Jan 28, 2025
Why I became a Somatic Alignment practitioner
7
- minute read
7
- minute read
#somaticalignment #trauma
Sometimes a single experience completely changes your perspective, and with that your life takes a new trajectory. For me, it was a session of tao-tantric bodywork that showed me how trauma lives in the body and awakened a deep calling in me to help others. This is the story of how I found my path into Somatic Alignment.
An unexpected encounter
People often ask me why I chose to become a Somatic Alignment practitioner. The truth is, I didn’t plan it. Things just happened to line up the right way for me so I could step on this path.
It all began with an encounter during a trip to London.
I crossed paths with someone who offered me tao-tantric bodywork. I decided to receive a session, not really knowing what awaited me. It turned into a 5-hour long full body massage that included the powerful Tsi Nei Tsang abdominal massage.
From the very beginning, I could sense this was not just a simple massage nourishing the body. It was deep work not only on the practitioner’s side, but also on my side.
It was a journey into the deepest layers of pain, well hidden in different parts of my body.
Sometimes a single experience completely changes your perspective, and with that your life takes a new trajectory. For me, it was a session of tao-tantric bodywork that showed me how trauma lives in the body and awakened a deep calling in me to help others. This is the story of how I found my path into Somatic Alignment.
An unexpected encounter
People often ask me why I chose to become a Somatic Alignment practitioner. The truth is, I didn’t plan it. Things just happened to line up the right way for me so I could step on this path.
It all began with an encounter during a trip to London.
I crossed paths with someone who offered me tao-tantric bodywork. I decided to receive a session, not really knowing what awaited me. It turned into a 5-hour long full body massage that included the powerful Tsi Nei Tsang abdominal massage.
From the very beginning, I could sense this was not just a simple massage nourishing the body. It was deep work not only on the practitioner’s side, but also on my side.
It was a journey into the deepest layers of pain, well hidden in different parts of my body.
Sometimes a single experience completely changes your perspective, and with that your life takes a new trajectory. For me, it was a session of tao-tantric bodywork that showed me how trauma lives in the body and awakened a deep calling in me to help others. This is the story of how I found my path into Somatic Alignment.
An unexpected encounter
People often ask me why I chose to become a Somatic Alignment practitioner. The truth is, I didn’t plan it. Things just happened to line up the right way for me so I could step on this path.
It all began with an encounter during a trip to London.
I crossed paths with someone who offered me tao-tantric bodywork. I decided to receive a session, not really knowing what awaited me. It turned into a 5-hour long full body massage that included the powerful Tsi Nei Tsang abdominal massage.
From the very beginning, I could sense this was not just a simple massage nourishing the body. It was deep work not only on the practitioner’s side, but also on my side.
It was a journey into the deepest layers of pain, well hidden in different parts of my body.
Meeting the pain
During the session, especially when the practitioner worked on my belly, I felt very intense pain. Not only at the point of touch but radiating everywhere – into my whole body, my entire being.
The practitioner didn’t move away or soften it.
He simply stayed there with his touch, holding space for me to feel all the pain I had to feel. To cry all the tears I had to cry.
Until the pain was no longer there.
The only way out was to go all the way in.
Discovering how trauma lives in the body
This was something I had never experienced before. Until then, I had never even considered that my body could store the imprints of traumatic events. That one touch could send me into a trauma response and allow me to complete a cycle I couldn’t complete back then when the traumatic event happened to me.
My whole being reacted to something that had happened in the past – maybe years, maybe decades ago. These memories are usually implicit – our mind often does not remember what happened, but our body knows.
At that time, I didn’t have the tools to respond to a threatening event and then return to safety. Instead, I shut down. I froze. And all that survival energy got stuck in me, stored in my body.
This realization struck me deeply.
The sadness and the desire
Afterwards, I felt a deep sadness. I realized that all of us – yes, each and every one of us – carry pain and sorrow in our tissues. And we walk through our days, weeks, months and years carrying it inside. Pain which silently shapes our lives:
the patterns we follow,
the core beliefs we hold,
the automated behaviors we have
and the decisions we make.
After experiencing this release personally – hearing my own deepest cry, feeling my body shake, kick, fight, try to break free and protect itself – showed me just how much is locked away in us. We carry it in our bodies like keeping something closed in a box, and we let it unknowingly influence us.
With this heaviness in my heart came something else. A desire.
The desire to change this – not only for myself but also for others. To help as many people as possible find freedom from the chains of past trauma and from the automatic responses running their lives.
Meeting the pain
During the session, especially when the practitioner worked on my belly, I felt very intense pain. Not only at the point of touch but radiating everywhere – into my whole body, my entire being.
The practitioner didn’t move away or soften it.
He simply stayed there with his touch, holding space for me to feel all the pain I had to feel. To cry all the tears I had to cry.
Until the pain was no longer there.
The only way out was to go all the way in.
Discovering how trauma lives in the body
This was something I had never experienced before. Until then, I had never even considered that my body could store the imprints of traumatic events. That one touch could send me into a trauma response and allow me to complete a cycle I couldn’t complete back then when the traumatic event happened to me.
My whole being reacted to something that had happened in the past – maybe years, maybe decades ago. These memories are usually implicit – our mind often does not remember what happened, but our body knows.
At that time, I didn’t have the tools to respond to a threatening event and then return to safety. Instead, I shut down. I froze. And all that survival energy got stuck in me, stored in my body.
This realization struck me deeply.
The sadness and the desire
Afterwards, I felt a deep sadness. I realized that all of us – yes, each and every one of us – carry pain and sorrow in our tissues. And we walk through our days, weeks, months and years carrying it inside. Pain which silently shapes our lives:
the patterns we follow,
the core beliefs we hold,
the automated behaviors we have
and the decisions we make.
