In April of this year, I brought together all of the clinicians at my practice for a weekend staff retreat. It wasn’t just about team bonding or strategic planning. It was about restoration.

On our first night, we unrolled our mats for a somatic-yoga session led by the deeply grounded and brilliant Aja Holston-Barber (you might remember her from the Generation Freedom podcast or our You Are Your Best Thing retreat). Within minutes, something shifted. The room got quieter. Breathing slowed. Shoulders dropped. A few quiet yawns slipped out as the collective nervous system started to soften.

By the end of the session, some folks mentioned exhaling stress they didn’t even know they were holding. Others realized just how much they had been silently carrying. It was a powerful, embodied reminder of why somatic healing is so important—especially for women of color who live with chronic anxiety, people-pleasing patterns, and emotional overload.

What Is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy (also known as body-based therapy) invites the body into the healing process. Traditional talk therapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), EMDR, or psychodynamic work, centers the mind—what you think, what you remember, and how you interpret it.

Somatic approaches ask a different question: “Where does this live in your body?”

Because when you’ve spent a lifetime pushing through—through racism, through perfectionism, through microaggressions, through motherhood, through caregiving, through survival—it doesn’t all stay in your head. Your body holds the tension. Your body keeps the score.

For many of my clients—especially Black women, first-gen Latinas, and anxious high achievers with kids and partners who rely on them—traditional therapy only scratches the surface. The real transformation comes when we bring the nervous system into the room.

Why Somatic Healing Matters for Women of Color

We carry more than just our own stress. We carry ancestral trauma, societal expectations, and the invisible labor of always being the “strong one.”
You know the role: the responsible daughter, the fixer, the caregiver, the one who holds it all down.

And over time, that role becomes embedded in your nervous system.

• You flinch when someone raises their voice—not because you’re fragile, but because you’re wired to detect danger.
• You say “yes” when you’re screaming “no” inside—because pleasing others was how you stayed safe growing up.
• You overthink every word you said at the school meeting or work Zoom—because perfectionism has been your armor.

Somatic therapy offers a way to unlearn these survival patterns and return to your body with compassion and care.

It’s not about erasing what you’ve been through. It’s about reclaiming your relationship with your body (and nervous system)—as a source of wisdom, power, and emotional safety.

Everyday Somatic Practices You Can Try Today

You don’t have to wait for a full session to start experimenting with somatic care. Here are three simple, trauma-informed practices to regulate your nervous system in real life—whether you’re making dinner, hiding in the bathroom from your kids for two minutes of quiet, or trying to fall asleep without spiraling.

1. 4-6-8 Breathing

• Inhale for 4 counts
• Pause at the top for 6 counts
• Exhale slowly for 8 counts

Repeat for 3–6 rounds. This breath pattern activates your parasympathetic nervous system, calming your body and gently nudging you out of fight-or-flight. Try it before bed, before a tough conversation, or when your anxiety feels like it’s bubbling over.

2. Butterfly Hug

Cross your arms over your chest so that each hand rests on the opposite shoulder.
Now gently tap: left, right, left, right. Keep your breath steady. This bilateral stimulation technique is grounding and soothing. It can be your go-to reset tool—during a tense phone conversation, in the car line, or after reading something triggering online.

3. Seated Cat-Cow (Desk-Friendly!)

Sit upright in a chair, feet flat on the floor, hands resting on your thighs.

On an inhale, arch your back and lift your chest.

On the exhale, round your spine and tuck your chin.

Move through 8–10 slow rounds. It’s a beautiful way to release tension in the spine and shoulders, especially if you’ve been clenching all day. Bonus: It helps you reconnect to your breath and your body.

When Talk Therapy Isn’t Enough

Let me be clear: I love talk therapy. It saves lives. But for people who live in marginalized bodies, verbal processing isn’t always enough.

We need a full-body approach to healing.

Because the exhaustion you feel after trying to be everything to everyone?

The tension in your jaw from holding back your truth?

The anxious spiral at night when you finally have 10 minutes alone?

That’s not just “in your head.”

That’s your nervous system waving a red flag, asking for care.

At Freedom Psychotherapy & Wellness Services, our therapists use somatic modalities that blend movement, mindfulness, breathwork, and emotional attunement. We see you as a whole person—not just a list of symptoms.

Whether you’re navigating mom guilt, burnout, high-functioning anxiety, relationship struggles, or generational trauma—your body deserves to be part of your healing.

Ready to Try Somatic Therapy?

You deserve more than survival. You deserve to feel rooted in your own body, calm in your own skin, and capable of choosing peace—even in the chaos.

Book a free 25-minute consultation to get matched with a therapist who specializes in somatic work. We’re here to help you move trauma out—not just talk about it.

And if you have a friend who’s always “doing the most” and rarely slows down for herself? Forward this post. Remind her she’s allowed to rest too.

You don’t have to carry it all anymore.

Let’s put some of the weight down—together.