Somatic Healing
in the Realm of Body Intelligence
1: Cultivate body awareness through practices like body scans, mindful breathing, releasing stored tension, and biodynamic craniosacral meditation.
1: Cultivate body awareness through practices like body scans, mindful breathing, releasing stored tension, and biodynamic craniosacral meditation.Books 📚
- Full Catastrophe Living (updated) – by Jon Kabat-Zinn: Landmark work on how to connect your mind and body to reduce stress and lead a more fulfilling, healthy, and complete life. Included detailed instructions on body scanning.
- Body Scanning Audio Exercise (39 min) – from the Mindful Way Workbook – FREE & a great intro to body scanning practice.
- The Mindful Way Workbook – by John D. Teasdale, J. Mark G. Williams, and Zindel V. Segal: Get the benefits of MBCT (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy) any time, any place, by working through this carefully constructed book. Introduces specific mindfulness practices to try (with accompanying audio downloads), reflection questions, and tools for keeping track of progress, which you can download and print for repeated use. Pretty cool!
- The Breath of Life – An Introduction to Craniosacral Biodynamics – by Menzam-Sills, Cherionna, Ph.D.; Sills, Franklyn: Accessible introduction to the meditative healing practice of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST). This book offers a personal journey of embodied inquiry into each element of biodynamic session work, using meditative explorations, personal descriptions, and illustrations to convey the essence of Biodynamics.
- Essential Pranayama – by Jerry Givens: one of the best classic pranayama books out there. If you follow these practices, utterly life-changing.
- The Little Book of Yoga Breathing – by Scott Shaw: Pranayama made easy. Classic and easy to follow book of pranayama breath meditation practices.
- Breath Practice Cards – by Rebecca Moore: We LOVE this deck of cards. Easy to practice techniques and self-guided meditations, including diaphragmatic breathing / belly breathing.
Videos 🎦
- 10-Minute Body Scan Meditation on Youtube: 10-minute calming body scan meditation.
- 30-Minute Body Scan Meditation on YouTube: another, longer calming body scan meditation.
- What is BioDynamic Cranial Sacral Therapy?: 1 hour podcast episode on this topic
- Chakra Balance Guided Meditation on YouTube: 15-minute quality guided meditation.
- 10-Minute Chakra Meditation (Daily Recharge): instructive and ideal for quickly opening, cleansing and recharging your chakras daily. Really good daily meditation.
Podcasts 🎧
- The Yoga Nidra Podcast: Yoga Nidra means “yogic sleep” and is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. A powerfully restorative practice to restore your mind, body, and soul.
- Yoga Nidra and Beyond Podcast: Here, you will discover the REST you deserve and need to RESTORE your nervous system on the road to a better sleep and life.
- Somatic Healing Meditations Podcast: Every episode contains a guided meditation specifically designed to help you be more present in your body (and your life) by connecting to your physical sensations and awakening your inner knowing in a gentle and healing way.
- Tara Brach Meditation Podcast: weekly meditation practices – Spotify link
- 12-Minute Meditation Podcast: Various great teachers guide you in regular 12-minute sessions – Spotify link.
- Mindfulness Meditation Podcast: 2x per week fun new short guided meditations with calming music.
Courses 📝
- Free 40 Day Mindfulness Daily Course by Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield: excellent way to establish a meditation practice – try it!
Apps 📲
- Insight Timer – consistently over the years a great meditation & mindfulness app that customizes to your needs and desired practice.
2: Use grounding techniques like barefoot walking, deep breathing, Earthing, cold plunging, nature immersion, and sensory focus to stabilize body and mind
Books on breath practice, Earthing, cold plunging
- Earthing – by Ober, Clinton; Sinatra M.D., Dr Stephen T; Zucker, Martin: The life-changing science & practice of “grounding” – the simple act of reconnecting your body to the Earth’s natural surface charge.
- Barefoot Wisdom – by Whiteley, Sharon; Chiasson, Ann Marie: This indispensable guide shows you how to tap into the Earth’s ever-present power to reduce inflammation, improve sleep, boost energy, and support overall health.
- Wim Hof Method Books: Choose your book here from the various Wim Hof classics on the intersection of cold temperature and breath practice.
- Essential Pranayama – by Jerry Givens: one of the best classic pranayama books out there. If you follow these practices, utterly life-changing.
- The Little Book of Yoga Breathing – by Scott Shaw: Pranayama made easy. Classic and easy to follow book of pranayama breath meditation practices.
- Breath Practice Cards – by Rebecca Moore: We LOVE this deck of cards. Easy to practice techniques and self-guided meditations, including diaphragmatic breathing / belly breathing.
Podcasts 🎧
- Barefoot Movement Podcast: a podcast dedicated to “earthing”, “grounding”, and all things barefoot wellness!
- The Breathwork Club: new breath techniques in every episode – easy, guided.
- Breath, Body, Soul Podcast: Guided Breathwork and meditation practices
- Mindfulness Meditation Podcast: 2x per week fun new short guided meditations with calming music.
- Let’s Talk Yoga Pranayama Series on YouTube: A great series of breath-specific episodes, aimed at yoga teachers, but anyone can access this great info.
3: Explore energy-based healing practices, including Reiki, sound therapy, chakra alignment, aura cleansing, and crystal work.
Books 📚
- The Reiki Manual – by Penelope Quest: part textbook, part training guide for students & practicioners of this energy healing technique. Reiki is a holistic system for balancing, healing, and harmonizing all aspects of the person-body, mind, emotions, and spirit-encouraging deep relaxation and the release of stress and tension, and promoting awareness and spiritual growth.
