The Workout Witch on Somatic Healing: Reset Your Nervous System in 5 Minutes a Day
The guest, Liz Tenuto—known as The Workout Witch—reveals a radical truth: chronic pain, fatigue, and emotional dysregulation aren’t just 'lifestyle' issues, but symptoms of a nervous system stuck in survival mode. Drawing from her own journey as a ballet dancer in chronic pain and a sexual assault survivor, she explains how somatic healing—tiny, gentle movements done in bed or on the floor—can release decades of stored trauma, stress, and tension. Unlike traditional fitness or talk therapy, somatics targets the body’s 80-90% of trauma stored in muscles and tissues, not just memory. Her breakthrough came not from high-intensity workouts, but from a simple 60-second hip rock that helped her cry in relief—proof her body was finally releasing what it had been holding onto. The real power? These micro-practices aren’t about performance; they’re about permission—to feel, to release, to be human. For anyone overwhelmed by modern life’s constant stress, her message is clear: you don’t need more discipline. You need more recovery. And it can start with five minutes of rocking in bed.
Your body stores 80-90% of trauma in muscles and tissues, not just memory—somatic exercises access this hidden layer.
Chronic pain, insomnia, and emotional reactivity are often signs your nervous system is stuck in fight-flight-freeze mode.
Simple movements like 60-second hip rocking or jaw releases can reset your nervous system and improve sleep within days.
You don’t need to be a 'high performer' to heal—permission to be lazy, to cry, to rock in bed is part of the recovery.
Micro-practices like humming or bilateral stimulation regulate the vagus nerve and reduce cortisol in under 5 minutes.
…and 3 more takeaways available in PodZeus
The Body Speaks: What Somatic Healing Really Is
“Somatic healing literally translates to healing your body, body healing. And what I teach are called somatic exercises, which are like tiny micro movements that you can do in bed or on the floor that release habitual tension out of your body, finalize your body's biological stress response and regulate your nervous system.”
From Ballet to Breakdown: A Trauma Survivor’s Journey
Liz shares how chronic pain from ballet led her to explore somatics, only to discover that her pain was rooted in childhood trauma and emotional suppression—challenging the myth that pain must come from injury.
Little T Trauma: The Hidden Weight of Daily Stress
“The accumulation of microtraumas has the same effect as one big event because the microtrauma is compound and over time your body reacts the same as it would if you experienced one big event.”
The First Somatic Move: How to Release Trauma Immediately
“Laying on your stomach in bed with their hands stacked on top of each other and their forehead placed on top of their hands. And just gently taking their hips from right to left in like the laziest, least ambitious way possible.”
Why High-Intensity Workouts Can Make You Worse
For people in chronic stress, high-intensity exercise can be interpreted as another threat, spiking cortisol. Somatics first rebuilds body awareness before scaling up intensity.
“And physiologically, the accumulation of microtraumas has the same effect as one big event because the microtrauma is compound and over time your body reacts the same as it would if you experienced one big event.”
“It's interesting when you hum, your nervous system naturally regulates. Your vagus nerve naturally comes back into a regulated state. It literally can't be in survival mode when you're humming.”
“Somatic healing literally translates to healing your body, body healing. And what I teach are called somatic exercises, which are like tiny micro movements that you can do in bed or on the floor that release habitual tension out of your body, finalize your body's biological stress response and regulate your nervous system.”
Host
Guest
Liz Tenuto
person
Gabby Reece
person
AX3
brand
OneSkin
brand
Hamilton House
brand
Ariana Huffington
person
Paul Cech
person
Feldenkrais
other
Peter Levine
person
Robert Waldinger
person
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