or ways of living no longer feel aligned?
- What is asking to be released, redefined or brought more fully into my life?
The ISA approach makes space for both dimensions: supporting the physical experience of hormonal change while also allowing room for the deeper inner process that may accompany it. It provides an opportunity to honour these powerful questions in a woman’s life while supporting the body through change.
② Nervous System Regulation and Stress Management
Your nervous system plays an important role in how you experience stress, rest, sleep, energy and emotional wellbeing.
Our nervous systems learn from our experiences, often beginning very early in life. Patterns that once helped us feel safe, connected or protected can continue to influence how we respond to the world long after circumstances have changed.
Over time, these patterns can become the stories we live by – shaping how we relate to others, how we respond to stress, the boundaries we believe we can set and what feels familiar or safe.
This can show up as anxiety, tension, difficulty relaxing, sleep difficulties, fatigue, emotional overwhelm or difficulty feeling settled within yourself.
Nervous system work creates an opportunity to become more aware of these patterns and develop greater choice in how you respond.
The intention is to help you recognize what your body is communicating and develop a greater capacity to respond to the present from where you are now.
What May Be Included In Your Treatment?
Every treatment is individualized. Depending on your needs, sessions may incorporate:
Acupuncture – A gentle, intentional approach that prioritizes your comfort while supporting deep rest, relaxation and mind/body connection.
Deep Listening – Your experience is an important part of the treatment, creating space to explore what you are experiencing and where and how you feel it in your body, with practices such as Focusing and Inner Sensing bringing greater awareness to sensations, emotions and what is asking for your attention, whether through conversation, somatic exploration or acupuncture.
Somatic Practices – Simple practices that help you notice physical sensations, breathing, tension and your body’s responses.
Nervous System Regulation – Polyvagal-informed approaches to support greater awareness, regulation and resilience.
Breathwork & Meditation – Guided practices to support slowing down, presence and connection with the body.
Energy Medicine – Energy medicine may include hands-on energy work, flower essences and essential oils, selected as part of an individualized approach to your care.
Not every session will include every approach. The treatment is shaped around what you need at that stage of your care.
During The Treatment
Your first appointment begins with understanding where you are now – what you are experiencing, what has brought you in, and what you would most like support with.
We look at your physical experience alongside your nervous system, emotions, health history, and current life circumstances.
From there, we establish a starting point for your care.
Some sessions may feel deeply restorative. Others may involve more active awareness and exploration. Your treatment may evolve as your needs change.
The intention is not simply to help you feel better in the treatment room, but to support a deeper relationship with your body and inner experience that can begin to influence how you live, relate, rest, work, and make choices outside of treatment.
The Possibilities of Integrative Somatic Acupuncture
Over time, becoming more aware of your body and your thought patterns can give you choice in how you live.
You may begin to:
- Notice what you need before you reach exhaustion
- Recognize when you are pushing past your own limits
- Respond to what is happening instead of automatically reacting
- Create healthier boundaries around your time and energy
- Make more space for rest and emotional experience
- Feel more able to navigate uncertainty and change
- Make choices based on what feels right and true for you, rather than simply what is familiar, expected, or demanded of you
This is where healing can become more than symptom management. It can become a different relationship with yourself and a different way of living.
A Different Relationship With Healing
Healing begins when you stop trying to fix yourself and start listening to yourself.
Your symptoms, emotions, and difficult experiences are not always simply problems to eliminate. Sometimes they are signals that something needs your attention: a need that has been ignored, a pattern that is no longer serving you, or a way of living that no longer fits.
This is where my alchemical approach to healing comes in. Alchemy views periods of disruption and uncertainty as potential points of transformation. Rather than rushing to return to how things were, we can become curious about what is changing, what is asking to be released, and what may be ready to emerge.
The work is about developing the capacity to stay connected to yourself through that process – to recognize what you need, respond to your body’s signals, and make choices that are increasingly true for you.
The primary intention is to support you in reconnecting with your body, your emotions, your inner awareness, and your own capacity for healing; so that difficulty can become an opportunity to grow into who you are becoming.
Begin your next chapter!
FAQs About Integrative Somatic Acupuncture
Absolutely! At Refined Health & Wellness, our Acupuncture practitioners have received specialized accreditation and training. Since Integrative Somatic Acupuncture is performed by a Registered Acupuncturist who is fully certified, treatments are eligible for reimbursement by 3rd party insurance with acupuncture benefits. Depending on your insurance plan, direct billing for Integrative Somatic Acupuncture may also available.
If you are interested in Integrative Somatic Acupuncture (ISA) and would like to learn more before booking a treatment, we recommend scheduling a free 15-minute virtual or phone consultation with Dr. Ramona.
This free 15-minute virtual or phone consultation can be booked directly through our online booking site. Click here to be taken straight there!
Integrative Somatic Acupuncture in St. Albert
Integrative Somatic Acupuncture (ISA) is available at our St. Albert wellness clinic through select Registered Acupuncturists who have acquired specialized training and accreditation.
Integrative Somatic Acupuncture treatments can be received by anyone, from elite athletes to everyday clients.
Questions about Integrative Somatic Acupuncture? Please reach out to us at info@refinedhealthandwellness.ca or book your FREE 15-minute virtual or phone consultation with Dr. Ramona.