Tenuto defines somatic healing literally as body healing, from the Greek word soma. Her version uses tiny movements that can be practised in bed, on the floor, in a car, or while travelling, with the goal of releasing bodily stress and tension and regulating the nervous system.

Soma is the Greek word for body
Somatic exercises use small physical movements
The exercises are designed to be portable
The stated target is stress, tension, trauma, and nervous-system regulation

“So, soma is the Greek word for body. So, somatic healing literally translates into body healing.”
Liz Tenuto · 01:30

“What I teach are somatic exercises, which are really tiny micro movements that you can do in bed or on the floor or even like…”
Liz Tenuto · 01:30

#somatics#nervous system#stress

Explainer02:30

Top-Down Therapy vs Bottom-Up Somatics

Tenuto contrasts cognitively led therapy with body-led somatic work. She calls conventional therapy top-down because it is more mindset-based, while her somatic exercises begin with physical experience and sit across therapy, wellness, and fitness.

Top-down methods begin with cognition and mindset
Bottom-up methods begin with bodily input
Somatic work can span therapy, wellness, and fitness

“therapy is considered like a top-down Mhm. method, which means that you it's more cognitive, mindset-based, and then somatic healing or somatic exercise is what…”
Liz Tenuto · 02:30

“So, you're really working from the body.”
Liz Tenuto · 02:30

#therapy#bottom-up#mind-body

Explainer13:00

The Different Schools Behind Modern Somatics

Tenuto says most exercises she teaches draw from decades of somatic research rather than being wholly invented. She names EFT tapping, Body-Mind Centering, Feldenkrais, and the Alexander Technique as distinct schools under the umbrella, while noting that she also created exercises from shared principles.

Somatics is an umbrella rather than one uniform school
Several traditions have developed distinct practices
Tenuto combines inherited exercises with some original variations
She first introduced the work to Pilates clients recovering from injury

“the majority of the exercises that I teach are exercises that people have been researching since like the 1970s.”
Liz Tenuto · 13:00

“There's um EFT tapping, there is yeah, body mind centering, there's Feldenkrais, there's Alexander Technique.”
Liz Tenuto · 13:00

#feldenkrais#eft#alexander technique#pilates

Story· 1

Story04:00

Why a Skeptical Ballet Dancer Tried Somatics

Tenuto says her dance teacher invited her to a somatics class while she was dealing with PTSD, chronic pain, anxiety, sleep problems, and dissociation. The class looked implausible to her, but desperation overcame skepticism; after the first session, she cried because of how good she felt in her body.

Tenuto initially thought the practice looked ineffective
Pain and dissociation made her willing to experiment
Her first class produced a powerful subjective response
Personal healing preceded her later teaching work

“I was so skeptical, but I was also desperate.”
Liz Tenuto · 04:30

“I had sleep issues. I had chronic pain, chronic anxiety, lots of dissociation.”
Liz Tenuto · 04:30

#skepticism#ptsd#personal story

Q&A· 1

Q&A16:00

Can Lowering Stress Reverse Premature Gray Hair?

Tenuto argues that chronic survival stress diverts energy away from functions such as pigmentation and repair, potentially accelerating visible aging. The host challenges the idea using normal age-related graying; Tenuto then limits her claim, distinguishing premature stress-linked changes from genetic aging after roughly age 60. The discussion is a personal theory and anecdote in the transcript, not proof of a general clinical effect.

Tenuto attributes some premature aging signs to chronic stress
She reports that her own gray streak repigmented after a stressful marriage ended
The host challenges the claim with ordinary age-related graying
Tenuto distinguishes premature graying from later genetic aging

“when you're in fight, flight, freeze, your body diverts energy away from non-essential functions like re- like pigmenting your hair and it goes and it…”
Liz Tenuto · 17:00

“So, there's a difference between getting gray because of aging”
Liz Tenuto · 18:30

#stress#aging#gray hair

Tool· 1

Tool20:30

The Scalp-Tug Exercise Tenuto Uses for Blood Flow

Tenuto demonstrates grasping hair close to the scalp and giving it a small tug across different areas of the head. She says the movement brings blood flow to the scalp and claims it may support natural repigmentation, though the transcript supplies no clinical evidence for that outcome.

Grip hair close to the scalp rather than at the ends
Use a small tug and move around the head
Tenuto says the action increases scalp blood flow
The repigmentation claim is presented without supporting evidence in the episode

“I'm grabbing my hair close to the scalp and then I'm just giving it a little tug”
Host · 20:30

“you can just do that all over your head and that brings blood flow back up to your scalp”
Liz Tenuto · 21:00

#scalp#blood flow#hair

Takeaway· 2

Takeaway05:00

In Somatics, Your Version Is the Right Version

Tenuto describes the nervous system as the connection between mind and body and frames dissociation as a freeze or dysregulated state. Unlike movement systems with a prescribed ideal form, she says somatics uses individualized cues and inner sensation to rebuild that connection.

Dissociation can feel like a broken mind-body connection
Somatic practice prioritizes internal sensation
There is no single ideal version of every movement
Personalized cues are intended to restore association

“when we think of the the nervous system, you can think of it essentially as like the the highway, the connection between your mind and…”
Liz Tenuto · 05:00

“your version is the right version of doing this exercise because the way that we cue people through the exercises um really reconnects the mind…”
Liz Tenuto · 05:30

#dissociation#interoception#personalization

Takeaway22:30

Why One Somatic Exercise Is Not the Whole Programme

In response to questions about bloating, Tenuto says her practice uses intentionally ordered sets rather than isolated tricks. She compares the idea with combining several lifts to train the full glutes: one movement can help, but a sequence is intended to cover more of the system. The episode demonstrates only the opening seated pelvic tilt, not the complete bloating sequence.

Tenuto repeats each exercise for about a minute
A target-specific practice may run five to ten minutes
Exercise order is described as important
The full bloating sequence is not disclosed in the transcript

“I repeat each exercise for about a minute.”
Liz Tenuto · 23:30

“And then there's like an intentionally um sequenced series of exercises that I take people through for different things.”
Liz Tenuto · 24:00

#sequencing#bloating#practice design

Frameworks in this episode

Bilateral Ear-Pull Energy Reset

Forehead Swipe Fight-Flight Reset

Pain-Limited Figure-Four Sciatica Rock

Insights & moments

✶Explainer· 3

What Somatic Healing Actually Means

Top-Down Therapy vs Bottom-Up Somatics

The Different Schools Behind Modern Somatics

❝Story· 1

Why a Skeptical Ballet Dancer Tried Somatics

?Q&A· 1