Somatic Healing Over “Self-Care” | Why Your Body Holds the Key
We live in a culture obsessed with “self-care.” Candles, bubble baths, skincare routines, and spa days are all sold to us as the cure for burnout. And while these practices can bring comfort, they don’t reach the root of what many of us are carrying: trauma.
If your nervous system is stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, no amount of surface-level self-care will release the tension your body still holds. This is where somatic healing becomes essential.
Somatic practices invite you to reconnect with your body, notice where pain or emotion lingers, and slowly teach your nervous system that safety and healing are possible.
Why the Body Holds the Key
Trauma doesn’t disappear just because time has passed. Instead, it embeds itself in the body. Tight shoulders, clenched jaws, shallow breathing, and constant exhaustion are often signals, not weaknesses.
When your body has lived through survival mode, it learns to stay on alert, even when the threat is gone. This means your body continues to “speak” the language of trauma long after your mind tries to move forward.
Somatic healing shifts the focus from thinking about healing to experiencing healing.
The Limits of Traditional “Self-Care”
Self-care has its place. A warm bath, good sleep, or treating yourself can soothe stress for a moment. But for deeper wounds, surface rituals can sometimes feel like a bandage on a wound that needs stitching.
What somatic healing offers is the stitching, the deeper repair. It doesn’t just help you relax; it helps you rewire your nervous system toward balance and safety.
Simple Somatic Practices to Begin Today
Somatic healing doesn’t require hours of meditation or expensive tools. It begins with noticing.
Grounding breath: Place your hand on your chest, inhale deeply, and exhale slowly. Feel your body settle.
Body scan: Gently notice where tension lives today. Your jaw, shoulders, stomach, and acknowledge it without judgment.
Shake and release: Stand and lightly shake out your arms and legs. This simple movement tells your body it’s safe to let go.
Supportive touch: Hold your own hand or place a palm on your heart as a signal of comfort and presence.
Each of these practices sends your nervous system a message: I am safe enough right now to feel.
Why This Matters for Healing
Healing is not only about managing your thoughts, it’s about releasing what’s stored in your body. Somatic work helps you move beyond survival, reconnect with yourself, and expand into more freedom, safety, and peace.
Your body has been carrying your story. Now it’s time to honor what it has held and to give it permission to rest.
Journal Prompt
If my body could speak today, what would it tell me?
Affirmation
My body is not my enemy.
It is my witness, my storyteller, and my guide to healing.
Conclusion
Self-care soothes the surface. Somatic healing transforms the root. By listening to the body’s wisdom, we shift from numbing or coping into true restoration.
Your body remembers, but it also knows how to heal.
Written by Marcia Blane, LPC, NCC, C.Ht.
Licensed Mental Health Counselor | Trauma-Informed Life Coach | Clinical Hypnotherapist
www.marciablane.com
