What Is Somatic Coaching? A Live Demonstration 🌿

Hi I'm Elizabeth Cush and I'm a licensed clinical professional counselor as well as a somatic coach for highly sensitive women in midlife.

And I was recently certified in the body based breakthrough method of somatic coaching.

And I realized that maybe not a lot of people really understand or know what that is.

So this is a not brief, but this is a demonstration of what a coaching session might look like for you.

If you are interested in somatic coaching with me.

okay.

We're going to get started, with the coaching call, the somatic coaching call.

And hopefully, this will be a little bit, more expedient than our last one.

But the beautiful thing about this model is that it can be adapted to be a faster, or shorter experience.

You could even do it walking, lying down.

Today we will do a seated version, but you're welcome to sit on the floor.

Sit on a chair.

You're welcome to lie down if you want to.

Excuse me.

I am going to share my screen.

So once again, this is how you set up your journal.

If you are going to be watching this with me live or, on the recorded version, you don't need to put this stuff up there.

But on your page, you're going to have a small H with a colon.

That stands for headline.

De.

With the colon in the corner is desired experience.

The body of this portion of the journal page is for you to write your experiences, your feelings, your thoughts, to doodle, to jot down whatever is coming to mind as I walk you through this process.

And here in the corner is your inspired action.

So after we go through the guided coaching, I'll prompt you to create an inspired action, and I'll talk more about that as we move forward.

As well as the other two headlines.

The other two.

These two.

We'll talk more about those as we go through.

This is just B for B3 journal.

Don't need to worry about that.

Okay.

And I will include a, PDF of this journal page.

So if you decide to do this on your own through the recorded session, you will have a copy of it there in our circle space.

So today I'm going to walk you through a somatic coaching experience where we will do some gentle movement, we will do some breath work, some journaling, and hopefully lead you to an inspired action with a particular problem that you might be struggling with or pondering or percolating over.

So get comfortable and we'll get started.

Maybe just start with a deep breath.

That always helps me.

And do one more of those.

And just take a moment to orient yourself in your space to settle in.

So just allow your eyes to take a walk around the room, noticing the colors, textures.

Maybe there's a window that you're.

You can see outside.

Maybe there are pictures on the wall, books, plants in your space.

Just allow your eyes to wander around the room and settle wherever they feel like they want to Settle there.

yeah.

And then if it feels okay, you can close your eyes or gaze softly.

I will keep my eyes open because I am reading part of this script as I don't have it memorized.

And now just listen to the sounds around you.

What do you hear nearby?

Maybe my voice.

Maybe there's something else in your space.

An animal, a pet, a whatever it might be.

Someone nearby talking on the phone.

And what sounds do you hear farther away, outside your space?

What's the farthest sound, farthest away sound that you can hear?

And, maybe just pause here.

Take another deep breath.

And what can you smell in your environment?

Is there a particular scent or odor?

Maybe you have a scented candle or incense.

Or maybe you had a delicious, delicious lunch that you cooked before this that you still smell in your space.

And again, take a couple of deep breaths as you continue to orient yourself to the here and now.

And, what can you taste?

Maybe you had coffee or iced tea before this.

Maybe you have some beverage with you that's fruity, that you can still taste on your tongue as it lingers.

And, now bring your awareness to your body.

Notice your skin.

Notice where your clothes make contact with your skin.

And you feel the weight of your hips on the chair below you or the surface below you where your body makes contact.

And, now just tune into your breath.

Where do you feel your breath in your body?

Is it your chest rising and falling?

Maybe it's your belly expanding and contracting?

Or maybe it's just the sensation as the, air enters and exits your nostrils.

And just try to soften your jaw and your tongue as you breathe here.

And now we're going to do a practice called breathing in a square.

And you may be familiar with this, which is great.

If not, I will lead you through a couple and give you some time to do one or two on your own.

So what we're going to do is inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for four.

And then hold for four again.

And, to begin, we will take a long, slow, deep, cleansing breath to get all the stale air out of your lungs.

So we'll do that together.

Deep breath in.

And exhale.

And now inhale for four.

Two, three, four.

Hold for four.

Two, three, Four.

Exhale, four, three, two, one.

Hold 4, 3, 2, 1.

Inhale, two, three, four.

Hold, two, three, four.

Exhale, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Hold.

1, 2, 3, 4.

And Exhale.

1, 2, 3, four.

Hold And now do one more round on your own.

Inhaling, holding, exhaling, holding for Four.

