What your body is trying to tell you

You've probably noticed it before.

A flutter in your chest when you're nervous. A tightening in your throat when sadness arrives. A hollow ache in your belly when fear surfaces.

These sensations aren't random. They're your body's language—messages from a part of you that knows things before your conscious mind catches up. I spent most of my life ignoring those signals. If my chest felt tight, I'd push through. If my stomach felt hollow, I'd distract myself. If my shoulders were braced, I'd just... keep going.

I didn't realize I was doing this until someone asked me, "What does your body need right now?"

And I had no idea.

Not because I wasn't paying attention, but because I'd been trained—like most of us—to override those signals. To wait for permission. To trust my brain over my body.

Here's what I've learned:

Your body tracks everything—stress, safety, alignment, misalignment—long before your conscious mind registers it.

That tightness in your chest when you think about a certain job offer? Information.

That sense of relief when you imagine saying no to a commitment? Also information.

That tension in your shoulders when someone's talking to you? Your body's already decided whether it feels safe.

The question is: Are you listening?

What Somatic Coaching Actually Is

Most coaching focuses on fixing problems. Identifying what's wrong. Strategizing solutions.

Somatic coaching asks a different question:

What's your body already trying to tell you?

Because often, the reason we feel "stuck" isn't that we don't know the answer. It's that our body knows something our brain is trying to rationalize away. Here's what that looks like in practice:

A client once came to a session and said, "I don't know why I keep avoiding this project at work. I just need to sit down and do it."

I asked, "What does 'avoiding' feel like in your body right now?"

She paused. Put her hand on her chest.

"Like something's pressing down on me."

We stayed with that sensation. Not analyzing it. Not trying to fix it. Just noticing. Then I asked, "If that pressure could speak, what would it say?"

She was quiet for a long moment. Then, softly: "I'm scared I'll fail."

That's the work. Not fixing. Not strategizing. Not pushing through. Just slowing down enough to hear what your body's been trying to tell you all along.

The Invitation

You don't need to be in crisis to benefit from this kind of listening. You just need to be curious. Curious about the tension you carry. The sensations you ignore. The signals your body sends that your brain keeps filtering out. Because your body isn't broken. It's communicating. And when you learn its language, you stop fighting yourself and start working with yourself.

Try this:

Notice one sensation in your body right now. Don't analyze it. Don't fix it. Just name it.

Tightness. Warmth. Hollowness. Restlessness.

That's it. That's the practice. Your body's been speaking to you all along. You're just learning to listen.