Somatic Healing & a Corrective Response to Mind-Body Dualism

Apr 2

What is somatic healing exactly? What about mind-body dualism? Was Rene Descartes wrong?
And is trauma really stored in the body?

Let’s discuss…

The word somatic comes from the Greek soma, meaning body. In ancient Greek thought, soma referred to the physical body, psyche to mind or soul, and pneuma to spirit or breath. Already, there was a recognition of layers — distinct, but interwoven.

Centuries later, René Descartes proposed mind–body dualism: the mind (res cogitans) as immaterial thought, the body (res extensa) as physical matter. This split shaped Western medicine and psychology for centuries. Descartes wasn’t entirely wrong — the mind and body are distinct — but the misstep was assuming they were separate and unrelated.

Spirit & Matter: Distinct, but Inseparable

Modern neuroscience confirms what mystics have long known: mind and body are not two isolated domains. They exist in a reciprocal rhythm, a nonlinear feedback loop. Spirit animates matter with vitality; matter embodies spirit in form. Each gives rise to the other — distinct, yet inseparable.

The duality is real, but the separation is an illusion.

Spirit embodies matter, lending it vitality.
Matter embodies spirit, lending it visibility.

Trauma Makes the Connection Clear

For centuries, psychology stalled by treating mind and body as separate. Emotions were dismissed, the body ignored. But trauma makes the connection undeniable.

When my dad died, my digestive system collapsed for weeks. The grief was emotional, but it showed itself physically. This isn’t unique. We all know butterflies in the stomach, sweaty palms when afraid, goosebumps when moved by music. Our bodies feel what our minds know — and vice versa.

Wilhelm Reich, in the early 20th century, proposed that trauma is stored in the body, not just the mind. He mapped seven “belts of tension” that hold emotional charge. Later, Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing showed how trauma is a stuck survival response. Animals complete these cycles instinctively. Humans, uniquely, get stuck.

Trauma is not just psychological memory. It’s incomplete biological action frozen in the nervous system. Talking about it doesn’t complete it. True healing happens when the body is engaged — when what was once thwarted finds completion.

The body, matter, is the vehicle for spirit, the mind, to know itself through sensation.

Spirit as Life Force

The mind and body are distinct, yes. But they are not separate. They are partners, like yin and yang. When they connect, spirit — the life force that animates and heals — flows. Spirit is what releases defensive layers, emotional blocks, and survival patterns from our sense of self. Each is both source and mirror of the other, bound in a reciprocal rhythm of opposites that sustains the whole.

Somatic Healing in Practice

Somatic healing isn’t only an abstract correction to Cartesian dualism. It’s a living practice that tends to the human experience. Trauma is healed by allowing the body to feel, release, and integrate. True somatic healing supports the body to finish what was once cut off, so the system can reset. That’s why “cookie cutter” somatic poses on Instagram rarely create real change: the work must be unique to the individual’s nervous system and life history.

In my sessions, I help clients tune in to the wisdom of the body and the inner world. Together, we create space to notice subtle signals, complete impulses, feel what’s been suppressed, and release what has been held inside.

Importantly, this work follows the process for neuroplastic change, so what arises isn’t just felt in the moment but settles into lasting shifts in both brain and body.

A session may include attuned dialogue, body awareness, breathwork, movement, co-regulation, working with inner parts, safe expression, and integration. The pace is always unique to each individual’s nervous system and present moment experience. Some sessions may be more reflective and contemplative, others more expressive, and some may be more regulation focused while others geared towards long-term healing, but all are always collaborative, confidential, non-judgmental, and always grounded in compassionate presence.

In simple terms, my somatic process is: we listen, we feel, we complete, we integrate, and repeat.

Zooming out

Somatic healing is not just about symptom management or cognitive awareness. It’s about reclaiming the present moment, bringing each part of us into the here and now. Trauma binds us unconsciously to the past. Somatic work restores our capacity to be here, where new choices can be made and new possibilities available.