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I didn't find my way back to my body in a studio or a therapist's office or an expensive retreat. I found it on my living room floor, following along to a free YouTube video.
I wasn't looking for somatic healing. I wasn't even sure what that meant yet. I just knew I needed to move. Something low pressure. Something I could do at home. Something that didn't require me to have it all together. I stumbled onto pilates through Move with Nicole, & something about it just clicked immediately.
It wasn't the movements themselves at first. It was the breath. Every exercise was tied to it. Inhale here. Exhale there. Feel this. Notice that. For the first time in a long time I wasn't thinking about my to-do list or replaying a conversation or bracing for the next hard thing. I was just in my body. Focused on my form. Focused on my breath.
I felt so at peace.
I didn't have the language for it then. But what I was experiencing was my nervous system finally getting a break. My mind & body landing in the same place at the same time, maybe for the first time in months.
That was my somatic practice. Free, at home, ten minutes at a time. & it's where everything started.
So let me say what a somatic practice actually is, because the word can sound like it requires a credential. It doesn't. Somatic just means body-based. A somatic practice is anything that helps you tune into your physical experience, your sensations, your breath, your tension, your impulses, as a way of processing emotion & coming back to yourself. It is not about achieving a state or doing it perfectly. It's about showing up for the conversation your body has been trying to have with you.
& that conversation can happen in ten minutes. In your living room. On your lunch break. Before the rest of the house wakes up. It does not require equipment or expertise or perfect conditions. It just requires your willingness to pause & pay attention.
If you have never tried a real breathing practice, start there. Not the just breathe thing that makes you want to throw something at whoever said it (girl, same). I mean a specific one. It's called an extended exhale. Breathe in for four counts. Breathe out for six. That's it. The longer exhale activates your parasympathetic nervous system, the part of you that knows how to rest, & tells your body that the threat has passed. Try it three times right now. Notice what shifts. This is the foundation of the breathwork inside The Soft Landing, & it's the practice I come back to again & again when I feel myself getting pulled out of my body & into my head.
From there, the one I'd reach for next is a body scan. It takes less than five minutes & you can do it lying down, sitting, or standing. Close your eyes if that feels comfortable. Starting at the top of your head, slowly move your attention down through your body. You're not trying to fix anything. You're just noticing. Is there tension in your jaw? Your throat? Your chest? Your stomach? Your hips? Wherever you find tension, breathe into it. Not to make it go away. Just to acknowledge it. To say I see you. I feel you. You don't have to work so hard. I love doing this one lying down with the Nodpod weighted blanket. The gentle weight creates this incredible sense of being held that makes it so much easier to actually drop in. It turns a five-minute check-in into something genuinely restorative.
It's one of the most powerful practices I know for rebuilding the connection between your mind & your body, because it asks you to actually be in conversation with yourself. Not override. Not numb. Not push through. Just listen.
There's another one you already know, because you have felt it. Movement. That moment when you're moving & everything else goes quiet. When your body stops being a vehicle you're dragging through your day & starts actually feeling like home again. That's not just endorphins. That's your nervous system completing a stress cycle. Discharging what it has been holding. Finally getting to exhale. You do not need a gym for this. You don't need an hour. A YouTube pilates video. A slow walk around the block. Stretching on your living room floor. Shaking your hands out. Swaying. Whatever form of movement calls to you, that's your body telling you what it needs. Follow that. If you're building a home practice, the one thing worth investing in is a mat that actually supports you. I use the Stakt mat & I cannot recommend it enough. It folds into a block for support during certain exercises & lays flat when you need it to. It's a permanent fixture in my living room now, & honestly just seeing it there is its own kind of invitation to show up.
& there's one more I want to put in your hands, because I think most women have skipped it & need it the most. Journaling with your body instead of your brain. Most of us journal from our heads. We narrate. We analyze. We make sense of things intellectually. Somatic journaling starts somewhere different. With sensation instead of thought. Instead of asking yourself what happened or what do I think about this, you ask, what does this feel like in my body right now? Before you write a single word, close your eyes & do a quick body scan. Notice what's present. Then open your eyes & write from that place. The tightness in your chest. The heaviness in your limbs. The flutter in your stomach. Let your body lead & see where it takes you. I've been using this journal for years. There's something about the quality of it that makes the whole ritual feel more intentional. Like you're telling yourself that what you're about to write matters. This is one of the core practices inside The Soft Landing, & it will crack things open in the most gentle, unexpected ways.
You don't need to do all of this at once. Please don't. Pick one. Start there. Do it today in whatever ten minutes you can find.
The goal isn't a perfect practice. The goal is a consistent invitation. A small daily signal to your nervous system that says I'm here. I'm listening. It's safe to come down now.
If you've been waiting to find your way back to yourself, Remembrance is a free place to start. & The Soft Landing is a 7-day return built for the woman who is ready to stop waiting & come home to her body.
Ten minutes is enough to begin the journey.
Stay close,
Jess