What is Somatic Coaching and is it right for you?

Christina Shakelian- Accredited Somatic Coach

What Is Somatic Coaching?

Somatic coaching engages your whole intelligence — not just your mind, but your body as well.

Instead of focusing solely on mental strategies or thought patterns, we shift attention to the body. This coaching practice helps you develop awareness of physical sensations such as tight shoulders, a constricted throat, or butterflies in your stomach. These sensations often carry valuable insights.

By gently noticing, welcoming, and allowing them to be present as you breathe and move, you calm your nervous system and create space for transformation.

As this process unfolds, physical tension begins to soften. Limiting beliefs, emotional blocks, or feelings of being “stuck” often start to dissolve. In their place, deeper clarity emerges — new insights, truths, and natural next steps become clear.

Much like the wisdom behind the phrase “trust your gut,” body-focused coaching helps you access your inner guidance by quieting stress and mental overactivity.

If you’re looking for more than a cognitive approach to coaching, somatic work might be a great fit for you — helping you remove blockages, calm your nervous system, and achieve the goals that really matter to you.

Curious about what actually happens in a session? Learn what to expect in a somatic coaching session.

Benefits

• Reduce overall stress and anxiety and generate more calm and presence in everyday life

• Empower you to calm your nervous system - both in session and on your own

• Calm looping thoughts in the head

• Greater connection to your bodily sensations & awareness

• Improve confidence and ability to self-coach through stress

• Release limiting patterns & tensions held in the body

• Enhance emotional resilience & intelligence -learn more about how to feel your feelings through somatic awareness.

• Greater clarity around challenges and goals (by quietening the mind and listening to your instincts)

• Generate more magnetism and pleasure in your every day life, due to the deeper body connection you will develop

‘Christina created a safe space for me to explore and work with the sensations in my body, process emotions and cultivate new awareness. I left the session feeling grounded and centred’

Eve, UK

Learn how to calm anxiety with this simple somatic exercise.

Learn more about what Somatic Coaching is and the transformative benefits it can have on your wellbeing

Techniques Used:

• Enquiry & question-based coaching

• Movement

• Sound

• Breathwork

• Grounding exercises

• Somatic techniques

• Heart Coherence

• Posture & movement awareness

• Mindful presence & embodiment practices such as this daily feminine embodiment practice to cultivate presence.

• Guided Meditations - For a gentle introduction to somatic meditation this 5-minute somatic body scan for relaxation and stress relief is a great place to start.

• At home practices

Who can benefit?

I work with people who are looking for practical ways to calm the nervous system, self-coach through stress and anxiety, and ultimately develop deep presence, joy and connection to their body and essence in every day life.

Body- focused coaching can support you in many areas of life — from relationships and health to gaining career clarity without overthinking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long does it take to see results?
A: Many clients feel shifts after just a few sessions, but lasting change depends on practice and integration. There are benefits in a few sessions and greater shifts over 6-8 weeks, alongside at-home practices (which you will be provided).

Q:Can this replace therapy?
A: It is complementary to therapy and each individual will have different needs. Somatic coaching is less concerned with historical events and more concerned with reaching your potential in both the present moment and in the future.

Q: Do I need Somatic Coaching or Somatic Therapy?
A: This depends on the indvidual - if you are a generally well-functioning individual who would like to learn techniques to regulate the nervous system and use body- based coaching to help remove blocks and achieve your goals, somatic coaching would be a great fit for you - it is present and future focused, and we are less concerned about events of your past. If you suffer from more challenging mental health issues, struggling to deal with deep trauma or looking to make sense of past events, Somatic Therapy would be recommended instead.

Unsure which is right for you? This post on somatic coaching vs somatic therapy breaks down the key differences.

Q: Do you offer Taster Sessions before I commit?
A: Yes, depending on availability and your goals, I do offer a limited amount of taster sessions to see if this approach is right for you- reach out here to communicate your interest and let’s chat!

Q: How does Somatic coaching differ to mindset coaching?

Somatic coaching utilises a holistic, body & mind approach to tackling challenges and reaching your goals. In this work we put the body first, and utilise tools such as breath work, movement, sound and other tools, as well as enquiry. Mindset work generally places more emphasis on mental analysis, and often doesn’t address the body and nervous system as much- Discover the key benefits of somatic coaching compared to mindset coaching.

Next Steps

I hope these will be useful tools in your toolkit, and empower you to self-coach through your everyday stresses. If you’d like to explore 1:1 coaching, please do schedule a chat or session- I’d love to support!

About Me

I’m Christina Shakelian, a Somatic Coach certified by the School of Embodied Arts and member of the Association of Coaching and Institute of Complementary Therapies.

I combined body-focused, somatic coaching with over 10 years of corporate coaching experience at Apple. When we combine body- first, embodied methods with structured coaching sessions, we can release stored emotions, tensions and traumas from the body and reach a deep inner knowing by connecting to the body’s wisdom, reaching our goals with more ease and pleasure.