JOIN LIVE PODCAST: Healing Through Connection- Domestic Abuse and Sudden Realizations with Jemma Harris Bawden.... Embodied Dialogue Series
Somatic Practices:
Doorway to Embodiment and Trauma Healing
with Kristen Toth
Thursday 12pm-1pm ET on April 24, 2025
Free to join, all welcome.
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In this Embodied Dialogue we come together in a spirit of community, reflection, and deep connection as we explore the world of somatic practices with my wonderful guest, Kristen Toth.
This episode is a special one. We begin with some heartfelt sharing, honoring the profound legacy of my beloved focusing teacher, Mary Armstrong, and reflecting on how our teachers carry wisdom through our bodies and our work. From there, Kristen and I delve into how body-based practices move beyond tools and techniques, and into real relationship with our bodies—honoring their natural wisdom and unique language.
Together, we discuss the importance of compassion, the power of co-regulation, and how somatic practices can help us heal from trauma and addiction, not by fixing ourselves, but by tuning in and honoring our lived experience. Kristen even guides us through a gentle, hands-on practice that you can try along with us.
We open the floor for questions and heartfelt stories from our participants about what it means to trust the wisdom of the body, to cope with loss, and to find support in community and partnership.
Whether you’re new to somatics or continuing your healing journey, there’s a lot in this conversation to inspire and nurture you. So settle in, breathe deeply, and join us for this rich and compassionate dialogue.
Chapter Overview
00:00 Honoring Lineage and Somatic Grief
Jan opens with a heartfelt tribute to her teacher, Mary Armstrong, and guides the group in a grounding practice focused on gratitude for lineage and embodied presence. Exploring the emotional connection between somatic practice, grief, and honoring our mentors.
05:40 Shifting Paradigms: From Mechanistic to Relational Somatics
Jan and Kristen discuss the Western approach to the body, emphasizing the transformative power of listening to the body’s innate wisdom versus seeing it as a machine to control or fix. Challenging traditional models and underscoring the necessity of a compassionate, relationship-based somatic approach.
12:10 The Language of the Body & Felt Sense
Jan and Kristen dive into how the body communicates—through sensation, movement, imagery, and metaphor—discussing Gendlin’s concept of “felt sense” and the revolutionary nature of self-knowing. Empowering listeners to trust their embodied experiences and challenge external authority.
19:20 Starting Simple: Practical Somatic Exercises
Kristen leads a gentle hand-rubbing practice, demonstrating how small, accessible movements can help cultivate awareness, safety, and resource within the body. Introducing concrete somatic tools to ease into more profound self-connection.
26:42 Normalizing Individual Somatic Responses
Jan and Kristen address why somatic practices don’t always work instantly, and the importance of honoring personal nervous system responses and recognizing the need for patience, repetition, and self-compassion. De-pathologizing trauma survival strategies and helping listeners understand their unique journeys.
32:02 Natural Somatic Practices and Attunement
The discussion highlights how people often somatically regulate themselves without formal instruction, and how formal practices can build body awareness and trust, deepening the relationship with self. Encouraging both natural and guided somatic exploration as valid paths to healing.
44:13 Co-Regulation, Community, and the Power of Group Practice
Participants share lived experiences of healing through community, focusing partnerships, and the significance of co-regulation. Emphasizing that somatic transformation is amplified in supportive groups and partnerships.
01:02:45 Free Somatic Practice Class Online
About Kristen Toth
Kristen is a somatic educator, coach, and SSP provider who helps people regulate their nervous system and cultivate embodied safety to heal from trauma and stress. Her online courses and client work are informed by her years of practice as a bodyworker and anatomy instructor, in-depth study of the body through human dissection, professional training in a wide variety of body-centered modalities for trauma and healing, and her own personal experience recovering from complex trauma. She believes that somatic support is a missing piece for many people struggling to heal, and that connecting with our body and nervous system in a mindful, relational, compassionate way is essential to living well in an unpredictable world.
Visit
Website: https://ourembodiedhealing.com/
Community: https://ourembodiedhealing.circle.so/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourembodiedhealing
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ourembodiedhealing.bsky.social
Jan Winhall, M.S.W. P.I.F.O.T. is an author, teacher and seasoned trauma and addiction psychotherapist. She is an Educational Partner and Course Developer with the Polyvagal Institute where she offers a training program based on her book Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model, Routledge 2021. Completion of all three levels leads students to become Felt Sense Polyvagal Model Facilitators. Her new book, 20 Embodied Practices for Healing Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model, published by Norton, is available for preorder and out in March 2025. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Toronto and a Certifying Co-Ordinator with the International Focusing Institute. Jan is Co-Director of the Borden Street Clinic where she supervises graduate students. She enjoys teaching all over the world.