I-SOPA

WELCOME

The Indiana Somatically-Oriented Practitioners Association (I-SOPA) is a free group for professionals in Indiana that are trained in and actively employing somatic interventions with their clients. We also welcome current students of somatic modalities. Professionals may include mental health therapists, addiction counselors, bodyworkers, life/health coaches, movement therapists, music therapists, and others. Meetups take place quarterly at various locations in the Indianapolis area.

I-SOPA was started by Allie Whitney, owner of Studio A Body Therapy, in 2023, as a way to bring together all those across the state of Indiana who share this passion for utilizing somatics in their work. The goal of this association and the meetups is to foster connection between somatically-oriented practitioners, support each other's implementation of somatic work, provide quality referrals to other providers, and help expand the reach of somatic work here in Indiana.

DEFINING “SOMATIC"

To help bring definition and cohesiveness to this group, we are defining somatics as that which involves the body, to invite curious exploration of the self, emphasizing internal perception and experience. Somatics utilizes approaches based on the "soma", or "the body as perceived from within", as described by Thomas Hanna.

The following excerpt, taken and adapted from the website of the International Somatic Movement Education & Therapy Association (ISMETA), further helps articulate what it means to work "somatically". They state that somatic methods help students and clients to:

increase awareness of the sensations of the body, including interoception and proprioception
focus on the body both as an objective physical process and as a subjective process of lived consciousness
recognize habitual patterns of interactions with the environment
discover new possibilities for interactions with the environment
enhance the awareness of biological, psychological, social, and ecological aspects of the human experience

Further, the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy offers that somatic modalities differ from other approaches in that they "...tend to be much more experiential and existential, and attempt to work much more at an authentic or ‘felt’ level, working with the person and their ‘felt sense’ of Self."

The I-SOPA Leadership Team, which consists of those involved in a variety of disciplines including psychotherapy, movement, and bodywork, have come up with the following list of qualities that we believe are key elements for somatic professionals to hold in their work:

Curiosity
Humility
Genuine care
Fostering awareness in the client/student/patient
Facilitating open-ended exploration of the self
Trusting and supporting the innate capacity and wisdom of the person and their embodied self, which is self-regulating and self-organizing

ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP

The following is a statement made by the I-SOPA Leadership Team in January 2026 regarding membership, that we invite you to read in order to better understand our intentions regarding membership to the association.

I-SOPA Membership Statement - January 2026

We as the I-SOPA leadership team have been in ongoing conversation clarifying our Association’s vision and practical approaches moving forward.

At this foundational stage and with our current capacities and resources, our priorities include:

protecting the integrity of the field of somatics in Indiana though clear articulation of its scope and its defining qualities of practice/practitioner orientation; and
collegial networking and community-building within the diverse body of somatic practitioners in Indiana

From that foundation, our long-term goals include:

educating the public and increasing access to quality somatically-oriented care
providing outreach events for those interested in somatic training, to facilitate exploration and exposure to the world of possibilities for professional training programs

With these goals and their distinctions in mind, our plan is that meetups will be designed for those with verifiable professional-level trainings specifically in somatic modalities. We have plans in the works for outreach events (open to professional members of I-SOPA and the public) for those who are looking to learn more about somatics or who would like to deepen their implementation of somatics.

The Leadership Team takes time to evaluate each membership application, with discussion and decision by group quorum as needed for each potential professional member. We’re doing our best to honor the mission of the Association, to hold integrity for the profession as well as to grow it and nurture individuals and community within the somatic field. Our intention is not to “gate keep,” but to embrace a diversity of somatic modalities and levels of experience… but there is plenty of gray area to contend with. If anyone has questions or concerns about those decisions as they unfold, we welcome you to get in touch with us to discuss.

WANT TO JOIN US?

If you feel that you meet the qualifications of one who is working somatically as a professional or one who is a current student of somatics (using the definition above of "somatics") and are interested to join I-SOPA, please fill out the short application below to help us get to know you better. Thank you!

I-SOPA

I-SOPA Application