All right, now let your natural cycle of breath return and take a moment to consider what's been on your mind for the last 24 to 48 hours.

You could ask yourself, what's been taking up, my mental and emotional bandwidth over the last day or so?

What is my headline?

And you'll want to pick a headline that's not too overwhelming from, in a scale of 1 to 10, probably around a 4.

And just pause a moment to take another breath here.

And as that headline emerges, take a moment to jot it down next to that H on your journal.

And you want to create this headline in the form of a what or a how question.

Because why questions are just a little too hard to really pinpoint.

We may not know why.

Right?

So a, what or a how question.

And take your time.

Take the time you need to create that headline.

And if nothing comes forward, I mean, just, I guess trust, whatever comes forward is meant to be.

And this isn't about perfection or getting it right.

This is just about your experience.

And, bring your breath, your.

Your breath.

Bring your attention back to your breath as your body expands and, contracts again.

Just noticing the weight of your hips in the chair, feeling where your body makes contact with the surface below you, whether it's feet on the floor or your back on the chair.

And just feel your whole torso breathing.

And we're going to start by, sort of a progressive breath.

And so we will inhale, filling our.

Our chest, our belly, our chest, our torso, and our belly, and then exhaling in the opposite direction.

So taking a deep breath as you fill the breath from your chest into your torso, down to your belly.

And then exhaling, pouch, your belly, your middle, and your chest.

And then once again, breathing into the chest, torso, belly, exhaling out.

Belly, torso, chest.

And, one more of those breathing into the chest, the torso, belly.

Exhaling out the belly, torso, chest.

Now I'd like you to consider your desired experience.

How would you want, in a perfect world, how would you want your headline to feel?

If everything about your headline question worked out, how would you imagine you would feel?

What would you want to feel?

Maybe it's trust or confidence.

Maybe it's connection or ease.

Maybe you feel powerful or playful.

Whatever comes to mind.

Using two or three words that describe what that would feel like, if everything worked out, everything in the issue of your headline worked up, and whatever comes to mind, just jot that down.

And if thoughts like this will never happen, I don't believe it.

I don't deserve this.

If Those thoughts pop up.

That's just information.

And, we'll greet that without judgment.

And if at any time during this recording you need more time than I'm giving you, feel free to pause the recording, do the journaling you need, get a drink of water, take care of yourself, all.

right, we're going to do some gentle moving meditation.

So for a moment, set your journal aside, and we're going to do some simple movement and breath work.

As we begin to move, we're going to gently pendulate between moving our body back and forth as we move from the desired experience back to the headline.

So I invite you to draw your chin down to your chest, gently, slowly, so you can feel that gentle stretch at the back of your neck.

And you want this to be a pleasant feeling.

So we're not trying to overstretch.

We're not trying to be the best neck stretchers in the world.

We just want to simply feel.

Find what feels good in the body or even just neutral.

And you can take a deep breath here and release.

Now gently draw your chin up towards your right shoulder.

And, as you land here, I want you to think about your desired experience and notice what thoughts or images arise around that desired experience.

Excuse me.

So, as you're bringing your chin up to your right shoulder, what thoughts or images show up?

when you consider those desired experiences.

And whatever it is, it's good.

You can draw images or, doodle.

You can write words.

If it feels important to you to go to your journal and jot those things down, you can do that.

And it doesn't have to be an essay or full sentences.

Whatever works for you.

And now we'll take another deep breath here and slowly rotate our chin down to the center and, back, up to the left side or the opposite side of where you had your chin and consider your headline.

And notice what thoughts or images come to mind as you consider your headline.

And, if you're drawing a blank or if nothing's coming to mind, that's fine.

That's just what's happening.

It's just information.

But if there are words or images that describe those thoughts and images, you can jot those down.

You can draw, you can use color, shape, whatever feels right for you.

And as you're considering your desired experience, if it feels like too much, you can imagine placing your headline in a container or a secure box.

Because sometimes our headlines can be full of emotion or lots of stuff.

All right, and, from this position of your head gently turning towards your Right, left shoulder.

We're going to gently pendulate back and forth.

So slowly moving your head down in a half circle from side to side.

That can be inhaling as you come down, exhaling as you move up, or whatever feels good to your body.

But just make sure you're breathing as you do this, And just do that a few more times on your own.

Just exploring your body in this experience.

So we're beginning to wake up and explore how as you create spaciousness in your body, I help you create spaciousness in your mind.

