What Is Somatic Healing?

A Gentle Pathway to Releasing Trauma Through the Body

Meeting Your Body: An Invitation to Somatic Healing

Somatic healing is the quiet, body-led art of listening to the stories our cells still carry and offering them a safe, compassionate way to complete their tales. In recent years countless people—especially women navigating burnout, chronic tension, or the lingering ache of old wounds—have turned toward body-based therapy rather than purely cognitive approaches. Why? Because the body never forgets, and it never lies.

In this article we’ll explore exactly what somatic healing is, why trauma settles into muscles and fascia, and how simple practices—breath, micro-movement, vocal toning—can coax the nervous system back into regulation. Whether you’re a yoga teacher, a busy mother, or a seasoned therapist seeking new tools, you’ll discover practical exercises, research insights, and soulful encouragement grounded in my SomaVoice® technique and 15 years of trauma-sensitive voice work.

By the end you’ll have a clear roadmap for weaving somatic healing into daily life and know how to choose a practitioner who feels like a safe harbour. Ready to soften into your own skin? Let’s begin.

Understanding Somatic Healing

At its heart, somatic healing (sometimes simply called body-based therapy or somatic therapy) rests on one elegant premise: the mind and body are inseparable. The word soma comes from the Greek “σῶμα,” meaning “the body as experienced from within.” In my SomaVoice® technique I describe it like this:

“The soma is the body perceived from within—the felt experience of breath, heartbeat, tension, and emotion woven together.”

Somatic psychology pioneers all emphasise that unprocessed survival energy is stored in the nervous system, not in logical thought. Traditional talk therapy works “top-down,” asking the prefrontal cortex to make sense of events. Somatic work, in contrast, travels “bottom-up,” beginning with sensations, posture, and breath to gradually inform emotion and cognition.

Unlike mindfulness meditation—which can sometimes bypass raw sensation in favour of quiet observation—somatic healing invites us to move and sound the body’s truth, completing incomplete defensive responses (the shake that never happened, the scream that was silenced). In other words, it is not merely about noticing; it is about metabolising.

How Trauma Lives in the Body

When a threatening event overwhelms our capacity to cope, the autonomic nervous system may flip into fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory maps this beautifully: the ventral vagal branch supports social engagement and calm; the sympathetic branch mobilises us to run or fight; the dorsal vagal branch shuts us down when escape feels impossible.

If the body cannot complete its defensive cycle—say, a child has no power to run—those cascades of stress chemistry and potent muscular impulses become implicit memories. They linger as jaw clenching, a collapsed chest, or the inexplicable tremor before public speaking. As I share in my training:

“Your whole being creates your voice; the way you sound and express yourself in any moment.”

The same is true for movement and breath. Body sensations are the language of trauma; they speak through tight throats, shallow inhalations, and restless legs far sooner than thoughts ever form words.

Why Somatic Healing Works

1. Bottom-up processing & interoception
   Research shows that directing mindful attention to internal cues—heartbeat, gut sensation, breath—strengthens the insula and anterior cingulate cortex, improving emotional regulation. Interoception is a cornerstone of my SomaVoice® method, helping clients feel vibration in the chest while humming or chanting.
2. Vagus-nerve tone & heart-rate variability (HRV)
   Gentle humming, extended exhalations, and vocal toning mechanically stimulate the vagus nerve via the larynx and soft palate, increasing HRV. Higher HRV correlates with resilience to stress and faster recovery from sympathetic activation.
3. Neuroplasticity
   Repeated somatic healing exercises pair new sensations (safety, groundedness) with memory networks originally wired to threat, literally rewiring the brain. For example, over time, a shaky diaphragm learns that deep belly breathing is now permissible; shoulders remember they can drop.
4. Embodiment restores agency
   Trauma is a rupture of control. Each time a client senses their feet on the earth, shakes out residual energy, and feels the warm resonance of their own voice, agency is reclaimed. As I share in my SomaVoice® technique, “Embodiment grounds us in the present, helping us feel more alive and connected.”

Together these mechanisms illuminate why somatic healing often achieves breakthroughs where purely cognitive processing plateaus.

Voice & Vibration: The Sonic Bridge to Somatic Healing

Have you ever noticed how a single, heartfelt hum can melt the tension in your jaw faster than a dozen silent breaths? Your voice is a built-in somatic tool—a living expression of breath, fascia, emotion, and vagus-nerve tone all at once. “Your whole being creates your voice; the way you sound and express yourself in any moment.” Your sound is never separate from yourself .

From a science lens, vibration travels not only through the air to a listener’s ear; it also ripples through the body’s own tissues, “into the fascia, muscles, organs and cells,” where it can entrain, release, and reorganise stored survival energy. This is why humming, toning, and vocalising intentional state, for example through mantra, are cornerstones of sound-based body therapy and the SomaVoice® approach to vocal somatic healing.

