Reconnecting with the Wisdom of Your Body
Have you ever felt your stomach twist before delivering bad news? Or noticed your shoulders tense after a stressful day—even if you thought you were “fine”? These aren’t random reactions—they’re your body speaking the language of experience.
I’m Jesse, and after a car accident, brain injury, and near death experience, somatic integration saved my life. Now I am a counselor using somatic therapy to help you grow, expand, and find more peace and clarity by accessing deeper levels your mind.
Can The Body Actually Have Anything To Say?
In modern Western culture, we’re taught that the mind is the master and the body is just along for the ride. But neuroscience tells a different story: your body and mind are inseparable. In fact, research shows that 80% of the communication between your brain and body flows upward—from your body to your brain—not the other way around. (Source: Polyvagal Theory, Dr. Stephen Porges).
Here’s the twist: If you aren’t listening to your body, you’re only getting 20% of the story. This means unresolved emotions, past traumas, and even daily stress can linger in your muscles, nervous system, and subconscious—affecting your thoughts, emotions, and behavior without you realizing it.
Somatic Twist On Talk Therapy
This is where somatic counseling comes in. It’s a process of learning how to listen to the signals your body has been sending all along.
Somatic counseling brings a twist to traditional talk therapy. Somatic integration adds active participation to the talking. It’s often combined with transpersonal counseling practices that treat the whole person, spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical.
Here you don’t have to “think” your way through healing—you can feel your way through it.
The Body as a Spiritual Compass
Your body isn’t just a collection of muscles and bones—it’s a guide to your deepest self, and has become a crucial aspect of spiritually integrated counseling. In somatic counseling, the body becomes a spiritual compass, pointing you toward authenticity, meaning, and connection. Leaders in the field of somatic therapy like, Peter Levine, use the body’s signals as intuitive guides for healing and transformation.
When we tune into the body, we access something beyond words—intuition, insight, and soul-level knowing. Many spiritual traditions describe the body as a sacred vessel capable of profound awareness when fully experienced. Embodiment practices like yoga, breathwork, and shamanic rituals work by awakening the body’s inner wisdom.
In modern science, the body is being recognized for its role in spiritual emotional integration. In The Body Keeps the Score, van der Kolk notes how restoring bodily awareness can lead to deeper emotional and spiritual integration. Similarly, Hikomi Therapy blends body-awareness with mindfulness, exploring how unconscious beliefs stored in the body shape our sense of self—helping you align with what truly matters in life.
Discover How Therapy Can Help You Find Your Spiritual Compass:
How We Become Aware
We Can’t Listen Until We Learn the Language
Most of us think of “awareness” as something that happens in our heads—a mental process of understanding or figuring things out. But true awareness goes far deeper. It’s about learning to feel what’s happening in the present moment—both inside and outside of us. The truth is, you can’t think your way into awareness—you have to feel your way there.
The challenge? We’re culturally conditioned to ignore the body. We numb discomfort, distract ourselves from stress, and override signals like hunger, fatigue, or emotional tension. Over time, this leads to a disconnection from our body’s natural wisdom—its ability to alert, guide, and even heal us.
Awareness Starts with Sensation
Becoming aware begins with something deceptively simple: noticing sensations.
Your body speaks in sensations, not words—a tight chest, a fluttering stomach, or tension in the jaw. These signals are often subtle and easy to miss, especially if you’re used to ignoring or overriding them. Somatic counseling helps retrain your mind to pay attention.
The Three Levels of Body Awareness:
- Physical Sensations: Tension, relaxation, warmth, tingling, pressure.
- Emotions Felt in the Body: Anxiety might show up as a racing heart; sadness as a heaviness in the chest.
- Intuition and Inner Knowing: A “gut feeling” or sense of clarity that comes from being in tune with your whole self.
The Aha Moment:
“Awareness isn’t about thinking harder—it’s about listening better.”
The realization that awareness starts in the body, not the mind is often a game-changer. When you learn to notice sensations without judgment, you open the door to deeper understanding, emotional release, and even profound healing. Somatic counseling helps you build this awareness—not as a skill you have to master, but as something you naturally reclaim.
Conditions for Developing Awareness in Somatic Counseling
1. A Calm and Regulated Nervous System
Awareness cannot develop when the body is in fight, flight, or freeze mode. When the nervous system is activated by stress, trauma, or chronic anxiety, the body is focused on survival, not reflection. This makes noticing subtle body sensations nearly impossible.