- Crystal Reiki – by Krista Mitchell: a handbook for practitioners both amateur and professional. This technique combines crystal layouts with energy healing to treat a variety of ailments.
- Chakras – A Complete Guide – by Kristine Corr: Chakra Healing, Balance Chakras, Improve Health (Chakras Alignment – Chakra Healing – Chakra Balancing).
- Meditative Chakra Cleansing and Alignment – by Alyson Scarborough: Just like other parts of our system, the chakras can become out of sync, unbalanced – but there isn’t a pill we can take to fix this problem. We need to take a spiritual approach, and in this case, this means meditation and visualization. In this book, I’ll walk you through the process of cleansing your chakras of negative energy and realigning them
Videos 🎦
- Chakra Balance Guided Meditation on YouTube: 15-minute quality guided meditation.
- Chakra Healing & Balancing on YouTube: 20-minute quality guided meditation just for this purpose…
- Chakra Balancing Meditation from Psychic Soul on YouTube: 25-minute quality meditation for your chakra system!
- 10-Minute Chakra Meditation (Daily Recharge): instructive and ideal for quickly opening, cleansing and recharging your chakras daily. Really good daily meditation.
- Yoga Nidra & Meditation with Kristyn Rose – YouTube Channel: a quality channel with great Yoga Nidra and meditation content for sleep and rest.
- Ayla Nova | Yoga Nidra & Beyond – YouTube Channel: another quality channel for Yoga Nidra and diverse meditation content.
- Yin Yoga with Annie – YouTube Channel: Lovely! Hours and hours of quality simple & relaxing yin yoga.
- Yin Yoga with Matt – YouTube Channel: thanks Matt! A diverse collection of great Yin Yoga videos.
Podcasts 🎧
- Be Rooted – A Reiki Podcast: explore the power of Reiki energy healing, the mind-body connection, boundaries and the power of healing in community.
- The Yoga Nidra Podcast: Yoga Nidra means “yogic sleep” and is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. A powerfully restorative practice to restore your mind, body, and soul.
- Yoga Nidra and Beyond Podcast: Here, you will discover the REST you deserve and need to RESTORE your nervous system on the road to a better sleep and life.
- Somatic Healing Meditations Podcast: Every episode contains a guided meditation specifically designed to help you be more present in your body (and your life) by connecting to your physical sensations and awakening your inner knowing in a gentle and healing way.
- Tara Brach Meditation Podcast: weekly meditation practices – Spotify link
- 12-Minute Meditation Podcast: Various great teachers guide you in regular 12-minute sessions – Spotify link.
- Mindfulness Meditation Podcast: 2x per week fun new short guided meditations with calming music.
- Free 40 Day Mindfulness Daily Course by Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield: excellent way to establish a meditation practice – try it!
Apps 📲
- Insight Timer – consistently over the years a great meditation & mindfulness app that customizes to your needs and desired practice. Look up Reiki, Sound Healing, Aura Cleansing, or Chakra Alignment on the app and you are bound to have many options.
4: Seek the support of a somatic or trauma-informed practitioner to help your body process and release what it has been holding.
Books 📚
- The Reiki Manual – by Penelope Quest: part textbook, part training guide for students & practicioners of this energy healing technique. Reiki is a holistic system for balancing, healing, and harmonizing all aspects of the person-body, mind, emotions, and spirit-encouraging deep relaxation and the release of stress and tension, and promoting awareness and spiritual growth.
- Crystal Reiki – by Krista Mitchell: a handbook for practitioners both amateur and professional. This technique combines crystal layouts with energy healing to treat a variety of ailments.
- Chakras – A Complete Guide – by Kristine Corr: Chakra Healing, Balance Chakras, Improve Health (Chakras Alignment – Chakra Healing – Chakra Balancing).
- Meditative Chakra Cleansing and Alignment – by Alyson Scarborough: Just like other parts of our system, the chakras can become out of sync, unbalanced – but there isn’t a pill we can take to fix this problem. We need to take a spiritual approach, and in this case, this means meditation and visualization. In this book, I’ll walk you through the process of cleansing your chakras of negative energy and realigning them
Network / Practicioner Database Sites:
- Somatic Experiencing International Practitioner Directory: seems to cover US and Canada with lots of info on individual practicioner specialties and ability to contact them directly.
- Somatic Therapy – Body Based Healing For Emotional Trauma: search the map for qualified somatic therapists in your area – limited to the US.
- ISMETA Somatic Movement Professionals WORLDWIDE: Somatic Movement Professionals meet high standards of education and Core Competencies. All ISMETA Members adhere to our Scope of Practice, Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics. The International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA).
- Find a Somatic Therapist in the US through the Psychology Today Online Directory: this directory works and you can search by speciality. This link will take you to the search for Somatic Therapists specifically.
Podcasts 🎧
- Somatic Healing Sessions Podcast: Release stress and trauma. Return to calm. Receive guidance and healing for your heart, mind, body, and soul.
- The Complex Trauma Podcast: This is a good one. Hosted by EMDR and somatic trauma therapist Sarah Herstich, each episode gets into nervous system healing, trauma responses, and what it actually takes to stop living in survival mode.
- REMEMBER: if you really need the help of a competent somatic therapist to address trauma held in the body, then please seek and ask for that help and support. A podcast can be inspiring, but it will not replace therapy with a competent professional. Everyone needs help sometimes, and we support you finding the right somatic therapist or healer near you.
REMEMBER: if you really need the help of a competent somatic therapist to address trauma held in the body, then please seek and ask for that help and support. A podcast can be inspiring, but it will not replace therapy with a competent professional. Everyone needs help sometimes, and we support you finding the right somatic therapist or healer near you.