WHAT IS SOMATIC COACHING and bodywork?
The word “soma” means “living body in its wholeness.” Somatic coaching integrates body, mind, and spirit and supports clients in personal transformation. It involves deeply listening to and working with our whole selves. Breakthrough change happens not through new insights and knowledge about a pattern but rather through new practices that transform who we are. We become able to access all aspects of our wisdom - spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and physical.
In a somatic coaching session, I will ask you: “What do you want to place at the center of our time together? Who and what are you committed to? What do you long for?”
Sessions include a combination of conversation and physical practices, including movement, breath work, body work, chi gong, aikido, and yoga nidra (body scan). You will tap into the innate wisdom of your body and release habits that may be getting in the way of your goals.
Bodywork can happen virtually or in-person at my office in Lawrence, Kansas. It takes place with clothes on, lying down, or in any other position.
Through greater awareness of your body and its ability to open and let go (through tears, yawns, laughter, or even sneezes), you will explore and try on new ways of being, and engage in practices that create more well-being, choice, and capacity to take new actions towards your commitments.
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Why somatic coaching?
Are you on a dopamine bender that keeps you scrolling on your phone at bedtime or while driving in ways that feel unsafe or unhealthy?
Do you need help staying organized, remembering things, and being on time?
Do you long for the discipline needed to eat and sleep at the right time, and also long for deeper rest and relaxation?
Do you go into fight/flight/freeze/appease during fights with your partner about the Big Questions: whether to get married, whether to have children?
Do you have unprocessed grief from a past relationship, or from our current polycrises that is keeping you from innovating?
Do you feel that you can’t be a good parent because of how you were brought up?
Does a marginalized identity (queerness, neurodivergence, race, class, or immigration status) constrain your feeling of belonging?
Are you a highly sensitive spiritual innovator navigating change who needs scaffolding to unfurl?
Do you know how you self-sabotage but continue to do so anyway?
Are you ready to develop better relational skills?
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TESTIMONIALS
“I worked with Bidisha as a coach during a period of challenging personal and professional transition. Bidisha exorcised my demons! She asked questions and framed explorations that got to the root of the matter, and then provided tools and practices to address what we found which were highly effective. Bidisha helped me tremendously to maintain my grounding amidst stress, and access joy and relaxation even when faced with challenging situations. Working with Bidisha was one of the most impactful experiencesI have had with a coach.” -Mira Manickam-Shirley, former E.D. Brown Girl Surf, creative organizer and twin mom of six year olds.
“Somatic bodywork with Bidisha helped me realize that I was still in love with my college sweetheart, and to tell him so, after a ten year estrangement. After an ayahuasca ceremony, he realized he was still in love with me too. Now we are married and have a kid. I tell everyone that somatic bodywork works just like ayahuasca, but it’s a lot gentler and more accessible. Bidisha has a very gentle approach, and I felt safe, nurtured, and heard during the session. I didn't really know what to expect, but I ended up expressing some pent-up sadness and grief that I thought I had gotten over (as in, I cried spontaneously partway through). It was cathartic to let that out and comforting to be able to explore those emotions and triggers in a safe space. I highly recommend Bidisha as a somatic bodywork practitioner.” -Katherine Au, licensed acupuncturist and environmental compliance specialist, and new mom
“Bidisha Banerjee has been a longtime coach and advisor of mine. I first met her 7 years ago as a Dalia Lama Fellow, where she developed and taught the Head, Heart, and Hands curriculum. During my fellowship years, Bidisha served as my Dalia Lama Fellows advisor where she built my endurance for the social justice movement space. Her coaching helped me to avoid burnout when I could, and quickly recover from burnout when I mistakenly fell into its trap. In my past years, I was a competitive athlete so many times I equated endurance to physical stamina. Bidisha taught me the mental and spiritual part of endurance. Years after my fellowship, when I felt myself forgetting the things I'd learned, I turned to Bidisha for coaching again. Through her Muse framework, I learned about mastering mindfulness, self-reflection, and restorative rest, as well as setting and achieving goals through developing and mastering practice.” Shantell Bingham, Co-Director of LIFE (Liberating Investment into the Food and Farm Ecosystem).
“Bidisha's coaching is one of a kind. My career and passions have grown and continue to grow because of her. She asked hard questions and pushed me to be true to what I was trying to do as much as possible. It’s a hard thing to cultivate, to trust other people, and her coaching really helped me to cultivate trust in my work.She was not just a mentor who managed to help me grow as a social entrepreneur despite the ocean-distance, she was more than that. She offered me guidance, support and inspiration. She pushed my limits and brought out the social change agent inside me.” -Abdallah Abdelwahab, peace policy specialist
Join my monthly Lit and Laid Back Membership now!
(expires midnight cst Oct 20, 2025)
Somatic coaching can involve touch (though it doesn’t have to) and connection