Glossary of Terms
How Soma Can Help
Nervous System Reset & Regulation
How can I reset my nervous system?
A nervous system reset happens when you move out of survival mode (fight, flight, freeze) and into balance. Soma’s somatic exercises, breathwork, and vagus nerve activation train your body to release stress, regulate emotions, and shift into a state of calm naturally.
What are the signs of an overactive nervous system?
If you constantly feel on edge, anxious, exhausted but unable to rest, clench your jaw, or have digestive issues, your nervous system may be dysregulated. Soma provides body-based techniques to regulate stress responses, reduce hypervigilance, and restore balance.
What is nervous system dysregulation?
Nervous system dysregulation occurs when your body struggles to switch between stress and relaxation. This can show up as chronic stress, anxiety, fatigue, digestive issues, or feeling emotionally numb. Soma teaches tools to retrain your nervous system to self-regulate.
What is polyvagal theory and how does it relate to healing?
Polyvagal theory explains how the vagus nerve regulates your body’s response to stress. Soma incorporates breathwork, vagus nerve activation, and gentle movement to help shift from survival mode into a state of safety and connection.
How do I stop feeling stuck in fight-or-flight mode?
When your body is constantly bracing for danger, it struggles to relax. Soma teaches nervous system regulation exercises, trauma-informed movement, and somatic self-soothing techniques to retrain your body’s ability to feel safe.
How do I know if I’m stuck in freeze mode?
Freeze mode feels like emotional numbness, exhaustion, zoning out, or difficulty making decisions. Soma helps you gently reawaken your system without overwhelm by using movement and breathwork to create a sense of safety.
How does nervous system regulation affect overall health?
Your nervous system controls digestion, sleep, energy, and emotional balance. If it’s dysregulated, you may experience chronic stress, fatigue, inflammation, or anxiety. Soma helps bring your system back into a state of balance so your body can function optimally.
Why do I feel exhausted but can’t relax?
This happens when your body is stuck in a dysregulated nervous system state, making it difficult to transition from stress to rest. Soma’s somatic movement, breathwork, and nervous system techniques teach your body how to downshift into true relaxation.
Can trauma change my nervous system?
Yes, trauma can rewire your nervous system, keeping it in a constant state of fight, flight, or freeze. Soma helps retrain your system to move out of survival mode and into a place of safety and regulation.
Why do I shut down emotionally when stressed?
This is a sign of freeze response, where the body protects itself by numbing emotions. Soma’s body-based techniques gently reawaken your system, allowing you to feel safe processing emotions again.
Why does my body shake during relaxation or breathwork?
Shaking is your body’s natural way of releasing stored stress and trauma. Soma encourages this process with trauma release exercises (TRE) and somatic shaking to help reset your nervous system.
Physical Symptoms & Body Pain
Why do I clench my jaw at night?
Jaw clenching (bruxism) is often linked to stored stress, suppressed emotions, or nervous system dysregulation. Soma’s jaw release exercises, vagus nerve stimulation, and somatic relaxation techniques help ease tension.
What’s causing my neck pain?
Neck pain is often due to chronic stress, posture issues, or stored emotional tension. Soma provides gentle movement, somatic touch, and self-massage techniques to relieve pain at its root.
Why do I have chronic back pain?
Back pain isn’t just physical—it’s often the body holding onto stress, trauma, or emotional weight. Soma helps by releasing stored tension, retraining movement patterns, and regulating the nervous system.
Why do I always feel tight, no matter how much I stretch?
Stretching doesn’t always address why your muscles are tight. If your body perceives a threat, it holds onto tension as a protective response. Soma helps reset your body’s stress response so that tension naturally releases.
Why do I get random body aches with no clear cause?
Unexplained body aches can be linked to stress, nervous system dysregulation, and stored trauma. Soma’s gentle movement, nervous system healing, and breathwork help the body move out of chronic tension patterns.
Why do I always have muscle tension, even when I’m not exercising?
Your body may be holding onto unresolved stress or emotional tension. Soma teaches techniques that help release deep-seated muscular tension and retrain your body to feel safe.
Why does my body feel heavy and stiff?
