This month, I want to explore a concept that has been foundational in my own healing journey and in the work I do with clients:

Felt Sense.

If you've been around somatic healing for a while, you might have heard that phrase before.

But when I first heard it, I had no idea what it meant.

What I did know was:

I had spent most of my life disconnected from my body.

Which is interesting because, from the outside, it looked like I lived in my body all the time.

I was active.

I hiked.

I biked.

I ran.

I camped.

I practiced yoga.

I loved being outdoors and trusted my body to climb mountains, explore trails, and carry me through all kinds of adventures.

But I didn't know how to feel it.

I didn't know how to listen to it.

I didn't know how to be with the sensations, emotions, and experiences happening inside of it.

Looking back now, I can see that dissociation had become a way of life.

Parts of me didn't feel safe being present.

Parts of me felt betrayed by what my body had experienced.

And parts of me learned that disconnecting was safer than feeling.

So while I had a body, I wasn't really living in it.

Then I discovered Somatic Experiencing and the concept of Felt Sense.

Peter Levine, the founder of Somatic Experiencing, describes Felt Sense as an internal awareness of bodily sensations—a way of listening to the language of the body rather than only the stories of the mind.

Irene Lyon teaches that trauma can leave us disconnected from our bodies and nervous systems, and that healing often begins by slowly rebuilding our capacity to notice what is happening inside without becoming overwhelmed.

Arielle Schwartz speaks about embodied awareness—the ability to move beyond simply understanding ourselves intellectually and begin feeling and experiencing ourselves from within.

To me, Felt Sense is:

Learning the language of your body.

Noticing the tightness in your chest.

The heaviness in your shoulders.

The flutter in your stomach.

The warmth in your hands.

The urge to pull away.

The desire to move closer.

The subtle signals that exist before words ever arrive.

For me, self-touch became one of the first doorways back home.

Placing a hand on my chest.

Holding my face.

Wrapping my arms around myself.

Then asking:

What do I notice?

Not what do I think.

Not what should I feel.

Not how do I fix this.

Just...

What do I notice?

At first, the answer was often:

Nothing.

And that was information too.

Because noticing numbness is Felt Sense.

Noticing disconnection is Felt Sense.

The absence of sensation can be just as important as the presence of sensation.

Over time, I started noticing more.

Pressure.

Warmth.

Buzzing.

Tension.

Softening.

And eventually emotions, memories, needs, and wisdom that had been hidden underneath years of survival patterns.

And for me, Felt Sense was the beginning of learning my body's healing language.

Even now, years into my healing journey, Felt Sense remains one of the first places I go when I notice trauma coping wanting to come online and protect me.

When I want to people-please.

When I want to shut down.

When I want to disconnect.

When I want to overthink my way out of a feeling.

I come back to my body and ask:

What is my Felt Sense right now?

Because my body is usually telling me something important long before my mind catches up.

And perhaps that is one of the greatest gifts of Felt Sense.

It helps us move from living primarily in our stories about ourselves...

to living in relationship with ourselves.

It helps us come home.

Not all at once.

Not perfectly.

But one sensation at a time.

A Gentle Felt Sense Practice

If you'd like to explore Felt Sense this week, try this:

1. I invite you to rub your hands together slowly.
2. Notice the points of contact between each finger, between your palms, and between your fingers and palms.
3. You can let your fingers interlace, you can separate them and keep them moving only on the inside of your hands, or have your fingers move on the outside of your hands—whatever feels natural and whatever your hands want to do. Then ask:
   ​What do I notice right now?
4. Stay curious for 30 seconds.
5. Notice sensations, temperature, pressure, movement, tension, softness, or even numbness.
6. Thank your body for whatever information it offered.

No need to analyze it.

No need to fix it.

Just practice listening.

Because every sensation is part of the conversation.

And every conversation is another step toward living in your body.

Remember, ❤️

You Matter. Your Healing Matters. You Are Worth It!

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P.S. If you want to learn more about how to use the Felt sense, Please reach out and let me know. I'd love to help.