Written by Sam Wilde

What is Somatic Awareness?
The term somatic refers to the body (Merriam-Webster, 2025). Somatic awareness is the ability to notice and track physical sensations in the body. This might be easier said than done, depending on one’s relationship to their body and whether or not they have experienced trauma. Dissociation is a common coping strategy and survival tool used by those who have experienced trauma. Trauma occurs when something is too much, too fast for us to handle. Dissociation is one way the brain protects us from experiencing the weight of a traumatic event as it occurs or thereafter. The problem is that unprocessed emotions live in our bodies and can create muscle tension and chronic pain. Somatic therapy can provide a safe container for clients to sequence unprocessed emotions through their body and release them.

Here is a simple assessment of somatic awareness that you can try at home. Choose a song to listen to. Find a comfortable position, take a few cycles of deep breaths, and begin to bring your awareness to your body. What sensations do you feel in your body as you listen? What emotions do you notice? What thoughts do you notice? Try not to attach to any thoughts that arise, simply let them come and go, like passing clouds. Do you notice any movement impulses in your body? If so, maybe see what it’s like to follow them. When the song ends, take a few moments to journal what you noticed. Use the form below for inspiration. If you don’t notice any physical sensations during the song, that is good information too! Do you feel numb? Can you feel your heartbeat or find your pulse? Can you feel your feet on the ground or your back against a chair? No sensation is too small to notice.

Practicing somatic awareness is one way to reclaim your sovereign right to inhabit your body fully. This is a life-long journey that is best practiced both solo and in community, with trusted guides and compassion for self and others.

Somatic Awareness Assessment
Instructions: Choose a song to listen to. As the song plays, notice what emotions, physical sensations, thoughts, and movement impulses arise for you. Circle them below or fill in the blanks. 

Emotions
Happy
Sad
Fear
Disgust
Anger
Surprise
Curious
Depressed
Anxious
Aversion
Aggressive
Excited
Proud
Lonely
Embarrassed
Disappointed
Annoyed
Confused
__________
__________
__________ 

Physical Sensations
Smile
Tears
Tense
Face scrunch
Clenched jaw
Sweaty palms
Warmth
Emptiness
Racing heart
Nauseous
Feeling hot
Brow-furrow
Calm
Numb
Frozen
Lump in throat
Clenched fists
Quick breathing
__________
__________
__________ 

Movement Impulses
Wiggle
Curl into a ball
Run
Cover face with hands
Stomp
Raised eyebrows
Spin
Hide
Shaking legs
Push away
Punch Jump
Open arms
Lay on floor
Wringing hands
Back up
Headbang
Kick
__________
__________
__________ 

What thoughts arose for you during this exercise? 
_____________________________________________

Written by Katelyn Miranda

Grief is not only an emotional process, it is a deeply physical one, especially for an HSP. Because HSPs tend to have more finely attuned nervous systems, they often feel grief not just in their hearts and minds, but in their muscles, breath, posture, and skin. Somatically, grief may manifest as a tight chest, a lump in the throat, heaviness in the limbs, or a disconnection from one's body altogether. The body of an HSP registers and holds emotional experiences more intensely, and grief can live in the body as fatigue, tension, restlessness, or even chronic pain. This can be true for any human, but HSPs in particular. These sensations aren't signs of weakness or pathology, but the body’s way of processing an overwhelming or inconceivable loss. For HSPs, who often carry a heightened awareness of internal states, these sensations can be particularly pronounced and require gentler, more intentional forms of care.

Pausing to listen to the body, to feel where grief lives and how it wants to move, can be a powerful and non-verbal form of mourning that words alone may not reach. When being in or with the body feels like too much, simply tending to it in nurturing ways like being in a warm bath, laying in the sun, or laying under a weighted blanket can be enough to ease into embodiment through overwhelm. The somatic path of grief honors sensitivity as a strength: an ability to stay in touch with the body’s signals, a capacity to feel what others may numb, and a way of transforming pain into embodied wisdom.

When grief comes along, it is no wonder that HSPs find themselves swimming in a sea of intensity. Just as every HSPs experience of sensitivity is unique, so too is every experience of grief. While I can’t speak to the complexity of everyone’s lived experience, I can say this – I see you, sensitive one. I have been through the fire of grief and still find myself there some days. But my sensitivity has allowed for a depth of beauty as I connect with what I have lost in my life. Our sensitivity is not a curse, but a doorway if we allow it.

