Your Body Has Been Speaking All Along: Is Somatic Therapy Right for You?

August 31, 2026

Lara Holmes, Author and Licensed Somatic Psychotherapist, LCMHC, RSMT, E-RYT

Joshua Bennett Johnson, Subject Matter Expert

Many of us spend years trying to quiet our bodies. We ignore the tension in our shoulders. We override exhaustion. We push through anxiety. We numb emotional pain. We distract ourselves.

We keep moving. And somewhere along the way, we begin to wonder why our bodies seem to be working against us. Why can't we relax? Why is our stomach always unsettled? Why does our chest tighten before a difficult conversation? Why does sleep feel elusive? Why do our minds understand we're safe, yet our bodies continue to prepare for danger?

But what if your body isn't working against you? What if it has been trying to have a conversation you've not been taught to hear? 

That single question changed the direction of my life. 

Like many people, I spent years believing that healing happened primarily through understanding. I read books. I reflected. I learned. I worked hard to make sense of my experiences. Insight mattered. It still does.

Eventually, I noticed something that many of my clients would later discover as well. Understanding my story did not always change how my body responded to its manifestations. I knew I was safe while my shoulders remained tight. I understood my anxiety while my breathing stayed shallow. I  recognized old relationship patterns while my nervous system continued to react as though the past were happening in the present.

That realization led me into decades of exploring movement, trauma, nervous system regulation, mindfulness, attachment, psychotherapy, and the remarkable intelligence of the human body.

Again and again, I witnessed the same truth: The body is always communicating. The question isn't whether it's speaking. The question is whether we've learned how to listen.

When Insight Isn't Enough

Many people seek therapy because they understand themselves remarkably well. They know where their anxiety began. They understand why they struggle with boundaries. They can explain the origins of their perfectionism, people-pleasing, or fear of rejection.

Insight is valuable. It creates understanding. It offers perspective. Sometimes it even brings relief. But insight doesn't always, or even often, transform the body's response.

The nervous system learns through lived experience. It adapts over time to protect us from what once felt overwhelming. Those adaptations are often brilliant. They helped us survive childhood, loss, trauma, chronic stress, addiction, or relationships that required us to stay constantly vigilant.

Years later, those same protective responses may still be active—even when our circumstances have changed. We may find ourselves bracing for conflict, holding our breath without realizing it, and feeling numb when we long to feel connected.

Living with a body that seems perpetually "on." From a somatic perspective, these aren't signs that you're broken. They're signs that your body has been doing its best to protect you.

Healing begins to look different when we stop asking, "What's wrong with me?"

Instead, we gently ask: "What is my body trying to tell me?"

That question shifts us from self-criticism to curiosity. And curiosity creates space for healing.

The Body Remembers What the Mind Has Moved Past

Our bodies remember experiences long after our minds have made sense of them. A racing heart. A clenched jaw. A lump in the throat. Tight shoulders. An uneasy stomach. Restlessness. Numbness. Difficulty sleeping.

These experiences are not random. They're part of your body's language.

Sometimes a racing heart is your nervous system trying to protect you. Sometimes chronic tension reflects years of carrying responsibilities that felt too heavy. Sometimes exhaustion is the body's way of asking for restoration after living in constant survival mode. Sometimes numbness isn't the absence of feeling.

It is protection from feeling too much. When we begin seeing symptoms as communication rather than failure, something profound happens. We stop fighting ourselves. We begin listening.

What Happens in Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy invites us to slow down enough to notice what is happening inside of us while we talk, reflect, and heal.

Unlike approaches that rely primarily on thoughts or stories, somatic therapy includes the body's experience as an essential part of the healing process. This doesn't mean dramatic emotional releases or reliving painful memories.

In fact, much of the work is surprisingly gentle. Together, we begin learning the language of the body.

We notice breathing. Posture. Muscle tension. Internal sensations. The impulse to move. The impulse to freeze. The places that soften. The places that still need protection.

Alongside this awareness, we practice simple ways to help the nervous system feel greater safety through breathing, grounding, mindful movement, imagery, pacing, and compassionate attention.

Healing doesn't usually happen by forcing ourselves to revisit overwhelming experiences.

More often, it happens in quiet moments when the body begins to discover:  

"Maybe I don't have to stay on guard quite so tightly anymore."

A Gentle Word for Those in Recovery

Recovery asks us to do something incredibly courageous. To stop relying on the strategies that once helped us to survive.

Whether those strategies involved substance use, overworking, perfectionism, people-pleasing, emotional numbing, constant productivity, or staying endlessly busy, they developed for understandable (valid?) reasons.

