The Body Knows: The Power of Somatic Awareness in Counselling
How Somatic Awareness Deepens the Journey
There was a time when I felt wrung out like an old cloth, drained after years of pouring myself into a job that seemed to demand everything and give so little back. Travelling all over Europe, sitting in meetings, it was tough. I’d ignored the signals from my body for months: the heavy shoulders, the clenching jaw, the quiet sighs that escaped when I thought no one was listening. Eventually, exhaustion wrapped itself around me like a fog. I couldn’t think straight. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t have the words.
And that’s the thing, isn’t it? Counselling is often seen as a process of talking, unpacking thoughts, making sense of tangled feelings and seeking new perspectives.
But sometimes, words aren’t enough.
Some truths live in the body long before they ever reach the lips.
This is where somatic awareness becomes not just helpful, but essential. It invites us to listen to the body’s language; those subtle signals that reveal our deeper emotional landscapes. The flutter of a stomach, a tightness in the throat, an urge to stretch or sway. The body tells its stories, even when the mind has gone quiet.
The Science of Feeling: How the Body Holds Emotion
Neuroscientist Dr Antonio Damasio, describes feelings as bodily sensations. Our brain interpreting the internal signals sent from our muscles, our gut, our breath. In The Feeling of What Happens, he writes of the constant dialogue between brain and body, shaping how we meet the world and make meaning of our experiences.
And then there's Dr Bessel van der Kolk’s seminal work, The Body Keeps the Score, and just in case you haven’t read it, hee he explores how trauma lodges itself in the nervous system. A person may flinch, freeze, or feel waves of nausea, all physical reactions that surface long before conscious understanding. Trauma isn’t just in the mind. It’s stored in posture, movement and the rhythm of breath.
Understanding this allows us, as counsellors and coaches, to offer something gentler and deeper than cognitive analysis. It helps people move from “thinking about the feeling” to actually feeling the feeling….and that’s where the magic begins.
Nature and Nervous Systems: The Healing Pulse of the Outdoors
There’s a reason I take my clients outdoors when I can. The earth speaks in ways a room cannot. A wild squirrel, a sudden breeze, the crunch of gravel underfoot or even the squelch of much; these small interactions tug us back to the present, grounding the body even when the mind is racing.
The University of Exeter found that just two hours a week in nature, significantly improves mental wellbeing, easing stress and restoring emotional balance. But even fleeting moments of beauty, for example a tree showing its shape against the sky, sunlight sparkling off the water, can invite the body to soften. A breath comes easier. The chest lifts. The edges become less sharp.
I often ask, “What happens in your body when you see that view?” And the answers vary: lightness in my legs, a loosening in my stomach, a sense of being held by something bigger. These responses matter. They show the body knows peace, even if the mind forgets.
The Power of Touch: Coming Back Through the Senses
After a particularly difficult session, I’ll sometimes interlock my fingers, place both feet flat on the floor and just pause. It steadies me. It’s a small ritual, but one that returns me to myself.
Touch is deeply regulating. When clients press their feet into the ground, or run fingers along the grain of wood, they’re not just grounding, they’re reminding the nervous system that it’s safe.
Psychologist Dr Peter Levine, founder of Somatic Experiencing, teaches that physical containment, like holding onto something weighted or pressing palms to a surface, can shift the body out of fight or flight. It tells the system: You’re here. You’re safe. You’re supported. Maybe why we hold hands with people?
These are quiet tools, but potent ones. They anchor us in moments when the world feels a bit too much.
Seeing Differently: How Art and Photography Stir the Soul
One of my secret joys, is catching sight of a little doodle my partner’s left on the edge of a some paper. He draws without thinking; quirky creatures, trees with curious eyes and abstract patterns that feel almost like maps of dreamscapes. And yet, each one lifts something in me. It’s a glimpse into his world, but more than that, it’s an invitation to wonder, to imagine and to feel where that character or animal lives, has come from or has been.
This is the power of visual language. Images can bypass the analytical mind and land directly in the body. A photograph, a painting, or the way morning light hits a windowpane can evoke sensation long before we have words. A lump in the throat. Goosebumps. A soft exhale.
In counselling, I sometimes ask clients to take photos of what speaks to them and I have had all sorts: a cracked wall, a shadow, a bracelet and even a placemat. These visual cues often hold rich meaning, and art therapy research confirms that interacting with visual art, activates areas of the brain different from language processing, making it especially valuable for those who struggle to express themselves verbally.
Movement and Gesture: Letting the Body Speak
Not every emotion wants a tidy sentence. Some need to stretch, sway, or shake themselves loose.
I’ll ask, “If that sadness could move, how would it move?” And sometimes, there’s a shrug. A slump. A spiralling hand. The movement speaks louder than any metaphor. Of course, they may have already done the movement without realising.
Somatic psychology reminds us that movement can help process emotion. Even small gestures like a roll of the neck or a clenched then released fist, can carry feelings through the body and out, rather than letting them stagnate.
Counselling doesn’t need to become interpretive dance (though it can, if that’s your thing!). Often, it’s about allowing space for the body to show us what it knows. To trust its rhythms, however quiet or surprising they might be.
The Wisdom Beneath the Skin
There’s something profoundly empowering about learning to read your body’s signals. When clients reconnect with sensation, they also gain tools for emotional resilience. They start to recognise the difference between anxiety and anticipation perhaps or maybe fatigue and disconnection, fear and excitement.
Research from the Mindfulness Centre at Brown University shows that somatic awareness not only improves emotional regulation but actually rewires the brain towards greater calm and clarity. When we notice and name what’s happening inside, we step out of a usual state of reactivity and into one of presence.
A Full-Bodied Way of Healing
Counselling and coaching isn’t just a thinking journey. It’s a feeling one. A sensing one. A return to the self in all its forms.
Whether it's through grounding touch, a photograph that sparks something wordless or the feeling of grass beneath bare feet, somatic awareness offers us a compass. It reminds us that healing isn’t always about understanding. Sometimes, it’s about noticing. Being. Breathing.
And in those quiet, bodily moments, something beautiful unfolds….not loud, not dramatic, but deeply real.
White, M. P., et al. (2019). Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Scientific Reports, 9, 7730.
– Large-scale UK study showing a significant wellbeing benefit after two hours weekly in natural environments theguardian.comtheguardian.com+11news-archive.exeter.ac.uk+11sciencedaily.com+11.
Yale e360. (2018). Ecopsychology: How immersion in nature benefits your health.
– Confirms nature exposure reduces stress hormones, lowers blood pressure, and boosts mood