So we just primed your nervous system and your mind for this headline undesired experience.

So we're going to start to explore that further.

So whenever you're ready, you can bring your chin back to center if you haven't already.

And, we're going to do some cat cow stretches.

And all of this can be done eyes open, eyes closed.

But if you need a little instruction, feel free to look at me.

So maybe back away from your desk or chair or table in front of you and place your hands on your knees.

And if you're familiar with cat cow, you can just go ahead and start doing that.

But if you're not, maybe.

Basically, we're going to curl our spine forward as we exhale, thinking like a concave shape, with your back and your belly.

And then as you inhale, opening up the chest, leaning and tilting your head backward as far as feels comfortable to you.

And then exhaling up, curling forward, and just continue to do those movements in your own rhythm.

it can be super slow, Or you can move it up the pace, Move up the pace, whatever feels good to you.

And I just want you to do that for a couple of rounds on your own.

And now come back to a neutral spine, placing your hands again on your upper thighs.

then we're going to inhale and stretch our right arm up and over our head.

And so you will feel a stretch from your, your hip all the way through to your pinky.

And only stretch as far as is comfortable for you.

This does not.

This is not about a challenge.

This is about comfortable, easy movements for you.

And then going to inhale here and exhale, drop your arm down and inhaling, bringing the left hand up again, feeling that stretch through the side body, exhaling down and inhaling up.

And just continue with this rhythmic movement back and forth.

And maybe close your eyes, if they aren't closed already, and just enjoy what this feels like in your body.

Or, maybe it doesn't feel joyful.

Maybe it doesn't feel good.

Just notice what it does feel like in your body.

For me, the gentle swaying just helps my nervous system feel at ease and comfort comfortable.

All right, so exhale, bringing both your arms down gently and safely.

We're going to do another gentle movement involving our spine.

So if you scoot forwards on your chair a little bit, inhaling, getting tall.

And we're going to gently twist to the right, maybe placing your right hand behind you for support, and just spinning your body so that to whatever degree you can.

So looking over your left shoulder or, or off to the side and just taking a deep breath here.

And as you land here, consider your desired experience, behavior and impulse.

So if your body or your being could do anything right now, as you consider your desired experience, where, if in a perfect world anything were possible, what would your body want to do right now?

What is the primal impulse to run away, to pull in, to want to connect, to laugh, to smile, to collapse.

Whatever it is, allowing that behavior and impulse to just be here, noticing what your body wants to do.

And if you're in a safe space and you actually want to make that, that behavior and impulse happen, go for it.

You can also just write down in your journal what came through, or you can just be with it here for now.

And when you're ready, we're going to do another deep breath in, coming back to center.

Inhale, getting tall and twisting to the left, putting your left hand behind you for support.

I can also come over the back of the chair if that's easier.

Mine, it's easier just to lay it on the chair behind me.

And as you are here on the left hand side, taking a deep breath in.

And as you consider your headline, what is the behavior or impulse that comes to mind?

What would your body want to do right now, that primal impulse or behavior?

Would you want to kick or bite or punch or run or jump or scream?

Whatever that behavior and impulse is, we welcome it in to just be here.

If it feels too intense, you know, you can just take a, portion of that headline to allow you to just percolate on that portion of your headline a smaller bit.

But if it feels okay and you want to act out this impulse here in the moment, I would say do it.

You could squirm or jump or whatever feels right for you or nothing.

You might feel nothing.

You might feel numb, and that's okay too.

Whatever you're feeling, remember that this is an experience.

It is not, it doesn't mean anything about you.

It is just what's happening in your body right now.

And again, we're going to take another deep breath in and come to center.

If you feel like you need to pause this to jot in your journal, write down what's coming up for you, that's great.

If not, we're going to move along to the next piece.

All, right.

Now I invite you to open your legs as you sit back in your chair, sort of spreading your legs as far as they'll go to the side.

So obviously not a split, really.

Not for me anyway.

and putting both hands on your right thigh, just leaning forward as far as is either possible with your desk or table in the way, but just also as far over as feels comfortable for your body.

You don't want to overstretch, we don't want to hurt anything, but just feeling that stretch through your hamstring, through the back body.

And as you rest here in this position, bring to mind your desired experience and notice what sensation and emotion surfaces.

What do you notice in your body?

What sensations, what emotions do you notice in your body?

And anything is welcome here.

It might be warm, tingling in your belly or buzzing in your chest.

