Somatic Awareness: The Practice of Listening to Your Body
“Somatic awareness is the simple, ongoing practice of noticing what’s already happening in your body — without needing to fix or judge it. It’s not a single technique or a one-time breakthrough. It’s built the same way any lasting change is built: through small practices, repeated often, over years. And real wholeness isn’t about only feeling good — it’s about making room for every part of yourself, including the parts you’ve hidden.”
Have you ever caught yourself holding your breath? Or realized your shoulders have slowly crept up toward your ears? Maybe you've felt a knot in your stomach before a difficult conversation, or your jaw tighten without even noticing.
For many years, I lived that way too. I could tell you exactly what I was thinking, but if you asked me what I was feeling in my body, I honestly didn't know. It wasn't until I began exploring body-based healing that I realized my body had been speaking to me all along. I just hadn't learned how to listen.
Your Body Is Always Speaking
In somatic work, we call this somatic awareness — the simple practice of noticing what's already here. Not to fix it. Not to judge it. But to meet ourselves with curiosity and kindness. Because awareness is where healing begins.
This is different from the more targeted, in-session work I've written about before — what actually happens inside a Somatic Experiencing session, or the specific nervous system resources you can reach for in a hard moment. Somatic awareness is quieter than that. It's not a technique you apply when things get difficult. It's a background practice — a habit of checking in with your body throughout an ordinary day, long before anything reaches a breaking point.
“Try this now: Pause for one moment and ask yourself:
What am I noticing in my body right now?
No right answer. No need to change anything. Just notice.”
How Small Daily Practices Create Big Change
When I discovered yoga at 21, I experienced a profound shift. It opened the door to a lifelong practice. Around the same time, I began meditating. Looking back now, after 23 years, I can honestly say that yoga and meditation have changed my life — not because I practiced once, but because I kept coming back, day after day, year after year.
We often think healing happens in the big moments — a retreat, a breakthrough, a medicine journey. Those experiences can be deeply meaningful, and I don't want to undersell them. But lasting change is usually built through the small practices we return to again and again, long after the big moment has passed.
A few of the ones that have mattered most, in my own life and in the people I work with:
A few minutes of meditation — not an hour, just a few minutes, done consistently.
One mindful breath, taken on purpose, in the middle of an ordinary moment.
Moving your body — not necessarily exercise, just movement your nervous system recognizes as yours.
Taking time to reflect, even briefly, on what the day asked of you.
Connecting with community — being witnessed by other people doing their own work.
These moments may seem small. But over time, they change the way we relate to ourselves, to others, and to life. If you're looking for support in building a steady, sustainable practice, this is exactly the kind of work we do together in our weekly online integration circles, community meditation, and gentle yoga classes — a low-pressure way to start building the habit alongside other people doing the same.
Spirituality Is About Becoming Whole
When I turned 40, I got two tattoos on my forearms. One represents the shadow. The other represents the light. To me, they symbolize what spirituality actually means — because spirituality was never about becoming more positive. It's about becoming whole.
I think one of the biggest misconceptions about healing is that it's all love, light, and good vibes. Those things absolutely have their place. But real healing also asks us to face the parts of ourselves we've hidden, rejected, or been afraid to share. When we meet those parts with compassion instead of judgment, we become more authentic, more free, and more fully ourselves.
“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”
The path isn't only light. It also includes the shadow. That's where real transformation begins — and it's also, often, where healing stops feeling linear and starts feeling like something closer to a spiral, circling back to the same material with more capacity each time.
If you're ready to embrace your whole self — shadow included — I'd love to support you through 1:1 somatic sessions, online classes, or a retreat at Vikara, where this kind of integration work happens in community, over days rather than minutes.
Where to Start
None of this requires doing everything at once. If today all you do is notice one sensation in your body without trying to change it, that's already the practice. If this month all you do is show up to one class, that's already the practice. Wholeness isn't a destination you arrive at — it's a relationship with yourself you keep choosing to return to.
If you're feeling called to explore your healing journey further, I offer a free 30-minute consultation to see if we're a good fit. No pressure, just a conversation about where you are and what kind of support might help.