After experiencing this release personally – hearing my own deepest cry, feeling my body shake, kick, fight, try to break free and protect itself – showed me just how much is locked away in us. We carry it in our bodies like keeping something closed in a box, and we let it unknowingly influence us.
With this heaviness in my heart came something else. A desire.
The desire to change this – not only for myself but also for others. To help as many people as possible find freedom from the chains of past trauma and from the automatic responses running their lives.
Meeting the pain
During the session, especially when the practitioner worked on my belly, I felt very intense pain. Not only at the point of touch but radiating everywhere – into my whole body, my entire being.
The practitioner didn’t move away or soften it.
He simply stayed there with his touch, holding space for me to feel all the pain I had to feel. To cry all the tears I had to cry.
Until the pain was no longer there.
The only way out was to go all the way in.
Discovering how trauma lives in the body
This was something I had never experienced before. Until then, I had never even considered that my body could store the imprints of traumatic events. That one touch could send me into a trauma response and allow me to complete a cycle I couldn’t complete back then when the traumatic event happened to me.
My whole being reacted to something that had happened in the past – maybe years, maybe decades ago. These memories are usually implicit – our mind often does not remember what happened, but our body knows.
At that time, I didn’t have the tools to respond to a threatening event and then return to safety. Instead, I shut down. I froze. And all that survival energy got stuck in me, stored in my body.
This realization struck me deeply.
The sadness and the desire
Afterwards, I felt a deep sadness. I realized that all of us – yes, each and every one of us – carry pain and sorrow in our tissues. And we walk through our days, weeks, months and years carrying it inside. Pain which silently shapes our lives:
the patterns we follow,
the core beliefs we hold,
the automated behaviors we have
and the decisions we make.
After experiencing this release personally – hearing my own deepest cry, feeling my body shake, kick, fight, try to break free and protect itself – showed me just how much is locked away in us. We carry it in our bodies like keeping something closed in a box, and we let it unknowingly influence us.
With this heaviness in my heart came something else. A desire.
The desire to change this – not only for myself but also for others. To help as many people as possible find freedom from the chains of past trauma and from the automatic responses running their lives.
What it takes
This path is not easy. It requires willingness and courage – because the only way out is to go all the way in. To go through the experience and feel all the pain.
But what awaits on the other side is so worth it.
And it requires safety. Ideally the presence of a guide who can witness and support the process, someone you can fully trust and in front of whom you can become completely vulnerable without fear.
Finding my path to Somatic Alignment
There are many modalities that aim to bring us to this place of release and freedom. Although I have always been deeply interested in tantra, I haven’t yet felt the calling to learn tantra massage myself.
Then I remembered that a dear friend of mine had recently become a Somatic Alignment practitioner. She shared about her work on social media and I found myself returning to her stories again and again.
Her posts resonated with me. I saw an integrative healing modality combining movement, breathwork and touch – both subtle energy touch working with the energy body and deep tissue touch working with the physical body. I saw beautiful examples of release and transformation through her videos and something inside me knew: this is the path.
When I saw that a training was announced for the following year in Germany – relatively close to Prague – I felt a strong calling. I submitted my application.
The beginning of my journey
This was the beginning of my path into Somatic Alignment.
In my next blog post, I will share about my first experiences receiving Somatic Alignment sessions and how they shifted things in my life.
Thank you for reading my story,
Adri <3
What it takes
This path is not easy. It requires willingness and courage – because the only way out is to go all the way in. To go through the experience and feel all the pain.
But what awaits on the other side is so worth it.
And it requires safety. Ideally the presence of a guide who can witness and support the process, someone you can fully trust and in front of whom you can become completely vulnerable without fear.
Finding my path to Somatic Alignment
There are many modalities that aim to bring us to this place of release and freedom. Although I have always been deeply interested in tantra, I haven’t yet felt the calling to learn tantra massage myself.
Then I remembered that a dear friend of mine had recently become a Somatic Alignment practitioner. She shared about her work on social media and I found myself returning to her stories again and again.
Her posts resonated with me. I saw an integrative healing modality combining movement, breathwork and touch – both subtle energy touch working with the energy body and deep tissue touch working with the physical body. I saw beautiful examples of release and transformation through her videos and something inside me knew: this is the path.
When I saw that a training was announced for the following year in Germany – relatively close to Prague – I felt a strong calling. I submitted my application.
The beginning of my journey
This was the beginning of my path into Somatic Alignment.
In my next blog post, I will share about my first experiences receiving Somatic Alignment sessions and how they shifted things in my life.
Thank you for reading my story,
Adri <3
What it takes
This path is not easy. It requires willingness and courage – because the only way out is to go all the way in. To go through the experience and feel all the pain.
But what awaits on the other side is so worth it.
And it requires safety. Ideally the presence of a guide who can witness and support the process, someone you can fully trust and in front of whom you can become completely vulnerable without fear.
Finding my path to Somatic Alignment
There are many modalities that aim to bring us to this place of release and freedom. Although I have always been deeply interested in tantra, I haven’t yet felt the calling to learn tantra massage myself.
Then I remembered that a dear friend of mine had recently become a Somatic Alignment practitioner. She shared about her work on social media and I found myself returning to her stories again and again.
Her posts resonated with me. I saw an integrative healing modality combining movement, breathwork and touch – both subtle energy touch working with the energy body and deep tissue touch working with the physical body. I saw beautiful examples of release and transformation through her videos and something inside me knew: this is the path.
When I saw that a training was announced for the following year in Germany – relatively close to Prague – I felt a strong calling. I submitted my application.
The beginning of my journey
This was the beginning of my path into Somatic Alignment.
In my next blog post, I will share about my first experiences receiving Somatic Alignment sessions and how they shifted things in my life.
Thank you for reading my story,
Adri <3
