For anyone wondering what somatic coaching actually looks like in practice – and whether it could help.
The problem with niche titles
I have a confession to make: I sometimes dread the question ‘what do you do?’
When I tell people I am a somatic coach and practitioner, the title often sounds like a specialist niche that requires a ten-minute explanation. For many, ‘somatic’ sounds vaguely mystical, evoking images of crystal bowls or unstructured emotional catharsis. For others, ‘coaching’ suggests corporate performance optimisation, five-year plans, and relentless positivity.
My work sits in neither camp. It exists to address a practical, grounded reality: the challenges that bring people to coaching – things like exhaustion, chronic self-doubt, conflict avoidance, and career paralysis – need more than thinking and talking to be resolved. Intellectually understanding your patterns does not stop your body from reacting when the pressure mounts.
The patterns under the surface
I work with people in very different professional and personal contexts, but underneath the specific circumstances, the underlying patterns are remarkably consistent:
Burnout and empathy fatigue – particularly among values-driven professionals, carers, and campaigners who have spent years running on adrenaline and mission-driven urgency.
Difficulty stating needs - a persistent habit of over-adapting to keep the peace, combined with fear of conflict or rejection.
Feeling stuck in a freeze response – a physical state of numbness, brain fog, and executive dysfunction where taking the next step feels physically impossible.
The feeling of being 'too much' or 'not enough' - internalised beliefs that taking up physical or emotional space is unsafe, leading to chronic masking and self-silencing.
Sometimes a client arrives with an isolated operational problem: a tense working relationship, an upcoming public presentation, or a difficult career crossroads. But when we get below the surface, there’s usually more to it. These issues are often rooted in survival strategies that developed early in life to keep us safe, accepted, and connected.
Coaching differs from therapy because it remains fundamentally present- and future-focused. We do not spend months excavating the past. But we do need to recognise that the self-limiting beliefs and bodily habits you carry today were learned for good reasons. Breaking those cycles requires addressing them where they actually live - in your nervous system.
We’re finally starting to move away from approaches to personal development that seem to view us as floating heads with clear distinctions between the cognitive, emotional, physical and behavioural aspects of ourselves.
Beyond the 'floating head'
Traditional approaches can treat people as floating heads. They might operate on the assumption that if you formulate a logical plan, set a deadline, and apply sufficient willpower, change will follow.
Anyone who has tried to think their way out of a panic attack or willpower their way through burnout knows this model isn’t sustainable. Our thoughts, emotions, and physical states are locked in a continuous feedback loop. When you feel threatened or exposed, your autonomic nervous system – the network that governs your involuntary stress and survival responses – takes over before your conscious mind can intervene. Your throat constricts, your breath becomes shallow, your shoulders lock, and your cognitive brain loses access to nuance.
Somatic coaching works directly with embodiment: the physical sensations, posture, and physiological signals that shape how we think and act. When we bring the body into the conversation, we stop fighting our own biology. We learn to recognise early signs of dysregulation, down-regulate the nervous system out of fight-or-flight, and create the internal stability needed to make deliberate decisions rather than reactive ones.
What happens in a session
Because this work can feel unfamiliar, people often want to know what a session actually feels like.
It starts with establishing a strong relational container. To take emotional risks, you have to know you are not being judged or evaluated. We work within what psychologist Carl Rogers termed unconditional positive regard – an intentional stance of consistent acceptance and warmth. In practice, this means all emotions, hesitations, and forms of resistance are welcome in the space. You are in control of the pace at all times, with full permission to pause, decline an exercise, or state what you need.
From there, sessions blend structured dialogue with physical experimentation. In a typical session, we might:
Track physical sensations: pausing a conversation when your voice tightens or your breath catches, exploring what that physical tension is signalling before rushing to find an answer.
Work with the breath and diaphragm: using extended exhales to stimulate the vagus nerve, sending a physical signal of safety to the body when discussing nerve-wracking topics.
Test physical postures: exploring what happens to your emotional state and communication when you deliberately change how you sit, plant your feet, or engage supportive core muscles.
Deconstruct self-limiting beliefs: gently challenging assumptions like ‘I’d better not make a fuss’ or ‘I have to carry this alone’, and noticing what physical changes happen when those rules are relaxed.
The work is collaborative and often experimental. There are no pre-packaged scripts; we look for the practical tools and micro-practices that work for your specific nervous system.
A rehearsal room for real life
Ultimately, the coaching room serves as a low-stakes rehearsal space for the outside world.
If you have spent a lifetime adapting to other people's expectations, speaking up with authority is terrifying. The coaching space offers a container where you can practise making noise, making mistakes, and saying the uncomfortable thing out loud without catastrophic consequences.
We test what it feels like to set a boundary firmly without softening it with an unnecessary apology. We practise sitting in silence for five seconds instead of rushing to fill the gap. We experiment with vocal tone, letting the voice carry weight and resonance rather than constricting.
Somatic coaching does not treat you as an abstract brain to be optimised, but as a whole person. The goal is not to eliminate fear or achieve a state of permanent calm, but to expand your capacity to stay present when the stakes are high. When you know how to steady your own nervous system, you stop needing to shrink yourself to fit into a room, and you connect with the agency to show up exactly as you are.
Working together
If you are navigating burnout, struggling to state your needs, or feeling locked in chronic freeze, somatic coaching offers a grounded, practical way forward.
Learn more about my 1:1 approach on my Coaching page, explore how breathwork regulates the nervous system on my Breathwork page, or book a free discovery call to discuss what you need.