Somatic body wisdom as a navigational tool to finding your path to alignment
I was contemplating my recent conversation with Charles while walking my dog a few days ago. We were discussing Somatic transformation, something that has recently caught my attention. The idea being – we (as a society) are overwhelmingly in our mindspace which has, over time, disconnected us from our bodies. This disconnect can be felt in a myriad of ways; physically, mentally, and emotionally. But through somatic awareness and somatic practice, we can start to unpack years, decades, or even generations of stuck energy from our body and body tissues. And through this unpacking, we can experience an energetic release followed by a transformation into a more aligned version of ourselves (I mean, having just experienced the absolute chaos of 2025, this all sounds rather enticing, no?)
“How do you recommend starting a somatic journey?” I asked, excited to get the opinion from someone who has dedicated so much time and energy into this field. The answer seemed surprisingly straightforward; just notice (and therefore be present in) your body.
At first, I must admit, it seemed a little too simple. All I have to do is notice sensations in my body? That’s all? But soon I realized that, although it was a relatively easy practice, it definitely felt novel. I’m constantly immersed in work, thinking about the future, planning the next thing, showing up for my loved ones, making lists, meeting deadlines, problem solving, disassociating via screens…I don’t give much thought to my body as my attention is always elsewhere. Taking the time and space to delve into the present moment and sit with my body- to notice sensations or decipher how my body feels when I’m experiencing an emotion for example- that actually didn’t feel simple at all. That felt like I was standing at the precipice of foggy terrain.
Interesting.
I thought it might be a good opportunity to practice while my eager pittie pranced her way through our neighborhood. I started simple. The temperature of the cool wind on my hands. The tension that chronically resides in my jaw. How my hamstrings feel while walking up a steep hill in my hiking boots. My aching shoulder courtesy of the unbridled strength of a mule pulling towards the lure of wet fragrant leaves. It felt mentally relaxing to be unapologetically immersed in the present moment, experiencing life as it was happening. It was like I created more space in my body just by drawing my awareness down into it. Like it was waking up, excited to be noticed. Eventually, my mind drifted towards analyzing, as it tends to do. What happens when we open up the conversation with the sensations in our body? And what is the connection between a strong mind-body (somatic) connection and something else I’ve been fixated on – a strong intuition?
I came home and looked up what The Strozzi Institute had to say about the link between somatics and intuition and found:
“Our innate intuitive capacity is inextricably linked to our living tissue. To access our intuition, then, it is necessary to be in touch with the life energy that streams through us. In other words, we need to fully live in our bodies. Connecting with our intuition through our bodies is called clairsentience; ‘clair’ meaning clear, from clairvoyant meaning ‘seeing clearly’ and ‘sentient’ meaning ‘capable of feeling’ or ‘conscious of,’ i.e. conscious feeling and sensing. We can think of clairsentience, then, as seeing with our bodies.”
Intuition is our “birthright”, they continued. A gift of sight. A portal to the other side of the veil so to speak. My personal translation – a way to navigate choices in a way that feels most aligned with my soul. I marinated on that for days. If intuition is a birthright, why has it remained so devalued? So ridiculed? If our intuitive portal is self-severed, how does that manifest in our body? How does our body respond when we essentially tell it that it is untrustworthy? And is convincing a population to not trust the wisdom embedded in their bodies how they create the dissonance required for (ever increasing) consumerism?
It can feel foreign in a culture that glorifies thought and logic (and belittles feelings) to confidently “trust your gut”. Especially with the added layers of body shaming deeply entrenched in our psyche, clouding our ability to “see with our body”. I started thinking about the incredible work of Sonya Renee Taylor, author, poet, spoken word artist, speaker, humanitarian and social justice activist, educator, and founder of The Body is Not An Apology. She declared that
Would making peace with our bodies start with identifying where shame and trauma reside in our organs, our tissues, our muscle, our fascia? Can we find it by the quiet gentle listening practice suggested by Charles? And by doing this work, are we better equipped to show up for ourselves and others because we are more aligned?
Existential questions to start the year, and questions we are excited to explore at our Somatic Workshop Saturday January 24th. Charles Roberts will be leading this 2 hour discussion with a focus on somatic awareness and practices to give us tools required for this inward journey into self exploration, intuition, and the wisdom found in the quiet of our body. We would love to discuss all of this with you, and we would be honored for you to join us
With love,
Carolyn
“When you learn to listen to the subtle cues of your body, it will transform the entire direction of your existence.”
Dayton Wellness Collective 
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