This is a sign of nervous system dysregulation or stored tension in the fascia. Soma uses movement, breathwork, and body awareness exercises to release restrictions and restore fluidity.
Why do I experience random body aches that doctors can’t explain?
Unexplained body pain is often a nervous system issue rather than a structural one. Soma helps you retrain your system, release stored tension, and improve body awareness to reduce chronic pain.
Why does my back pain get worse when I’m stressed?
Stress causes the body to tighten muscles unconsciously, especially in the back and shoulders. Soma helps release these chronic holding patterns through nervous system regulation and movement.
Why do I get tension headaches every day?
Tension headaches are often a sign of chronic jaw clenching, poor breathing patterns, or emotional stress. Soma’s self-massage techniques, jaw release, and vagus nerve activation help alleviate this tension.
What is the link between hip pain and trauma?
The hips are a major emotional storage center due to their connection to the fight-or-flight response. Soma’s hip release exercises, guided movement, and nervous system balancing techniques help unlock deep-seated tension and create a sense of relief.
Why do I experience chest tightness when I’m stressed?
When your body is under stress, breathing becomes shallow and restricted, causing chest tightness, shortness of breath, and even heart palpitations. Soma helps with diaphragmatic breathing, body-based relaxation techniques, and vagus nerve activation to restore full-body calm.
Why do I hold tension in my shoulders and neck?
The shoulders and neck are common areas for stress storage, especially if you feel overwhelmed or unsafe. Soma’s somatic movement, breathwork, and targeted tension release techniques help soften this tightness.
Digestive Health & Gut-Brain Connection
Why am I always bloated even though I eat healthy?
If bloating persists despite clean eating, your nervous system may be the missing link. Chronic stress can slow digestion and alter gut function. Soma helps by regulating the gut-brain connection through breathwork and nervous system balance.
Why am I bloated all the time?
Bloating that won’t go away may be a sign of chronic stress, slow digestion, or nervous system imbalance. Soma’s breathwork and movement-based techniques help activate the rest-and-digest system, reducing bloating and discomfort.
How can I improve gut health?
Gut health isn’t just about food—it’s also about nervous system regulation. Soma teaches you how to use breathwork, movement, and vagus nerve activation to improve digestion, reduce gut-related stress, and restore balance to your system.
How does stress impact digestion?
Stress shuts down digestion, reducing stomach acid and slowing motility, leading to bloating, constipation, or IBS-like symptoms. Soma’s gut-focused practices activate the vagus nerve, supporting better digestion.
Why do I get bloated after eating, even if I’m not eating inflammatory foods?
Bloating isn’t just about food—it’s about how your nervous system processes it. Tension in the gut, stress hormones, and poor vagal tone can all impact digestion. Soma helps by training the nervous system to activate the rest-and-digest response.
Can somatic exercises help IBS?
Yes! IBS is often linked to nervous system dysregulation. Soma’s techniques help regulate gut function, improve vagus nerve activation, and reduce stress-related gut symptoms.
Why do I feel bloated when I’m anxious?
Your nervous system directly impacts digestion. When stressed, the body slows down digestion, leading to bloating, discomfort, and food sensitivities. Soma helps activate the rest-and-digest response, improving gut function.
Can nervous system dysregulation cause food sensitivities?
Yes! When your body is in chronic stress mode, it may react to foods that normally wouldn’t cause issues. Soma helps calm your system, reducing unnecessary inflammatory responses.
How can I improve my digestion without changing my diet?
Try nervous system regulation, deep breathing, vagus nerve activation, and abdominal release exercises—all of which are core techniques in Soma’s approach.
How do I heal leaky gut naturally?
Leaky gut is often worsened by chronic stress and inflammation. Soma helps by addressing nervous system regulation, deep core activation, and vagus nerve support, all of which improve digestion and help repair the gut lining.
Mental Health & Emotional Well-being
How do I stop overthinking and rumination?
Overthinking is a stress response where your brain is searching for control. Soma teaches grounding techniques, breathwork, and movement-based exercises to shift your body out of high-alert mode.
Why do I feel emotionally numb?
Emotional numbness is a freeze response, meaning your body has shut down emotions to protect itself. Soma helps reconnect you to your emotions through safe, body-led practices.
How do I release suppressed emotions?