Mini Practice: Humming for Internal Massage (≈ 3 min)

1. Choose an area of tension. Place one hand gently over it.
2. Low hum on any comfortable pitch for 60 seconds, imagine you’re sending the vibrations of your voice to directly meet the tissue, the area where you’re feeling tension.
3. Pause & notice. Do you observe sensations in that location? For example, has heat, tingling, or spaciousness emerged? Perhaps other sensations?
4. Medium-pitch hum for another minute, then pause again and observe. Has something shifted?
5. High-pitch hum for 60 seconds, sensing subtle shifts. Once more, pause and feel into your embodied experience.
6. Reflect. What changed in your body? Perhaps you notice a discharge or an expansion where there was previously blocked energy or tension. Perhaps certain emotions arose or even thoughts or images. This is all a very normal experience to somatic healing with voice work. This practice, drawn from my Holistic SomaVoice® Training, transforms simple sound into an “internal massage” for regulation and trauma release through vibration.

Because the voice is a somatic tool, capable of shifting blocks and supporting the body’s own healing journey, regular vocal play can become a daily nervous-system tune-up . Try sprinkling hums between Zoom calls, chanting a mantra on your commute, or letting a soft “ahhh” accompany your evening exhale. Each note is a reminder: safety and resonance already live inside you—waiting to be sung awake.

Practical Somatic Healing Techniques You Can Explore

Somatic healing blossoms when we keep things simple, regular, and choice-driven. These practices aren’t about “fixing” you—they’re about gently returning you to your body’s natural state of safety, connection, and flow. Let’s walk through each modality with more detail, and an easy “Try It” you can play with.

1. Grounding & Orienting

When the nervous system feels startled, our instinct might be to withdraw inside, replaying worries or scanning for threats. Grounding and orienting gently redirect us outward, showing the body that right now, in this moment, it is safe.

Why it Helps – This practice interrupts spirals of anxious thought by activating the social-engagement side of the vagus nerve. When your attention shifts to tangible sights, textures, and sounds, your body recognises it’s not in danger and can start to release tension.

Try It – Look slowly around the space you’re in. Choose three colours or shapes you can see right now. Name them softly out loud—“soft blue curtain, oak table, golden lamp.” Let your eyes rest on each as if you’re greeting an old friend. Notice: Has your breathing slowed? Has your jaw softened? Stay with that for a few breaths before carrying on.

2. Breathwork, Vocal Toning & Humming

Your breath is the bridge between mind and body. Adding sound—especially gentle humming or toning—turns it into a whole-body massage as you become embodied resonance. The vibrations from your voice move through fascia, stimulate your vagus nerve, and create a natural lengthening of the exhale, which signals safety to the brain.

Why it Helps – Research links humming to improved heart-rate variability (HRV), a key marker of resilience after stress. It can also help release held tension in the chest, throat, and jaw—common “storage spots” for unprocessed emotions.

Try It – Inhale slowly through the nose. As you exhale, make an “mmm” sound until the breath is empty. Feel the buzz in your lips, cheeks, and chest. Repeat five times. Then, let out a long, warm sigh on “ahhh,” as if you’re melting into a hot bath. Sense the afterglow in your body.

3. Somatic Experiencing®: Titration & Pendulation

Developed by Peter Levine, this approach helps you meet your sensations in micro-doses so you don’t become overwhelmed. It works by “pendulating” between a charged or tense sensation and a neutral or pleasant one, training the nervous system to release survival energy gently, rather than in a flood.

Why it Helps – Trauma often leaves the body stuck in high alert or shutdown. By moving attention back and forth, you widen your window of tolerance—the range where you can feel sensation without being hijacked by it.

Try It – Notice a mild sensation of tension—maybe a flutter in the stomach or a tightness in the throat. Place a hand there and simply acknowledge it. Then shift your awareness to somewhere neutral or pleasant—perhaps your warm hands resting on your thighs. Alternate focus between the two, three times, breathing slowly throughout.

4. TRE® (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises)

TRE uses simple movements to activate the body’s natural shaking mechanism, releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension, and trauma—especially in the psoas, hips, and lower spine.

Why it Helps – Neurogenic tremors are your body’s built-in reset button. Many mammals shake instinctively after stress; TRE lets us reclaim that instinct, discharging excess sympathetic charge without needing to revisit the story.

Try It – Do a gentle wall-sit or bridge pose for a few minutes to tire the leg and hip muscles. Then lie on your back, knees bent, feet on the floor. Let your legs tremble naturally—don’t force or stop it. Keep breathing, and allow the shaking to find its own rhythm until it eases.

