Somatic Healing for Chronic Pain and Fatigue

What is Somatic Healing and How Does it Affect Pain?

If you’ve been living with chronic pain, you’ve probably tried everything: medications, physical therapy, supplements, medications, acupuncture, chiropractic, elimination diets... the list gets long. But what if the missing piece isn’t just in your muscles or joints, but in your nervous system and the way your body holds on to past experiences?

This is where somatic healing comes in.

Somatic healing might sound like a new wellness buzzword, but it’s actually one of the most powerful ways to calm pain, reduce symptoms like fatigue or anxiety, and even make weight loss easier.

What Does “Somatic” Mean?

The word somatic simply means “of the body.”

Somatic healing is a body-based approach to processing stress and emotions. Instead of trying to “think” your way out of pain or change your thoughts (like traditional talk therapy often encourages), somatic work helps you feel and release what’s stored in your body.

Because here’s the truth: we can’t think our way out of survival responses. We have to feel our way through them.

Why Pain is More Than Physical

Pain is real. But chronic pain doesn’t always mean something is physically damaged.

The brain and nervous system use pain as a protective mechanism. If your body senses danger, even if there’s no current injury, it may create pain to force you to rest, hide, or avoid a threat.

Examples:

• Anxiety response: Tension in your muscles, shallow breathing, and racing thoughts can lead to headaches, back pain, or jaw pain.

• Freeze response: Feeling heavy, exhausted, or depressed can show up as widespread pain or fatigue.

• Fight response: Anger may tighten your core and jaw, leaving you with neck pain or stomach tension.

In many cases, pain is the body’s way of saying, “Slow down. Something doesn’t feel safe.”

How Somatic Healing Works

Somatic healing helps your nervous system recognize that the threat is over and tells your brain that you are safe now. It does this by working through the body, not just the mind.

Some ways this might look include:

• Breathing practices that calm the stress response

• Gentle movement that helps complete old stress cycles

• Paying attention to body sensations and allowing emotions to rise and pass

• Learning to notice triggers without spiraling into old protective patterns

When your body can finally release the stored energy of old stress or trauma, pain signals often decrease dramatically.

Disclaimer: There are a lot of "somatic exercise programs" out there. Somatic practices are not like traditional exercise. They are a way of moving through emotions using the physiological response of the body.

Childhood Stress and Pain

Research shows that people who experienced a difficult childhood, things like yelling, neglect, criticism, or lack of safety, are more likely to have chronic pain as adults.

That’s because the nervous system adapted early to stay safe. For example:

• If you learned to fawn (people-please) to avoid conflict, your nervous system may collapse into fatigue or pain when you feel unseen as an adult.

• If you learned to fight to protect yourself, your nervous system may keep your muscles braced and tight, leading to chronic pain.

Somatic healing helps you untangle these old patterns so your body no longer has to carry the weight of them.

 If you aren't sure if this relates to you, the best question you can ask yourself is,
"Would I want a child I love to grow up with the same environment and experiences I did?"

If the answer is "no", this applies to you. The things you would change are the things to explore in somatic healing.

Note: Some people will say, "It made me stronger," "It wasn't that bad," or "It could have been worse." This is often a way of denying the truth.

Pain, Fatigue, and Weight

Here’s where it gets interesting: the same nervous system patterns that create pain also impact fatigue, anxiety, depression, and even your weight.

• High cortisol from stress signals your body to store fat instead of burn it or for some people, can make it hard to gain weight

• Chronic fatigue makes it harder to stay active, which adds another barrier to weight loss.

• Anxiety and depression increase emotional eating, often without you realizing it.

So when you address the nervous system through somatic healing, you’re not just reducing pain, you’re also supporting weight loss and overall health.

How to Heal Chronic Pain and Fatigue with a Somatic Approach

Somatic healing is about teaching your body safety again. By completing old stress cycles and releasing stored tension, you can calm pain, restore energy, and even support weight loss.

Pain doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means your body is trying to protect you. Somatic healing helps you send your nervous system a new message: “I’m safe now. You can let go.”