My Somatic Therapy Experience: Navigating Body Work with Skepticism & The Hanged Man
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I’ll cut straight to the point: after two decades balancing spreadsheets and raising kids in Brooklyn, I decided to try somatic therapy. As an accountant, I’m wired to demand evidence. My journey from a strict religious upbringing to college-age atheism taught me to question everything—including myself. Now, I’m circling back to some unnamed “something,” and somatic work felt like a logical entry point.
Here’s my take: somatic therapy isn’t magic, but it’s not useless either. The core idea—that trauma and chronic stress literally rewire the nervous system—is backed by polyvagal theory and somatic experiencing frameworks. When you’re stuck in fight-or-flight, talking about it doesn’t always help. The body has to process the physiological residue. That’s where practices like grounding, breath modulation, and intentional stillness come in.
But I’ll be firm on this: the wellness industry has turned “body work” into a marketing buzzword. Many practitioners promise “energy alignment” or “cosmic realignment” without clinical training or peer-reviewed backing. I don’t buy the woo. If you’re going to try it, look for therapists grounded in psychology—someone who can explain the neurobiology, not just wave their hands and talk about chakras.
Psychologically, the process mirrors the Tarot’s Hanged Man: voluntary suspension, seeing the world upside down, and surrendering to a new perspective. It’s not about “healing energy”; it’s about neuroplasticity and downregulating an overactive sympathetic nervous system. If you approach it like an accountant would—tracking progress, questioning mechanisms, and demanding reproducibility—you’ll separate the science from the sales pitch.
Have you tried somatic therapy? Did you notice actual physiological shifts, or was it mostly talk and tension? I’m curious how others navigate the line between evidence-based body work and the ever-expanding wellness industry.
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