06/21/2026
The woman who called herself "The Workout Witch" didn't start with a book deal or a million followers. She started in bed, barely able to get up. Liz Tenuto spent years in chronic pain. Insomnia. Symptoms no doctor could explain. She had tried everything. Nothing worked. Then she found somatics, tiny, slow, almost invisible movements that reconnected her to her own body. Within four sessions, the pain and insomnia that had defined her life for years began to soften.
That was the beginning. She later told CNBC that while she was going through a divorce, she started posting her exercises online just to hold herself accountable for doing one per day. Her account went from zero to 10,000 followers in two weeks . Today, she's at 2.2 million .
When the Body Speaks is the book that emerged from that journey.
Tenuto, who holds a degree in psychology and has fifteen years of teaching experience , argues that trauma and stress aren't just in your head. They live in your body. In your nervous system. In the way you hold your shoulders, your jaw, your breath . Talk therapy can help you understand your story. But it can't release what your body is still carrying.
The book introduces somatics, a practice rooted in neuroscience, not mysticism . Tenuto defines it as "the study of the body as perceived from within" . The exercises are micro-movements, sometimes just three or four in a ninety-minute class, that gently shift the nervous system out of survival mode and back into a state of regulation .
5 Things you’ll learn:
1. Your body holds what your mind tries to forget.
Tenuto speaks from experience. A survivor of childhood and adolescent trauma, she spent years disconnected from her own body . It wasn't until a ballet teacher noticed she was dissociated during class and nudged her toward somatics that she began to understand what was happening . The book explains that long-term stress and trauma often manifest as sleep issues, muscle tension, digestive problems, and cognitive difficulties .
2. Somatics is the opposite of "pushing through."
If you've ever tried to outwork your stress or think your way out of anxiety, this book offers a different path. The exercises are gentle, subtle, and internal. You don't push. You listen. You move slowly enough to feel what's actually happening in your body, not what you think should be happening. The goal is to "move from dysregulation to a state of homeostasis" .
3. Tiny movements can have profound effects.
In her podcast interview, Tenuto demonstrated a forehead exercise that calms the fight-flight response in under a minute . She also shows how ear pulling stimulates the vagus nerve and how gentle rocking can help with pain . These aren't big, dramatic workouts. They're small. That's what makes them accessible. You can do them in bed, in a chair, or anywhere else.
4. Healing is a practice, not a quick fix.
Tenuto is upfront that one exercise won't change everything. The work is cumulative. She says it's "similar to building muscle" . As you practice, you build new neural pathways that eventually become stronger than your trauma responses. The book offers a "pathway for self-compassion, empowerment, and a more fulfilling life" .
5. The science is real, even when it feels like magic.
The author has a degree in psychology, and she grounds her work in polyvagal theory and nervous system regulation . She explains that the ventral vagal state, the middle ground between fight-flight and freeze, is where you feel balanced, social, and grounded. Somatic exercises help you practice getting there. That's not woo-woo. That's neuroscience.
When the Body Speaks won't solve everything. It will give you a different way of approaching what's wrong. The central idea, that healing starts in the body, not just the mind, is simple and profound. And the exercises are genuinely practical. For readers of The Body Keeps the Score or What Happened to You?, this book offers the next step: what to actually do with what you've learned.
BOOK: https://amzn.to/4fR4OW1
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