Somatic Healing in Real Time: Lynae Martinez Guides Me Through a Live Session
By Shanon Safi, RD, LDN, CSSD — Registered Dietitian, Sports Dietetics Specialist & Founder of Fuel the Fire
Fire Fam, this week's episode is unlike anything I've recorded before. Instead of just talking about somatic work, I went to Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, to see my dear friend Lynae Martinez, a somatic practitioner, and we recorded an actual somatic session. No script, no filters. Just me on the mat, Lynae guiding, and my body saying some things I did not expect it to say.
I know "somatic" can feel a little out there if you've never experienced it. That's exactly why I wanted you to hear it in real time. My hope is that it demystifies the somatic healing work and gives you permission to start listening to your own body a little more closely.
What Is a Somatic Healing Session?
"Somatic" simply means "of the body." A somatic session is a guided practice where you slow down, drop out of the thinking brain, and notice what's happening physically: tension, warmth, tightness, stirring, pressure. Instead of analyzing your feelings, you let the body lead and get curious about what each sensation might be communicating.
It's different from traditional talk therapy because the body does a lot of the processing for you. As Lynae put it during our session, connecting a feeling to a place in the body takes some of the pressure off the mind to figure everything out.
Lynae even modeled this before we started. She noticed nervous, fluttery energy in her belly, named it out loud, and gave it attention. Within moments, it settled. That's the practice in a nutshell: acknowledge the sensation, and let it be heard.
How Lynae Found Somatic Work
Lynae's path started with her own mental health journey. About five or six years ago, after a traumatic experience, she was given multiple diagnoses and told medication was the answer. She had a severe reaction to her very first prescription, and in that moment she knew she needed to find another way.
What she found was her body. During panic attacks, she would intuitively fold forward or drop into downward dog, and the panic would ease. Moving the energy through her body worked, and it snowballed from there.
(Quick and important note: this is not medical advice. If you're on medication and curious about other ways to support your mental health, please talk with your provider. I see so many clients asking these same questions, and it's a completely fair, human thing to be curious about.)
What stood out to me is how rarely we trust those physical nudges. We live in a logic-first culture where if we can't explain why something works, we dismiss it. Kids don't do that. They move emotion through their bodies without worrying about being judged. Honestly, we might need more (well-directed) tantrums as grown-ups.
Inside My Somatic Session: What My Body Was Holding
Before we started, Lynae asked how I was doing, but with a cue to answer from my body instead of my to-do list. What came up surprised me. Over the past year or two, the things that used to make me feel fully alive, like hiking in the mountains, have felt dulled. Even the hard emotions have felt muted. I've narrowed my emotional range without meaning to.
From there, I lay on my back with a bolster under my knees and Lynae guided me through a slow body scan, from the top of my head all the way to my toes. Here's what came up.
A black dot in my lower belly.
Near the top of my uterus (I was at the end of my cycle), I noticed a tight, holding sensation. I pictured it as a black dot. When I placed my hand on it and simply acknowledged it, I watched it soften to gray, then pink, then disperse.
A message about slowing down.
When Lynae invited me to ask that area what it wanted me to know, the answer was a fear of slowing down, along with the knowing that there's so much power and pleasure on the other side of it. Then the connection clicked: my period pain has been more intense lately. There was a season when it almost disappeared, and that was when I was slowing down, spending time in nature, and giving myself alone time. Lately, I've sped back up, producing more and resting less.
Pressure by my left hip.
A small, "pokey" sensation showed up near my left hip bone. We simply stayed with it and kept softening the rest of the body, and it floated down and disappeared before we could even ask it a question.
Tension at the base of my skull, and the word "sleep."
Not tired exactly, just a craving for more slowness and stillness. I pictured myself napping in a hammock somewhere warm. So Lynae brought over a weighted blanket (my first time ever using one) and it felt like a full-body hug. I even had a flash of that deep meditation feeling of being back in the womb: surrounded, safe, and whole.
Warmth that spread.
In the last part of the practice, we focused on the warmest place in my body, just below my belly button, and let that warmth spread through the rest of me as a signal that it's safe to slow down.
Why Having a Guide Changes Everything
I teach Buti yoga, which is full of spiraling, shaking, and movement designed to move stuck energy from the root to the crown. I love it. But this was more like yin: stillness that gives you space to notice what you'd completely miss if you were moving.
