Somatic Leadership Coaching
Explained Simply
If the word "somatic" makes you picture incense and a yoga mat, you're not alone. Let's clear that up, plainly.
Soma is the Greek word for body. Somatic coaching is coaching that includes your body in the work. That's it. No chanting required.
Richard Strozzi-Heckler, author of The Art of Somatic Coaching, describes somatics as a view of the body "not just a physiological entity, but as the center of our lived experience in the world." [1] In other words, you don't lead from your head and carry your body along behind you. You lead as a whole person, and your body is part of how you think, decide, and connect.
Why the Body Belongs in Leadership Coaching
Here's a moment you may know. You prepared. You know your material. You walk into the meeting fully intending to speak... and your voice isn't there. Or it comes out thin, or sharp, or apologetic.
You didn't forget how to lead. Your nervous system read the room as unsafe and shifted into protection before you had a conscious thought about it. Your heart rate rose, your breath climbed into your chest, and the part of your brain that finds words got quieter.
Traditional coaching works mostly with insight: understanding yourself, setting goals, planning. Insight matters. But insight alone often doesn't hold under pressure, because pressure lands in the body first. Somatic coaching works with both: what you understand, and what your body does when it counts.
What Actually Happens in a Session
A somatic leadership coaching session looks a lot like any other coaching session. We talk about real situations: the board meeting, the feedback you've been putting off, the team member you keep rescuing. The difference is that we also pay attention to what happens in your body as you talk about them.
That might mean noticing your shoulders rise when a certain name comes up. Pausing to feel your feet on the floor before you answer a hard question. Practicing a difficult sentence out loud, then again, until your voice stays steady while you say it. Learning what your body does at the edge of your capacity, so you can catch it early.
Nothing is forced. You stay clothed, seated, and in charge. Most of it is simply noticing, and then practicing something new while you notice.
What It Isn't
Somatic leadership coaching isn't therapy. It doesn't diagnose or treat trauma, anxiety, or depression. If something comes up that belongs with a therapist or a trauma-trained clinician, a good coach will say so and help you find the right support.
It also isn't a relaxation technique. The goal isn't to be calm all the time. In The Field we say rooted doesn't mean calm. It means present in your body, connected to what's actually true for you, and not running a survival strategy. You can be moved, challenged, even angry, and still be rooted.
What Changes
People usually notice the difference before they can name it. Common shifts include:
Your voice stays available in the rooms where it used to disappear.
You catch the old pattern (rescuing, apologizing, going blank) a beat earlier.
Hard conversations stop costing you three days of recovery.
You can disagree and stay in relationship.
How I Work With This
My approach is called The Field for Human Communication™.
Its core practice is three moves, always in the same order:
Locate what's actually true for you,
Root in your body, and only then
Lead with your words.
It's somatic coaching built specifically for how we communicate, and especially for women leading in systems that weren't built for them.
Curious what this feels like from the inside? Try Locate, Root, Lead for yourself. Or let's talk.
Work with Mary:
Coaching for yourself | Consulting for your team or organization | Coursework to learn the method yourself
Keep Reading
Embodied Leadership: A Practical Definition
Executive Coach vs. Therapist vs. Somatic Practitioner
Sources:
Strozzi-Heckler, Richard. The Art of Somatic Coaching. North Atlantic Books, 2014. Quotation from the publisher's description.