A Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing: How Your Body Stores and Releases Trauma

Most of us know what it feels like to carry stress in our bodies. Maybe your shoulders climb toward your ears after a long day. Maybe your stomach ties itself in knots before a big meeting. Or maybe you’ve noticed moments when you feel oddly numb or disconnected, even if nothing “bad” is happening right now.

That’s not just in your head. Research shows that our bodies often hold on to stress and trauma. Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk famously wrote that “the body keeps the score,” meaning that our physical selves can store emotional pain long after the mind has tried to move on (van der Kolk, 2014).

This is where somatic healing comes in. It’s an approach to healing that focuses less on talking about what happened and more on helping your body complete the stress cycles that may have been interrupted in the past.

How Trauma Gets Stuck in the Body

When we face a threat, our nervous system kicks into survival mode:

• Fight or Flight: The sympathetic nervous system floods us with adrenaline and cortisol, speeding up the heart and priming the muscles.

• Freeze: If we can’t escape or fight back, the body may “shut down.” This is a protective mechanism, but it can leave that surge of survival energy trapped inside us.

If that energy doesn’t get discharged, it can show up later as:

• Constant muscle tension (tight jaw, sore shoulders, stiff hips)

• Digestive discomfort (since the gut and brain are closely connected [Harvard Health, 2020])

• Anxiety, irritability, or a sense of always being “on edge”

• Numbness or feeling disconnected from yourself

Over time, this can affect not just our mood, but also our physical health. Studies have shown that traumatic stress can change the brain’s alarm systems, particularly in areas like the amygdala (fear center) and hippocampus (memory and context) (Bremner, 2006).

What Is Somatic Healing?

“Somatic” comes from the Greek word for living body. Somatic healing methods help you tune into what your body is feeling — tension, tightness, warmth, or movement — and use that awareness to gently release stored stress.

Some common somatic approaches include:

• Somatic Experiencing (Peter Levine): Focuses on noticing and safely releasing the body’s “stuck” stress responses (Levine, 1997).

• Trauma-Sensitive Yoga: Simple, choice-based movement that helps people reconnect with their bodies without feeling overwhelmed. Research shows it can reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress (van der Kolk et al., 2014).

• Breathwork: Intentional breathing patterns that calm the nervous system and help the body let go of tension. Slow, deep breaths activate the “rest and digest” branch of the nervous system, lowering stress levels (Jerath et al., 2006).

Everyday Somatic Practices You Can Try

You don’t need a therapist’s office to start. Here are a few beginner-friendly practices you can try right now:

1. Grounding Through the Feet

Stand barefoot on the floor. Notice the weight shifting through your heels and toes. Press your feet down gently, and imagine the earth supporting you.

2. A Simple Body Scan

Close your eyes, take a slow breath, and bring your awareness from the top of your head down to your toes. Notice any sensations — tingling, warmth, tightness. Just acknowledging them is the first step to release.

3. Shake It Out

Animals naturally shake after stress to reset their nervous systems. Try standing up and letting your arms, legs, and torso shake for 30 seconds. You may feel lighter and more present afterward.

The Science of Why It Works

Somatic healing works because it speaks the body’s language. Instead of trying to think your way out of stress, you allow your body to process and release it.

• A 2015 review of Somatic Experiencing therapy found it can reduce symptoms of PTSD and support emotional recovery (Payne, Levine, & Crane-Godreau, 2015).

• Research on breath-focused practices shows that slow breathing can calm the autonomic nervous system and reduce anxiety (Jerath et al., 2006).

• Studies of trauma-sensitive yoga have found significant improvements in trauma symptoms and emotional regulation (van der Kolk et al., 2014).

Moving Toward Healing

Your body is not the enemy. It’s a guide, a memory-keeper, and a powerful ally in healing. Somatic practices like breathwork and mindful movement can help you release what’s been stuck, reconnect with yourself, and feel more grounded in everyday life.

References

• Bremner, J. D. (2006). Traumatic stress: Effects on brain and body. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 8(4), 445–461.

• van der Kolk, B. A., et al. (2014). Yoga as an adjunctive treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 75(6), e559–e565.

• Payne, P., Levine, P. A., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2015). Somatic experiencing: Using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 93.

• Harvard Health Publishing. (2020). The gut-brain connection.

• Jerath, R., Edry, J. W., Barnes, V. A., & Jerath, V. (2006). Physiology of long pranayamic breathing: Neural respiratory elements may provide a mechanism that explains how slow deep breathing shifts the autonomic nervous system. Medical Hypotheses, 67(3), 566-571.