GUEST BLOGGER: DANIELLE MORRAN, MC, CCC
Every moment in therapy — not just the heavy ones — is a conversation between two nervous systems. I feel it in subtle ways: a tightening in my chest, a flutter in my stomach, or a lightness I can’t quite name. My nervous system constantly attunes to the client’s, noticing the small rhythms, pauses, and cues — like the gentle shifts of wind through branches, signaling movement in the therapeutic/relational field.
Early in my work, I probably wouldn’t have recognized these cues. Now, I register them. My eyes may water, not because I’m feeling sad, but because something is moving in the field. Attending to my own system in the moment allows me to remain present, resourced, and available — a dance of co-regulation, not self-processing.
Capacity as the Ability to Bear Witness
Capacity speaks to the ability to bear witness — to ourselves and others. If we haven’t tended to our own wounds in our own therapy and reflective work, our nervous system can’t fully hold space for similar experiences in another, or even experiences that resonate on some level.
Capacity grows from knowing our own nervous system and cultivating self-attunement and regulation so that we can remain regulated, present, and responsive, moment to moment during sessions. This is always developing; and there is, and always will be, space for more capacity. This expanding capacity allows me to hold space with care, steadiness, and attuned presence — like a forest standing firm through shifting weather, providing shelter and support to the life within it.
The Body as Co-Regulatory Ally
Throughout sessions, I notice subtle bodily cues — a tightness in my chest, a flutter in my stomach, or a shift in posture — that signal to me how the material in the field is moving through both the client’s and my own nervous system. This is not about processing for myself, but about allowing the activation present in the session to be sensed, regulated, and moved in real time.
During sessions, my body helps me remain attuned to the client’s right hemispheric processes, including rhythms, pauses, and cues. Grounding through my feet, softening into my seat, or placing a hand on my heart are ways I support regulation as the work unfolds — like roots stabilizing a tree during a storm, providing resilience while still moving with the air currents around it.
These in-session practices enable me to bear witness and support clients in a way that fosters deeper, more integrated healing — a steady, embodied responsive presence that moves with the flow of the material in the therapeutic/relational field.
From Endurance to Attuned Presence
Many therapists may not fully realize the depth and importance of what holding space requires. Early in my practice, I didn’t realize that true attuned presence isn’t just about being available for the client — it requires an ongoing, intimate relationship with our own nervous systems and psyche.
My own process of learning to hold space deepened profoundly through the two-year Bringing the Body into Practice Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy Training, which invited me to meet my nervous system and relational patterns with greater curiosity and care. It offered a living reminder that how we tend to ourselves shapes the ground we offer others. This means noticing my own activation in the moment, regulating my nervous system and responses, and continuing that work outside of sessions.
Presence is nurtured through small, somatic practices: noticing breath, posture, and tone; pausing when the client’s system shifts; or using grounding cues like rhythm through the feet or a hand on the heart. Each micro-moment of such noticing and tending strengthens the relational field and allows us to hold space for clients to be seen, felt, and cared for, without losing our own regulation — like water flowing gently around rocks, shaping a channel while continuing onward.
Relational Capacity: We Don’t Hold Alone
Therapy asks us to witness deep emotions and wounding — but capacity isn’t a solo endeavor. Connection with supervisors, peers, mentors, or even the natural world expands our nervous system’s tolerance and capacity. Holding space is inherently relational: the therapist’s system is influenced by, and influences, the client’s system, and support outside sessions builds my capacity, which ultimately strengthens both.
During a clinic in the Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy Training, Lisa Mortimore, PhD shared something that stayed with me: We don’t become therapists without wounds, and we can’t become exceptional therapists without noticing and tending to them. Her words remind me that our own healing happens outside of sessions, so that inside the session, we can remain steady, attuned, and available.
Through my training, I came to see that holding space isn’t just about being available for the client — it begins with tending to our own systems first. Our inner work becomes the soil from which attunement and repair can grow.
Our capacity is shaped not by perfection, but by our willingness to meet what lives within us in our own reflective work — so we can bear witness to clients with tenderness, regulation, and repair. Every session, every moment, is like a river carrying both sediment and water: our own regulation helps the flow move smoothly, holding space for the client’s experiences without stagnation or turbulence. It’s an invitation to stay with, to soften, to keep becoming, like soil gradually nourishing roots and life over time.
A Gentle Closing
A therapist’s capacity is never fixed — it unfolds over time, in layers, through reflection, self-attunement, and connection. As therapists, we are expanding our capacity to stay present, attuned, and steady, even as new layers of experience arise in ourselves and in our clients. This work is ongoing, tender, and deeply human.
Each session, each moment, is an invitation to continue cultivating the capacity to bear witness, with care, compassion, and curiosity. By orienting, breathing, and noticing, I support my own regulation. This helps me remain fully present. Bearing witness doesn’t require endless endurance; it requires presence, embodied awareness, and relational attunement, all things which are at the heart of the Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy Training.
Danielle Morran, MC, CCC is a relational therapist trained in Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy and embodied regulation. She supports clients in reconnecting with their body’s wisdom, cultivating awareness, regulation, and deeper connection, and fostering healing, growth, and meaningful relationships. To reach Danielle, go to her website, https://www.morrancounsellingtherapy.com/