For most of human history, our ancestors lived in harmony with the natural world, their bodies deeply attuned to the rhythms of the earth. As nomadic hunter-gatherers, they moved with the seasons, felt the pulse of the land beneath their feet, and relied on instinct to survive – as all other animals. Life was an embodied experience—movement, presence, and connection weren’t luxuries; they were survival.

But something shifted.

Around 12,000 years ago, the agricultural revolution changed everything. Settling into permanent communities introduced hierarchy, ownership, control—not just over land, but over bodies and emotions. The body, once honored as wise, became something to discipline, dominate, ignore.

We began the slow drift into what we might call the trance of disembodiment. Over generations, this severing from somatic intelligence has shaped how we relate to ourselves, each other, and the earth. The effects? Chronic stress. Anxiety. Burnout. Disconnection. A society where people feel isolated in a hyperconnected world.

How Disconnection Became the Default

Humans are wired for connection. As social mammals, we co-regulate: our nervous systems respond to others via tone of voice, facial expression, posture, presence. Safety isn’t just an idea—it’s a felt sense.

Dr. Stephen Porges’ Teoria Poliwagalna explains this well. When we feel supported and seen, our ventral vagal systemactivates. We feel grounded, curious, connected. Our body becomes a safe place to be.

But when connection is lost—through trauma, stress, or systemic oppression—the body reacts:

• Fight/Flight: Hypervigilance, reactivity, anxiety

• Freeze/Shutdown: Numbness, withdrawal, dissociation

This isn’t just personal. It’s collective. Capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy—all systems that reinforce separation, suppression, and survival over safety and sovereignty.

And the result?

• Chronic pain, tension, autoimmune conditions

• Emotional exhaustion, high-functioning anxiety

• Nervous systems stuck in overdrive or collapse

But what if these symptoms are not dysfunction? What if they are your body’s intelligent response to a world that is constantly overstimulating, unsafe, and unrelenting?

The Somatic Shadow: Befriending the Parts That Protected You

When we disconnect from our bodies, we also disconnect from the parts of ourselves that once learned how to keep us safe.

Those parts—maybe perfectionism, people-pleasing, freezing, over-achieving, caretaking—aren’t flaws. They are protectors.

In Internal Family Systems (IFS) language, they are adaptive, wise parts of us that emerged in childhood or crisis to preserve love, belonging, safety. But what protected you then might now be holding you back. These parts try to help, but when they run the show, we lose access to our embodied Self.

The true Self is not a performance. It’s not a perfect version of you. It is the you that exists underneath survival: calm, clear, connected, curious, creative, compassionate.

Somatic healing helps us re-establish this Self-leadership—not from the mind, but from the body. Because trauma isn’t stored in thoughts. It lives in:

• Fascia

• Breath patterns

• Posture

• Muscle tension

• Sensations and impulses

The nervous system doesn’t speak in words. It speaks in rhythm. Heat. Shaking. Tears. Stillness. Tingling.

And when we bring curiosity and compassionate attention to those body signals, healing begins.

We don’t push the protectors away. We invite them into the light and ask:

“What are you trying to protect me from?” “Is that still true now?” “What do you need from me?”

This is somatic shadow work. Not about fixing. About witnessing. Validating. Reclaiming what was exiled.

Because you are the medicine. And your body knows the way.

The Body Remembers: Why Somatic Healing Works

In The Body Keeps the Score, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk reminds us: trauma is not just a memory. It’s a physiological imprint. The body doesn’t forget.

But it can learn to feel safe again. With the right conditions:

• Co-regulation (a safe, attuned presence)

• Choice (the opposite of trauma)

• Embodied practices (not just talk, but movement)

This is where Soma Joga, TCTSY (Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga), and somatic rituals come in. These are not about perfect poses or pushing through pain. These are about listening. Feeling. Releasing. Reclaiming.

They help us:

• Shift from sympathetic overdrive or dorsal shutdown to ventral safety

• Release chronic tension and stored stress

• Increase vagal tone and resilience

• Repattern our relationship with power, play,  presence, and pleasure

This is the body completing what was once interrupted. This is the nervous system remembering: I am safe enough now.

Heart Coherence & Returning to Wholeness

When the body feels safe, the heart can open.

The HeartMath Institute shows us that when our heart rhythms are coherent with brain waves, we experience:

• Better emotional regulation

• Increased clarity and connection

• A felt sense of purpose and peace

Ancient traditions always knew this. They spoke of the heart as the seat of the soul. Now neuroscience echoes their wisdom.

And this is what embodiment makes possible: To return to the heart. To become attuned to something deeper than fear. To feel yourSelf, lead yourSelf, be yourSelf.

Embodiment as Rebellion

In a world that profits off your disconnection, coming back to your body is a radical act.

It is spiritual. It is political. It is ancestral. It is feminine.

And it is necessary.

Because when we heal in the body— We stop the cycle. We disrupt the story. We remember who we were before the world told us who to be.

This is the revolution. Not out there. In here. In the flesh. In the breath. In the trembling. In the choosing.

You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be present.

Your body is not a problem to fix. It is a portal home.

 Ready to reconnect with your body and reclaim your Self-leadership?

Join Soma Heal — my online studio for nervous system-based practices, Soma Yoga, and somatic rituals.

CLICK HERE to start your 7-day free trial.

You are the medicine. Let’s return home—together..