5. Trauma-Sensitive Yoga & Mindful Movement

This isn’t about perfect poses—it’s about choice, agency, and sensation. Using invitational language (“If it feels good, you might…”) helps you reclaim the freedom to decide what your body needs in the moment.

Why it Helps – Slow, choice-driven movement combines grounding through the feet with interoception—the inner sensing of your body’s cues. It strengthens trust in your ability to listen to yourself and respond with kindness.

Try It – From standing, inhale and slowly lift your arms overhead if that feels right. Exhale into a gentle half-fold, knees soft. Pause. Ask your body, “Do you want to stay, move deeper, or come up?” Honour whatever it says. Even micro-adjustments matter.

Coming Home Through the Body

Each of these practices is an invitation—not a prescription. You don’t have to master them, perfect them, or even do them for long. What matters most is meeting yourself where you are, moment by moment, and letting your body lead the way back to safety and presence.

Because here’s the truth: your voice cannot be fully free if your body feels unsafe. The more you build these bridges between sensation and safety, the more your nervous system learns that it’s okay to soften, to expand, to take up space. And from that place—steady, grounded, and alive—your voice will begin to carry not just sound, but your truth, your essence, your wholeness.

So try one today. Feel the shift. Let the ripples of that safety carry into your breath, your words, your song. Your body already knows the way home. All you’re doing is remembering.

A Gentle Somatic Healing Practice to Try

Set aside 10 minutes, somewhere you won’t be disturbed.

1. Safety cue (20 sec)
   Sit or stand with a wall behind you. Feel its solid support. Exhale.
2. Body scan (1 min)
   Sweep awareness from crown to toes, naming neutral sensations (“warm,” “tingly”) without analysis.
3. Sensation tracking (2 min)
   Choose one alive area—perhaps fluttering in the belly. Breathe around it like a friendly cloud. Avoid forcing change.
4. Pendulation (3 min)
   Shift to a resource sensation (feet on rug, hand on heart). Note its texture (soft, pulsing). Drift gently back to the original area, then to the resource, three times. This builds nervous-system flexibility.
5. Vocal sigh (1 min)
   Inhale through nose; exhale with an open-mouthed “ahhh,” dropping shoulders. Feel vibration in chest.
6. Journaling integration (3 min)
   Write whatever arises: colours, memories, or simply “I feel more spacious.” Naming experiences anchors neuroplastic shifts.

Remember: you’re not fixing anything; you’re befriending your biology.

Integrating Somatic Healing into Daily Life

Somatic healing needn’t wait for a 60-minute session. In fact, sprinkling micro-practices throughout the day reinforces safety faster than occasional deep dives.

• Orientation on waking – Before grabbing your phone, look around the room, noticing light and shadow. Whisper, “Here and now, I am safe.”
• Self-touch resets – Gently press palms over cheeks or pat thighs when anxiety spikes; pressure receptors signal calm to the brain.
• Shake breaks – Every two hours, stand and wiggle spine, jaw, wrists. Thirty seconds of “animal shake” can drop cortisol.
• Nourishing breath – Try a 4-6 cadence: inhale 4 counts, exhale 6, humming softly on the out-breath.
• Healthy boundaries – Our soma relaxes when calendars do. Protect downtime; say a vocal “no” when needed.
• Titration principle – Add new practices slowly. Ten mindful breaths daily trump an hour-long blitz that leaves you flooded.

Building a supportive environment may include keeping a cozy blanket in your workspace, listening to calming mantra music (you can take a listen to my Mantra Medicine albums), and surrounding yourself with allies who honour your healing pace.

Stepping Onto Your Somatic Healing Path

Because the relational field we create is part of the medicine, your guide matters—but the search can be simple if your body already resonates with the approach you’ve met here. I weave fifteen years of trauma-sensitive yoga, vocal pedagogy, and nervous-system science into every offering, so you can step in with confidence.

1. One-to-One Vocal-Somatic Sessions

Our work begins with a free 30-minute discovery call—an easy, get-to-know-you session that lets both of us feel into safety and fit, exactly as outlined in my coaching manual . We’ll map your goals, co-create gentle practices, and agree on a session package that honours gradual, embodied change (I favour packages because healing loves continuity) .

2. Short-Form Immersions

Craving a concentrated reset? Join one of my online courses, where we dive deep into vagus-nerve breathwork, vocal resonance, and practical self-regulation tools you can use immediately.

3. SomaVoice® Coach Training

If you want a complete vocal deep dive and feel called to guide others, consider joining my Holistic SomaVoice® Coach Training. You’ll master the full SomaVoice® toolkit—grounded in interoception, polyvagal theory, mantra, and trauma-informed coaching—while receiving intimate mentorship and a supportive peer community.

What does your body need to feel a little safer today?