And while I can do body awareness practices on my own, having someone guide you adds something you can't recreate alone:
Accountability. When you show up and commit to an hour, you actually do the full practice instead of cutting it to ten minutes and rushing back into your day.
A new angle. Someone reflecting your words back to you helps you see connections you wouldn't reach on your own.
Co-regulation. Lynae shared that when I felt that sensation on my left side, she felt it too, and she breathed with it beside me. That compassionate presence is incredibly healing, especially when bigger emotions or memories surface that feel too heavy to carry alone.
Why So Many Women Are Disconnected From Their Bodies
Here's what I kept coming back to. So many of us, especially ambitious women and former athletes, learned to override our bodies to succeed. Show up to school every day. Push through practice. Go to work, no excuses. Ignore hunger, fatigue, pain, and emotion to hit the goal.
It works for a while. But eventually that disconnection shows up as burnout, a dulled sense of aliveness, digestive issues, painful cycles, a strained relationship with food, or a body you just don't feel at home in. Somatic work flips the script: you trust what the body says instead of questioning it.
From a dietitian's perspective, this matters so much. Your nervous system state directly affects digestion, hunger and fullness cues, hormones, and cravings. When your body doesn't feel safe, no meal plan in the world is going to feel sustainable.
You Don't Have to Start Where I Started
Lynae said something I really want you to hear. What we did in this session is a fairly advanced practice. If you have a trauma history, turning inward might not feel safe yet, and that's okay.
Somatic practices meet you where you are. Lynae often starts clients with external safety instead: orienting to the room, noticing calming smells or sights outside, tense-and-release, a walk, expressive writing, or art. Think of it like starting in the shallow end of the pool.
Try this today: pause for 60 seconds. Name three things you can see, two things you can hear, and one sensation in your body. No fixing, no judging. Just noticing. That is somatic work.
Ready to Come Home to Your Body?
If this episode stirred something in you, that pull toward feeling more present, more alive, and more at peace in your body, that's exactly what we do together inside Body and Soul Freedom.
Body and Soul Freedom is my 12-week one-on-one coaching program where clinical nutrition meets nervous system and somatic work. Together, we rebuild trust with your body: how you eat, how you move, how you rest, and how you listen. Because your body doesn't separate the physical from the emotional, and your healing shouldn't either. Insurance is accepted for Pennsylvania residents, and HSA is accepted outside of Pennsylvania.
The first step is a free consultation where we talk about where you are and where you want to go. No pressure, no strings attached.
Not quite ready for a full program? Start with the 4-Day Food Freedom Reset, my $27 mini-course designed to help you reconnect with your body and simplify your relationship with food in just four days. It's the perfect "shallow end of the pool" starting point.
Listen to (and Watch) the Full Session
Want to experience the full, unfiltered somatic session with Lynae? Listen to this episode of the Fuel the Fire Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, or watch it on YouTube so you can see the practice as it unfolds.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a somatic session?
A somatic session is a guided, body-based practice that helps you notice physical sensations like tension, warmth, or pressure, and get curious about what they might be communicating. Instead of processing everything through your thoughts, you let your body lead, which can release stored stress and emotion.
What happens during a somatic body scan?
You slowly move your attention through your body from head to toe, softening each area and noticing any sensation that arises. When something stands out, you stay with it, breathe into it, and sometimes ask it what it wants you to know.
Is somatic work safe if I have trauma?
Yes, with the right pace and support. A trauma-informed somatic practitioner may start with external grounding, like orienting to your surroundings, sensory awareness, movement, or creative expression, before any inward body work. You always have choice, and you can pause at any time.
What is co-regulation?
Co-regulation is when your nervous system settles through the calm, compassionate presence of another person. It's one reason working with a guide can feel so different from practicing alone, especially when heavier emotions come up.
How is somatic work connected to nutrition and body image?
Your nervous system influences digestion, hunger and fullness cues, hormones, and cravings. When you learn to feel safe in your body and trust its signals, eating intuitively and feeling at home in your body becomes far more natural. That's why I pair clinical nutrition with somatic work in Body and Soul Freedom.
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Shanon Safi is a Registered Dietitian (RD, LDN), board-certified specialist in sports dietetics (CSSD), certified life coach, somatic and EFT practitioner, certified Buti yoga instructor, and founder of Fuel the Fire — where she helps women (and former athletes especially) find food, body, and soul freedom. Follow along on Instagram @fuelthe_fire or listen to the Fuel the Fire Podcast wherever you listen.
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