Written by Lauren Walker, Energy Medicine Yoga.
‘Somatic’ is becoming the new buzzword in the alternative healing community. But why? And why now? And what, even, does it mean?
SOMA is the Greek word for body. A plant body, or a human body. That’s it. Just a body. So why is it suddenly all the craze?
Somatic healing; somatic breath-work; somatic yoga; somatic trauma work… It’s like Leo the Lion (lion lion), or Chai Tea (tea tea). Each of those phrases is literally saying: you heal, you breathe, you connect, you release… through your body. Is this revolutionary? In some ways, it is!
The idea that trauma, pain, stress, and emotions are held in the body is something that healers have known for generations. But in our modern scientific materialist world, we’ve been led away from our own inner knowing. We think we can think our way out of our stress and overwhelm, and we can decide to have more willpower. We can reason our way through our trauma or negotiate our difficult relationships with our smart minds.But over and over again, we fail. Why? Because the imprint of every experience—good or bad—that you’ve ever had is held in your body, not in your mind (or not only in your mind). And beyond being held in your body, it is held in the overlapping fields of energy that are what your body and mind are made of.
So, Somatics. Is yoga the same as somatics? You could argue that it is. Because in yoga, we translate the energy of the fields and the thoughts of the mind through the language of the body. Those pains you feel are stuck energy. That feeling in the pit of your stomach, your headaches, your hairs standing on end, your irrational fears, your stubbornness—all of those things are held in your body in ways you may or may not recognize.
Yoga, in its simplest sense, means union. It doesn’t mean touching your toes or standing on your head. It means knowing who you really are, knowing how you operate in the world, and creating the circumstances to help you operate better. Doing the splits is great, but gymnastics isn’t the same as yoga. Knowing how to regulate your body is the key to surviving and thriving in our increasingly chaotic, complex, and disconnected world. It is all too easy to purple-wash your grief, to bypass your anger, or to make excuses to yourself for your fear, your cowardice, or your anxiety.
We can’t expect the world to change and become full of love if we can’t change and become full of love individually. “Crying gets the sad out of you” is true. But understanding how to release the energy that produced the sad in the first place is transformative.
What we do at Energy Medicine Yoga takes the idea of deep connection with your physical form, your Soma, into the heights of transformation and healing. The work is simple, if not easy. You have to want to heal. Truly. Not just in theory. And if you do—if you truly want to thrive, know yourself, and get out of your own way so you can achieve your full potential—the tools are right here in the somatic experiences of Energy Medicine Yoga. Everything you experience is held in the body. EMYoga will share with you the diagnostic and interpretive skills you need to read the “scans” your body sends you daily. And then EMYoga teaches you to help facilitate what your body already knows and wants to do: heal.
You can call it Somatic Healing, Somatic Breath-work, Somatic Yoga, Somatic Trauma work, Somatic Play at the beach, or Somatic friendship building. However you name it, your body will show you the way. And EMYoga will be there to help guide you. Want to learn more?
Join us this summer for Energy Medicine Yoga: For Surviving and Thriving with Lauren Walker
Program Dates: July 19 – 24, 2026
Click here to register
