A somatic embodied approach to nutrition and health coaching is the only approach that I believe gets to the root of our health issues. It’s also the only approach that takes the effects of trauma into account when working with the physiological processes and capacities of the cells to function optimally.

The first way we experience the world is through sensing our whole body. It’s the most primal form of inner communication that directs all thought, feeling, and action. Soma means “the living body” and somatics refers to practices of being in dialogue with the living body. We explore these practices as a means to embody them. To embody means to manifest – to make it visible, tangible, and real. Embodiment is a process of realizing each aspect of our self — feeling and experiencing its connection to the whole.

As the unapologetic expression of that full self, embodiment can be understood as the antithesis of oppression.

A somatic approach to coaching can be referred to as bottom-up coaching. Most health coaching approaches begin in the head – in the upper corticoid regions of the brain. This is what’s referred to as top-down work. This is where we educate, visualize, share in narratives, and work with our cognition, stories, and beliefs. This is very important work and it’s where most people feel safest, for two different reasons: 1. It’s the space where our culture tends to direct us and where most of our institutions and environments cater, therefore, it’s what’s normalized in the day-to-day. And 2, the mind is where many of us retreat to when the body’s sense of threat becomes too much for us to handle.

Due to trauma, chronic illness, accumulated stress & dysregulation, many of us have become habituated to various forms of disembodiment, making embodiment and somatics far more difficult. This is why I practice a combination of top-down AND bottom-up and I go at a pace that each woman feels safe with. Going into the body’s many messages at a pace that is too quick can backfire and create extra stress in a woman’s system, so I meet each client where they’re at and always use both approaches accordingly.

Somatic coaching is a specific set of skills that must be intentionally learned and practiced in today’s top-down world. Therefore, a somatic approach to nutrition and health coaching isn’t super common. But simply because it is not common doesn’t mean it’s not needed!

For those of us living with traumatic stress, being inside our bodies can feel overwhelming or out of control. Sometimes this presents as feeling anxious or tense inside. Other times our bodies feel numb and shut down, perhaps even dissociated. Sometimes we go back and forth between feeling numb or flooded by our felt experience.

Regardless of how our traumatic experiences show up in our bodies, one thing remains the same: Being “inside ourselves,” with our thoughts, sensations, and emotions… can feel scary, confusing, and painful. This can make eating well and making necessary behavior and lifestyle choices feel much harder, if not downright impossible to a lot of us.

When we feel confident in our ability to navigate both our inner and outer worlds, our bodies, and the feelings and experiences they contain, start to feel safer. This is the place from which I coach. Always starting with safety and attunement.

Purposefully creating a sense of safety, security, and vitality inside of ourselves can be likened to a sense of ‘returning home’. The more often we return home, the more familiar this home becomes, and the greater capacity we have for self-regulation, self-care, and self-nourishment!