Somatic Therapy Workbook: Release Trauma Stored in the Body, Recover From Complex PTSD, Relieve Stress, and Regulate Your Nervous System

by Rachel Singer

You're safe now. So why are your shoulders still up by your ears?

Your mind knows the danger passed. Your body is still waiting for the next blow.

Does Any of This Sound Familiar?

✓ You're constantly on edge, scanning for danger even when you're safe at home

✓ Your shoulders won't drop, your jaw stays clenched, and relaxation feels like a foreign concept

✓ Doctors can't explain your chronic pain, migraines, or gut issues, but they're very real

✓ You feel like a ghost in your own body, watching your life happen from the outside

✓ Out of nowhere, you're right back there, feeling everything like it's happening now

✓ You explode in anger or burst into tears, and everyone looks at you like you're broken

✓ Sleep doesn't restore you anymore. You wake up already exhausted

I get it. Your mind knows you're safe. Your body doesn't believe it.

You've tried therapy. You understand your trauma. But understanding didn't stop your shoulders from staying tight, your breath from staying shallow, or your body from living like the danger never ended.

Here's what's not

❌ Talk therapy can't touch trauma that lives in your muscles and nervous system

❌ Medication numbs you out but doesn't teach your body it's finally safe

❌ Breathing exercises feel impossible when your body won't let you take a full breath

❌ "Just relax" is insulting when your nervous system is hardwired for survival

Your body needs something different. It needs Somatic Therapy.

⚠️ But First, Let's Be Real

This isn't a quick fix. Healing requires you to feel your body again (the thing you've been avoiding). Some exercises will be uncomfortable. Some days you'll want to quit.

But if you're done living like a stranger in your own skin, if you're ready to finally exhale without your body screaming danger, this is for you.

The freedom you're looking for is on the other side of feeling.

📖 Inside this

🔹 The 3 red flags your nervous system is stuck in survival mode

🔹 Where trauma actually lives in your body and how to find it

🔹 Why numbing out makes everything worse, not better

🔹 The "window of tolerance" and why you're always outside of it

🔹 The fastest grounding technique when you're dissociating

🔹 Why your body screams through pain when words won't come

🔹 How to teach your nervous system you're not dying anymore

🔹 Why part of you sabotages your he

160 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 10, 2025

Reviews

[Hannah Lindley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this book is titled Somatic Therapy Workbook, it can be more accurately described as a hybrid of a workbook, a memoir, and a uniquely accessible medical history. Author Rachel Singer is candid from the start, telling readers of the intense physical harm her body has undergone due to the damage that psychological trauma has wrought on her nervous system. After a frustrating search for the reason her body was not responding to the widely practiced (and usually successful) cognitive behavioral therapy, she discovered the somatic approach, which “teaches your body what your mind already knows: that you're safe now, that you can let go, that the threat has passed.”
Learning about this therapy specifically tailored to trauma victims was incredibly eye-opening. I learned that the ventral vagal state, named for the anatomically crucial vagus nerve, is the neurological acknowledgement of safety and peace. More soberingly, I also learned that it is of the utmost importance during somatic therapy to learn one’s typical response to trauma (fight, flight, freeze, etc.). Though this was not an easy book to read, but it is an exceptionally well-written work in which the author extends a refreshing and increasingly uncommon level of empathy to trauma survivors.

[Deanna (OnceUponADee) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very insightful and validating. I have read a good amount of books on anxiety, trauma therapy, and other self-help books over the years but nothing really clicked until reading this one. The author breaks down her story as well as other examples and there are so many tid-bits and takeaways. The exercises were very helpful and I plan to go back to this book as needed. There were many things that I never even thought of that certain chapters brought to life. I still have a lot of work to do but this book helped me to find that starting point.

[Tara Dodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tool for self-knowledge

I found myself underlining things everywhere. Some pages seemed to describe exactly how I felt after years of emotional shutdown. The suggestions about gentle movement made me laugh at first, but trying them I noticed a real shift. The author's voice is compassionate and reminds you not to judge yourself. It doesn't replace professional help, but it gave me a sense of agency.

[Santiago Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

For everyday life

I like that it suggests morning routines, midday check-ins, and evening exercises. It makes it easy to integrate somatic work into daily life without feeling overwhelmed. I tried doing the check-in while working and it helped me avoid accumulating stress.