Why Talk Therapy Is Powerful But Sometimes Not Enough
Talk therapy can be incredibly supportive. It can help you gain insight into your patterns, process your past, and develop self-awareness. For many, it’s an essential part of the healing journey.
But if you’ve spent years in therapy, understanding your triggers and tracing your anxiety back to its roots—yet still feel stuck in your body—you’re not alone.
That’s because healing doesn’t just happen in the mind.
Why the Body Holds On
Your nervous system holds onto experiences in a way that words alone can’t always reach. If your body is still operating from a place of fight, flight, or freeze, insight alone won’t convince it to feel safe.
The nervous system—the very place where stress and trauma live—doesn’t interpret language the same way your mind does. You might know that you’re safe, but your body may still feel trapped in a state of threat.
Talking about or reliving past trauma can even re-trigger your system if it doesn’t yet have the capacity to tolerate those experiences. That’s why we must communicate safety to the body in a way it can understand.
Why Somatic Healing Makes a Difference
As Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, writes: “Trauma is not found in the memory, but in the reaction.”
These reactions are stored in your body—in how you shrink yourself, dissociate, go numb, lash out, or disconnect. They’re not flaws; they’re the body’s adaptations to past pain.
Somatic healing focuses on these reactions, gently guiding the nervous system back into a state of regulation and safety.
How Somatic Healing Works
Rather than retelling your story, somatic work helps your body experience a new one—one where it is safe, steady, and supported.
Titration – Slowly expanding your capacity to be with yourself, one moment at a time, without overwhelming your system.
Regulation Tools – Teaching your body how to calm its hypersensitivity and come out of survival mode.
Building Resilience – As the body feels safer, you develop the flexibility to handle life’s challenges with more ease.
This work bridges the gap between understanding your trauma and actually healing from it.
A Path to Deeper Healing
You don’t have to choose between talk therapy and body-based healing. In fact, they can beautifully complement each other. But if you’re still feeling anxious after years of cognitive work, it may be time to invite the body into the conversation.
Somatic practices offer a new way forward—one rooted in safety, presence, and connection.
About the Author
Shai Maxine is a trained somatic practitioner specializing in helping people navigate stress, chronic pain, and emotional overwhelm. With years of experience guiding clients toward greater ease and connection, Shai offers practical tools rooted in somatic awareness and mindfulness. When not working, Shai enjoys hiking, cooking, creating art, and petting as many dogs as she can. Follow along on instagram @shai.maxine
