“To paraphrase Descartes, ‘I feel, therefore I am.’”
— Body Sense, Alan Fogel

What is Somatic Coaching?

Somatics is all about reconnecting with your body. The word "somatic" comes from the Greek word soma, meaning "body." Somatic coaching focuses on working with your whole self—not just your thoughts.

Unlike traditional coaching or therapy, which focuses mainly on talking and thinking, somatic coaching brings your body into the conversation. It’s experiential, meaning that it actively engages your physical sensations, intuition, and deeper wisdom.

Because here’s the truth: you’re not just a brain on legs. You’re a deeply connected, complex being. You don’t just think your way through life—you feel your way through it. And the parts we’re so used to ignoring—everything below the neck—are often where your deepest wisdom lives.

Somatic coaching acknowledge your wholeness, and invites you to fully explore and reclaim it.

Is It Woo Woo? How Does It Work?

Here’s the thing—I love a little woo woo. The term often gets thrown around for things we don’t fully understand yet, and I’m okay with that. Ask a client a question that lands for them, and suddenly, they’re falling down their own Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole, uncovering parts of themselves they didn’t even know existed. It can feel like magic.

And I also like science. The beauty of somatic coaching is that it brings both together. It can feel transformative — almost mystical — and yet it’s deeply rooted in science.

Here’s how it works:

Your body is your greatest storyteller. Emotions, experiences, and patterns get stored in your body, shaping how you think, feel, and show up. Somatic coaching taps into that body intelligence using tools centered around sensation awareness, intentional movement, noticing feelings, breathwork, and practicing all the feels in real time. This means that if we’re exploring a specific topic or challenge, we won’t just talk about it — we’ll actively live it together in the moment. This is how we unlock those deeper layers — patterns and emotions that traditional talk therapy often can’t touch.

Emotions are formed in relationships. From the moment you’re born, your brain develops through connection with others. You didn’t feel joy until your second month, anger until your sixth, and fear until around ten months. Shame? That one showed up around age two. And love? No matter how old you are now, it’s still something you’re learning.

Because your emotional world is formed through relationships, it can also heal through relationships. In somatic coaching, we create a safe relational space where your body becomes a 'living lab' — your place to explore, heal, and grow. And the coaching container itself becomes a 'relationship lab', where together we can unlock your ability to enhance your intimacy with yourself and others.

And yes, all of this can work over Zoom.

Why is this so powerful?

Research on brain plasticity shows that engaging your thoughts, emotions, and senses in new ways is one of the best ways to shift old habits. You’re not just talking about change—you’re feeling it, sensing it, and embodying it. This full-body engagement helps your brain create new neural pathways, replacing old patterns with ones that serve you better. And that is where the alchemy happens.

My role as a somatic coach? To co-create a deeply nourishing relational space for your transformation. To help cultivate the environment where your natural brilliance can rise and flourish. To guide the alchemy.

And here’s what I want you to remember: You weren’t born with shame, self-doubt, or inadequacy. These were learned. Which means, with the right tools and the right space, they can also be unlearned. That’s where you expand your capacity for love in all its forms—starting with yourself.

And isn’t that just… beautiful?

Why I Believe in It

“Is this intuition or fear?”

That question used to haunt me in relationships and sex. I’d spiral into anxiety, constantly asking, “Is my body trying to warn me about this person?” No amount of journaling, meditating, or Googling could give me a clear answer. So I’d do what so many of us do—I ignored my gut. Only later would I realize my body had been speaking all along. I just didn’t know how to listen.

For me, practicing somatics has been like learning a new language—my own language. And now? I'm better at understanding what my body is saying.

We live in a world that constantly tells you to disconnect from your body. Push through fatigue. Ignore discomfort. Meet the deadline. Reach the goal. Dating advice often feels the same—fast, goal-oriented, “find your soulmate in six months” nonsense. I used to follow that advice too, forcing myself into situations that didn’t feel right. It wasn’t just emotionally exhausting; it was damaging to my nervous system. And through it all, my body knew. It always knew. It just took my brain a little (sometimes a lot) longer to catch up.

Somatic work changed that. Among many juicy things, it taught me that: 
1️⃣ A well-regulated nervous system is sexy. And pushing through like we're taught? That’s downright dysregulating.
2️⃣ Mainstream dating advice? Mostly irrelevant — or worse yet, dysregulating. It's often about following scripts and rules that aren't even yours. It pulls you further away from yourself and leaves you feeling more disconnected.

This work made me pause. It taught me how to move at a rhythm that feels true to me. It’s not about quick fixes anymore. And while the work is always ongoing, I already feel the internal shift.

Now, I can say — and feel it as my truth: “I trust myself. I trust my body. I trust my inner knowing. And I can handle it all — sex, relationships, life — whatever comes".

That trust has become the foundation of my embodied confidence. Thanks to somatics, never again have I asked Google, “Is this intuition or fear?”

That’s why I believe in this work—because it’s confirmed what I’ve always known deep down: your body is your homebase. And as your homebase, it holds your deepest truths. And, as Fogel says, “Our body is always inviting us to come home, to feel safe and secure in its bounty of feeling. We can learn to hear that call.”

And when you do? It changes everything.