Exploring Life & Business with Margaret Sigel of Margaret Sigel Therapy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Margaret Sigel.

Hi Margaret, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I spent nearly twenty years in the entertainment industry. It was demanding work, with long hours, time on location, and scripts to read on weekends. But it also gave me flexibility and access I wouldn’t have had elsewhere. I learned how high-stakes environments work from the inside, and I was good at holding complexity.
Somewhere along the way, I noticed I was more drawn to the conversations happening in the margins than to the work itself. The real ones, about what people were actually going through when the meeting ended.
The pivot didn’t happen overnight. It started in my early 40s, during a period when life got loud enough that I couldn’t keep overriding the signals anymore. I’d been in therapy on and off for years, mostly talk therapy, and it helped me understand myself. But understanding wasn’t the same as changing. Something still felt stuck.
That’s when I found somatic work, and it shifted everything. Not just insight, but how I actually felt in my body, in my relationships, in my daily life. It made me want to offer that to other people, especially people like me who’d done the work, built the life, and still felt like they were running on empty.
I opened my practice in Santa Monica in early 2025. I work with adults and couples who’ve often already tried therapy and found it helpful but incomplete. Many are high-achievers who learned early to perform, hold it together, and push through. My work helps them understand why insight alone wasn’t enough, and what their nervous system needs to finally shift.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth? No. The career change itself was a leap. I left a stable path in an industry I knew well to start over in graduate school in my 40s. That takes a certain amount of faith, and also a certain amount of not knowing what else to do with the restlessness.
The training years were intense. I was completing my hours toward licensure, going through the multi-year Somatic Experiencing training program, attending consultations and supervision, and raising two kids as a single mom. There were seasons where I wasn’t sure I could hold it all. But that pressure also clarified things. I learned I could trust myself in ways I hadn’t before.
I think the hardest part wasn’t the workload. It was letting go of an identity I’d built over two decades and being willing to be a beginner again. That’s humbling. It’s also the same thing I now ask clients to do: sit with discomfort, trust the process, and stay with it even when it’s unclear where it’s going.

We’ve been impressed with Margaret Sigel Therapy, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I have a private practice in Santa Monica offering somatic therapy for adults and couples. I work with people navigating anxiety, trauma, stress, and relationship challenges, with a focus on high-functioning adults who’ve often done talk therapy before but still feel stuck.
Many of my clients look successful from the outside. They’re managing careers, families, and full lives. But underneath, they’re carrying more than anyone sees: tension that won’t let up, a nervous system that runs hot, old patterns that keep showing up no matter how much insight they’ve gained. I help them understand why understanding wasn’t enough, and what actually helps the body shift.
My approach combines talk therapy with somatic work, specifically Somatic Experiencing, a body-based method developed by Dr. Peter Levine. I completed the multi-year SE training program and am a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP). This training shaped not just how I work with clients but my own healing as well.
What I’m most proud of is the space I’ve created. It’s warm but not soft. My clients don’t need coddling. They need someone who gets what it’s like to hold a lot and still feel like something’s missing. I offer that, along with practical tools and a pace that respects how full their lives already are.
I see clients in person in Santa Monica and online throughout California.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Trust that the long path is the path. Becoming a therapist isn’t quick, and the training years can feel endless, especially if you’re coming to it later in life or juggling other responsibilities. But those years aren’t just hoops to jump through. They’re shaping you. Every client, every supervision session, every moment you didn’t know what you were doing but stayed in the room anyway. It all counts.
I’d also say: get your own therapy, and make it somatic if you can. You can’t take clients somewhere you haven’t been yourself. The work will ask things of you, and you need a place to process that. Not just intellectually, but in your body.
And if you’re drawn to somatic work, don’t wait until you’re “ready” to start training. I began the Somatic Experiencing program while I was still accumulating hours toward licensure. It was a lot. But it also meant that by the time I opened my practice, I had both foundations in place. That integration made me a better clinician from the start.
One more thing: don’t build your practice around everyone. Get clear on who you want to work with and speak directly to them. It’s tempting to stay broad so you don’t miss anyone, but clarity is what draws the right people in.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.margaretsigeltherapy.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/margaretsigeltherapy
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaretsigeltherapy

Image Credits
Mark Leibowitz