START HERE: Decoding the signals and wisdom of your nervous system.
Your curated guide to somatics, embodiment, and everything we love ranting about at The Body Knows.
At The Body Knows, we’re trading self-improvement for self-trust, and rooting personal development in collective liberation. Subscribe to receive a post in your inbox every week. And give this post a ♥️ or 🔁 to help our message spread!
Hi loves!
With summer shenanigans (and colds??) in full swing, we’ve decided to go to an every-other-week schedule for August. So instead of getting a podcast this week, we’ve put together a little something-something to hold you over.
We hope this will be a helpful resource for anyone new to TBK, or wanting to share this publication with a friend.
(Heads up — some of these posts are essays, and some are podcasts. But with every podcast we also include a written digest that summarizes the main points, so you’re not missing anything if you’re here to read!)
Start Here
If you're thinking "What is this Substack about? What can I expect?" → Welcome to The Body Knows - Our stories and why we do this work.
If you want a beginner-friendly breakdown of our favorite modalities, somatics and embodiment: → We Rewired Our Mind-Body Connection and This Happened - How these tools actually work.
The Science of Somatics
If you want to experiment with somatics today: → What Somatics Helps With, and How to Get Started - Our most-downloaded episode with practical tools you can try right now.
If you want to understand the foundation of somatics: → The Lost Language We Were Born Speaking - Discover the felt-sense intelligence you already have.
The Practice of Embodiment
If you are curious about what embodiment could do for you → A Beginner's Guide to Embodiment - How emotional expression changes everything.
If you want a glimpse into the psychological underpinnings of embodiment → Emotions Are Wise and On Our Side - Mindfulness finally meets its other half.
Real-Life Solutions
“I’m still feel stuck despite therapy/mindset work” → The Essential Aspect of Somatics That So Many Miss - We need to feel our sensations and emotions, instead of just talking about them.
“I’m trying to learn self-love, but damn, it’s hard” → For Anyone Who's Still Learning How to Love Themselves - Being our own best friend (even on bad days).
“I’m exhausted but no amount of rest seems to help” → I Don't Want to Feel Rested, I Want to Feel ALIVE - Our body needs nourishment, but so does our spirit.
“I find myself getting reactive or spiraling often” → How Do I Stay Soft When Life — and People — Are Hard? - Compassion opens us in a world that constantly rewards closing off.
“I’m feeling lost, but can’t seem to figure out where to go or what to do” → Is It Even Possible to Make a Decision Without Self-Abandoning? - Sometimes we need coherence over clarity.
“I end up swallowing my truth a lot” → “When This Happens, I Feel This”: A Simpler Way to Say the Hard Stuff - Sharing a sensation builds a bridge of empathy between nervous systems.
Cultural Analysis (aka Rants)
We’re over trying to “fix” ourselves → Self-Improvement is a Chinese Finger Trap (Part 1) - The wellness industry's favorite lie is keeping us stuck.
There’s got to be more to life than this hamster wheel → Breaking Free from the Productivity Trap - Reclaiming joy as medicine and revolution.
A new perspective on the nature of thoughts → Stop Trying to Fix Everything. It’s Making You Miserable - Nonjudgemental observation releases the mind into peace.
If you want to do more surfing, you can always see a full list of our past posts in our archive.
Up Next
Next week, we’ll be back with a podcast on the link between somatics, trauma, and chronic illness.
Expect science and ranting. We can’t wait to see you there.