Maybe you feel warm or numbness.

I just had a little digestion, thing happening for me.

But just noticing what comes up.

Maybe sadness or joyfulness.

But take all the time you need and feel free to write.

And there's no need to identify with, sensations or emotions.

This is just information.

You aren't the sensation, you aren't the emotion.

It's just the energy moving through you.

And I'm doing a little rocking motion here, which you can do too, or you can just stay leaning forward.

Or if it's time for you to journal, that works too.

But just make sure you're still breathing, maybe take in a deep breath if you need to.

And when you're ready, coming up and then moving over towards the left side and again bending forward, feeling that stretch through the back body, through your hamstring.

Now, considering your headline, the hand to headline sensation and of motion.

What do you notice as you consider your headline?

What is bubbling up in your body?

The feelings, the sensations?

Maybe it's gripping or bracing.

Maybe there's fear or anger or worry.

Maybe there's numbness and disconnect.

And again remembering that this is all just information.

It's all just energy flowing through you.

And it doesn't mean anything about you as a person.

It is just your body sharing that information with you.

And if you can just continue to be with that sensation and emotion, if it's manageable, feeling free to journal, doodle, scribble, Whatever movement feels right right now.

If you need to, yeah, just give yourself a little soothing rub on your leg.

That's fine too.

And then slowly, slowly, when you're ready, coming back to center.

And we're going to come back to that next stretch that we started with at the beginning, where bringing your head down towards your chest and gently cycling back and forth, as you exhale and inhale, Undo that for as long as you need to.

You could even just rock yourself back and forth if that feels right to you here in this moment, just trusting that your body will show you the way of what, what you need to do right now.

And another deep breath in.

And we are going to transition into the last part of this somatic coaching, which is called deep breasts and surrender.

My favorite part, if you're familiar with Shavasana and yoga, a very similar concept here we're going to get you to get as comfortable as you can.

You know, if you were seated at a desk chair like I am, just maybe slouching down, supporting your body as you need to.

If you were on a couch, feel free to lie down, cover your body, you could get down on the floor.

Whatever works for you.

The idea is getting comfortable so that we can fully let go and rest.

And so for me, what I like to do during this portion is to I cross my hands, I slouch down, and I just let my head fall forward.

That may not be comfortable for you.

So do what works for your body.

And, we're just going to rest here, Adjusting your body as needed, really giving yourself a chance to just rest.

Make sure you're breathing, Exhaling slower and softer and deeper, getting still and quiet.

And letting your headline simply float through your awareness one final time.

This is where new awarenesses can emerge.

So just pay attention to any shifts or changes to your headline, even subtle changes.

And now again, inhale, exhale slowly, softly, deeply.

And in this still, quiet place, ask your body, Body, what wisdom, do you have for me?

And as the wisdom bubbles to the surface, gently open your eyes and begin writing.

Body, what wisdom do you have for me today?

and just whatever comes up, there's no right or wrong.

And maybe you ask yourself what's been missing or what needs to be completed around this, or what hasn't gotten to happen that still needs to happen.

The things need to be renegotiated with yourself and others, or boundaries to be set or changed or something.

And what is it that I know that I know than I know what is it that I know to be true about this headline?

And is there a place that you need to trust yourself more?

Is there space where more surrender or unfolding can happen?

And what is it that I need to, embody right now?

And if you feel lost at any point, just coming back to your breath as it moves in and out of your body and take a minute or two to write any final thoughts as you consider 1 what is the theme?

As you look over what you've written today or drawn today or jotted today, what is the theme?

As you consider all that you've written and jotted down and put on this journal paper, looking at the theme, consider what is my inspired action?

What is the one thing that you can do in the next 24 to 48 hours to let your body know.

I heard you.

I heard you.

And just whether you put it on your calendar or write a post it note, just having that inspired action top of mind as you move into the rest of your day, into tomorrow and again, just a simple thing to do towards this headline.

Well, that is the completion of this episode or of this coaching session.

I am going to pause the recording for any input or, sharing.

Thanks for joining me.

After the session, we would process what came through for you, and actually process through the session in a way that can't be done with a video.

But we would process what came through for you, what felt like an inspired action, but what clarity you got around whatever it was you were working through.

And it's a really beautiful, gentle method of coaching that has helped me gain clarity in my own life, which is why I went on to get certified in IT and am able to offer it here.

So if you have comments or thoughts or, just want to share with me what this experience was like, I would love to hear about it.