Emotions that aren’t processed get stored in the body. Soma’s somatic shaking, movement-based trauma release, and nervous system exercises help bring emotions to the surface and release them safely.
Why do I feel disconnected from my body?
Disconnection is a trauma response where the nervous system detaches to protect itself. Soma’s somatic exercises help gently rebuild awareness and trust in your body.
How can I feel emotions more deeply?
If you feel emotionally numb, your body may be in freeze mode. Soma’s body-based techniques and nervous system work can help reawaken your emotional landscape safely.
Why do I feel triggered by small things?
If your nervous system is dysregulated, minor stressors can feel overwhelming. Soma helps retrain your system to become more resilient and less reactive.
Can movement really help with emotional healing?
Yes! Emotions are stored in the body, not just the mind. Soma’s movement-based approach helps process stuck emotions and release stored trauma in a safe, effective way.
Sleep & Energy Issues
Why do I wake up tired even after a full night’s sleep?
If you wake up exhausted, your nervous system may still be in a state of hypervigilance overnight. Soma provides pre-sleep relaxation techniques, breathwork, and gentle movement to improve sleep quality.
Why do I feel wired but tired at night?
This is a cortisol imbalance where stress hormones stay high when they should be dropping. Soma helps regulate cortisol through breathwork, body relaxation, and nervous system downregulation
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Why do I wake up at 3 AM every night?
This is often a sign of nervous system dysregulation or cortisol imbalances. Soma’s pre-sleep relaxation techniques help regulate your body’s sleep cycle naturally.
How can I fall asleep faster?
Soma uses nervous system regulation techniques, body-based relaxation, and breathwork to train your body to unwind naturally before bed.
How do I stop waking up with anxiety?
Morning anxiety is often caused by overnight cortisol spikes. Soma helps regulate your stress response with pre-sleep nervous system work, breathwork, and morning grounding techniques.
What are the best ways to calm my body before bed?
To prepare your nervous system for sleep, try slow breathing, self-massage, grounding exercises, and pre-sleep somatic movements. Soma provides structured bedtime practices to ease your system into rest.
Breathwork & Somatic Techniques
What are the benefits of trauma release exercises (TRE)?
TRE (Tension & Trauma Release Exercises) use controlled shaking and movement to release stored tension. Soma integrates these techniques into its method to help the body process and reset.
How does breathwork help with emotional healing?
Breathwork regulates the nervous system, supports emotional processing, and reduces stored stress in the body. Soma’s breathwork techniques help bring suppressed emotions to the surface and release them safely.
How does somatic movement differ from yoga or stretching?
Unlike yoga, somatic movement is designed to retrain your nervous system and release stored tension. It’s gentler, more intuitive, and focused on deep healing rather than flexibility.
Hormonal Balance & Weight Issues
Why aren’t I losing weight even though I’m doing everything right?
Weight resistance isn’t always about diet and exercise—a dysregulated nervous system can keep the body stuck in stress mode, making weight loss harder. Soma helps by teaching your body to feel safe and regulate metabolism properly.
Why do I gain weight when I’m stressed?
Chronic stress raises cortisol, which signals your body to store fat—especially around the midsection. Soma helps regulate stress hormones naturally, supporting weight balance.
Why does stress make it harder to lose weight?
When your nervous system is in fight-or-flight mode, it prioritizes survival over metabolism. Soma’s techniques help shift your body into a state where it feels safe to release excess weight.
Why do I crave sugar when I’m stressed?
Your body craves quick energy when in fight-or-flight mode. Soma helps reset your stress response so that your body no longer relies on sugar for short-term energy.
Lifestyle & Nervous System-Friendly Living
How can I regulate my nervous system daily?
The best daily practices for nervous system regulation include somatic movement, breathwork, self-massage, grounding exercises, and nervous system retraining— all of which are core to Soma.
What’s the best way to start somatic healing if I’m a beginner?
Start small! Gentle movement, breathwork, and vagus nerve activation are key entry points. Soma makes it easy to integrate these into your routine, even if you’re new to body-based healing.
Can I combine somatic work with therapy?
Absolutely! Somatic work is an excellent complement to talk therapy, helping release stored trauma and stress that words alone can’t reach.