Most began as protection. Many people in recovery tell me they feel disconnected from their bodies. Some describe feeling numb. Others feel overwhelmed by sensations they've spent years trying to avoid.

Both experiences make sense. The goal of somatic therapy isn't to force emotions to the surface. It isn't to overwhelm you. It isn't asking your body to do more than it's ready for.

Instead, we move slowly. We help your nervous system discover safety in the present moment. As that sense of safety grows, your capacity grows alongside it. You begin noticing emotions without becoming consumed by them. You learn to recognize the earliest signs of stress before they become overwhelming. You discover that regulation isn't about controlling yourself.

It's about developing a compassionate relationship with yourself. Over time, many people find something surprising. The body they once distrusted became one of their greatest sources of wisdom.

Why I Created The Body Speaks Method

Over more than twenty years as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, Registered Somatic Movement Therapist, and Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher, I have found myself weaving together approaches that consistently help people reconnect with themselves.

Somatic psychotherapy. Nervous system regulation. Mindfulness. Movement. Attachment theory. IFS-informed parts work.

Clients often described experiencing more than symptom relief. They spoke about feeling more connected to themselves. More present with their families. More able to respond instead of react. More at home in their own bodies.

Eventually, I realized this had become more than a collection of techniques. It has become an integrated philosophy of healing. 

Today, I call that approach The Body Speaks Method. 

It isn't about becoming someone different. It isn't about fixing yourself. It is an invitation to build a different relationship with yourself.

One rooted in listening instead of fixing. Curiosity instead of judgment. Presence instead of performance.

Because healing, in my experience, is rarely about becoming someone new. It's about remembering who we are beneath the stress, protective strategies, old wounds, and ways we've learned to survive.

Learning to Listen

Imagine waking up and trusting your body instead of fighting it. Imagine recognizing stress before it becomes overwhelming. Imagine meeting anxiety with understanding instead of criticism. Imagine knowing how to pause long enough to hear what your body has been trying to communicate all along.

This possibility continues to inspire my work every day. Not because healing makes life perfect. But it changes our relationship with ourselves.

If you've spent years trying to think your way into feeling better, perhaps it's time to discover another source of wisdom. Your body has been speaking all along.

Perhaps today is the day you begin listening?

A Moment to Listen

Before you continue with your day, I'd like to invite you into a simple practice. You don't need to change anything. You don't need to fix anything.

Just become curious. Take one slow, unhurried breath. Feel your feet resting on the floor. Notice the support of the chair beneath you. Allow your shoulders to soften, even just a little.

Now gently bring your attention inward. What sensations do you notice? Warmth?

Coolness? Tightness? Heaviness? Space? Movement? Numbness?

There is no right answer. Simply notice what is here. And then, with kindness, ask yourself one question: What is my body trying to tell me right now?

You don't have to solve it. You don't have to understand it immediately. Simply listen. Sometimes healing begins not with a breakthrough, but with a moment of attention. A single breath. A little more curiosity. A little less judgment.

Over time, these small moments become a new way of relating to yourself. One grounded in compassion rather than criticism. One rooted in presence instead of performance. One that reminds you that your body has never been the enemy.

Perhaps it has been trying to guide you all along. It begins with acknowledgment. 

Thank you for spending this time with me. Whether you're in recovery, navigating chronic stress, healing from trauma, or simply longing to feel more connected to yourself, I hope this article leaves you with one simple reminder:

You don't have to fight your body. You can learn to listen. And sometimes, that is where healing begins.

The Body Speaks For Me

My own long-term healing journey, contemplative practices, and experience as a wife, mother, and stepmother continue to shape the way I understand pacing, presence, nervous system repair, and relational life. I believe healing is rarely about becoming someone new. More often, it is a process of coming home to ourselves – beneath the stress, protective patterns, old wounds, and ways we've learned to survive.

For more than 20 years, I have explored the relationship between the body, trauma, mindfulness, movement, attachment, and healing. What began as a personal search eventually became a lifelong path of study, clinical training, and deep curiosity about what helps people reconnect with themselves.

Today, I integrate somatic psychotherapy, nervous system regulation, embodiment practices, and IFS-informed approaches to help clients move beyond insight alone and create lasting change.

Over time, this work evolved into what I now call The Body Speaks Method (https://thebodyspeaks.life/). This body-centered approach helps people listen more deeply to themselves, access greater ease and resilience, and cultivate a more authentic relationship with who they are.

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Read Lara's bio by clicking her icon at the start of this article.

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