How to Support This Condition:
- Breathwork: Slow, deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, helping regulate the autonomic nervous system.
- Grounding Practices: Techniques like feeling your feet on the floor or noticing your environment signal safety to the brain.
- Somatic Exercises: Gentle movement, guided relaxation, and somatic touch calm the nervous system and create internal space for awareness.
2. A Sense of Safety and Trust
The body only “speaks” when it feels safe. Emotional safety—whether created through a supportive relationship, a therapeutic space, or personal inner work—allows stored emotions, memories, and sensations to surface without overwhelming the system.
How to Support This Condition:
- Safe Therapeutic Environment: A compassionate, non-judgmental space with a skilled therapist.
- Self-Compassion Practices: Encouraging self-kindness when confronting difficult emotions.
- Consistent Support System: Trusted relationships provide grounding during inner exploration.
3. Present-Moment Awareness (Mindfulness)
Awareness happens in the present moment. If the mind is focused on past regrets or future worries, it cannot tune into present-body sensations. Mindfulness helps center attention on what is happening right now—whether it’s breath movement, muscle tension, or emotional sensations. In The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk highlights that trauma recovery happens when the mind and body are simultaneously present.
How to Support This Condition:
- Mindfulness Meditation: Focus on breathing, sensations, or an object of awareness.
- Body Scanning: Gently notice sensations from head to toe, without needing to change anything.
- Somatic Inquiry: Asking yourself, “What am I noticing in my body right now?”
4. Openness and Curiosity
Curiosity opens the door to deeper awareness. When we approach our bodies with curiosity instead of judgment, we’re more likely to explore subtle sensations and emotional signals. This breaks the cycle of ignoring or suppressing bodily messages.
How to Support This Condition:
- Adopt a Beginner’s Mind: Approach body sensations as if noticing them for the first time.
- Release Judgment: Avoid labeling sensations as “good” or “bad.”
- Ask Questions: “Where do I feel this emotion in my body?” “What sensation is asking for my attention?”
5. Emotional Tolerance and Capacity
Developing awareness also means building emotional capacity—the ability to stay present with difficult emotions or physical discomfort without shutting down. This requires nervous system regulation and emotional resilience built over time.
How to Support This Condition:
- Titration: Explore body sensations in small, manageable doses to avoid overwhelm.
- Resourcing: Use supportive memories, images, or calming practices to anchor yourself during challenging moments.
- Therapeutic Guidance: A somatic therapist can help track emotions safely and prevent emotional flooding.
6. Integration Through Reflection and Practice
Awareness isn’t just about noticing sensations—it’s also about integrating what you learn. Reflection creates meaning, helping the mind and body work together to process and heal past experiences.
How to Support This Condition:
- Journaling: Write about what you noticed in your body or emotions after a session or practice.
- Sharing and Processing: Talk about insights with a therapist or supportive person.
- Regular Practice: Develop a consistent body-awareness routine, like mindful stretching or walking meditation.
The Aha Moment:
“Awareness isn’t something you force—it’s something you allow when your body feels safe, your mind is present, and your heart is open.”
When these conditions are in place, awareness becomes a natural process of unfolding. The body is no longer something to manage or control—it becomes a trusted guide on the journey of healing and transformation.
How Somatic Counseling Helps You Develop Awareness
Most of us aren’t taught how to listen to our bodies—but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn. Somatic counseling creates a safe, supportive space where you can slow down, tune in, and reconnect with your body’s natural wisdom.
With gentle guidance, you’ll begin to notice how your body responds to emotions, memories, and life’s challenges—sometimes in ways you never expected.
In session – mindfulness techniques used in Hikomi Therapy focus on tracking the present-moment experience.
Out of session – practices like mindful breathing, guided movement, and body-focused inquiry, you’ll learn how to:
- Recognize Subtle Signals: Understand what your body is trying to tell you through physical sensations.
- Calm the Mind Through the Body: Use body-based techniques to ease anxiety, stress, and emotional overwhelm.
- Heal and Release Stuck Emotions: Unlock unresolved feelings stored in the body.
- Find Clarity and Insight: Experience deeper self-understanding and personal growth.
The Aha Moment:
“Your body already holds the answers—you just need the right support to hear them.”
Somatic counseling helps you uncover those answers—not through overthinking or analyzing, but through feeling, sensing, and being fully present.