Suggested Reading on HSP and Grief
The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine N. Aron, PhD
(Foundational book defining the HSP trait.)

The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller
(Deep and poetic exploration of grief with resonance for sensitive souls.)

Permission to Mourn by Tom Zuba
(Simple, compassionate guide for navigating loss.)

Grief Is Love by Marisa Renee Lee
(Touches on the enduring, nonlinear nature of grief.)

It's OK That You're Not OK by Megan Devine
(Validates the depth of grief in a grief-illiterate culture.)

Are You Highly Sensitive? Take the Highly Sensitive Person Scale

Written by Katelyn Miranda

When loss strikes, the HSP might feel the experience of the loss on a more acute level than a non-sensitive person. Whether the loss is a death or an ending, a dream, a pet, or a human, someone close to you, an acquaintance or para-social relationship, or even someone you don’t have a great relationship with, the loss of someone can impact HSPs in a way that feels profound and unshakable. As a highly sensitive person myself, it often feels like life is felt in a way that can become overwhelming really fast. While my ability to deeply think and feel is turned up, so is my ability to feel the depth of loss. It is certainly both a gift and a challenge. 

When grief arrives on my doorstep, either fresh or years old, it can feel like a hot iron to the skin. I feel it deep into my bones, in my being like a storm rolling in, in my stomach like a weight I can’t digest. Even small losses – a shift in a relationship, the end of a season, a place I no longer go – can stir something deep inside. I’ve often felt confused or ashamed by the intensity of my grief, especially when others seem to be moving on so quickly. But I’ve come to understand that my sensitivity isn’t a flaw – it’s the reason I feel love so deeply, which also means I feel the ache of its absence with just as much depth. HSPs tend to process experiences more thoroughly, and that includes loss. We revisit memories, we track subtle shifts, we feel the emotional undercurrents others might miss. It can be overwhelming, yes – but it also allows us to honor grief in a profound and meaningful way. When I move through grief, I use it as an opportunity to connect with that which I love, to the present moment, and to the reminder that this life is precious.

Some other things to look out for are when the feelings get to be too much: HSPs can find themselves going towards dissociation, burnout, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other health issues. The need for self-care and community care are especially high because of this. While grief is its heaviest, it can feel impossible to take care of yourself. When self-care feels impossible, the best next thing is being gentle and compassionate with yourself. The next best thing after that is to lean on community support – call on
those close to you, they want to be there for you. Being an HSP offers an opportunity for empathy, spiritual connection, and beauty in unfamiliar places, especially when we tend to our nervous systems in the ways we need.

Written by Katelyn Miranda

There is one certainty in this life – we are all going to die. With that truth comes another – we are all going to grieve.

There are those of us among the human species who fall under the trait of Highly Sensitive Person. When grief arrives for an HSP, it doesn’t just knock on the door; it moves in, rearranges the furniture, and lingers in the body long after the initial shock has passed. The experience of loss for an HSP can feel all-encompassing. It’s not just a mental or emotional process – it lives in the nervous system, in the breath, in the way we move through the world. We may need more space, more slowness, more permission to grieve in a way that’s deeply personal and nonlinear. And while it can be isolating to feel things so deeply in a world that often urges us to "move on," there’s also profound wisdom in this sensitivity. It reminds us that grief is not something to be fixed or avoided – but honored, tended to, and witnessed.

What is a Highly Sensitive Person?

The term Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) was coined by Dr. Elaine Aron, and also refers to
Sensory-Processing Sensitivity (SPS). This is not considered a disorder or condition, but rather a personality trait. Dr. Aron states that 15 to 20 percent of the population are HSP. Essentially, the trait of high sensitivity is all about processing information and the world more deeply.

Highly sensitive people are not weak. They are open. Receptive. Attuned. Responsive. Susceptible. There is such a thing called Differential Susceptibility, which refers to the fact that sensitive individuals process everything in their environment so deeply that they are inevitably more affected by both the “good” and the “bad” in their environment.

According to Dr. Elaine Aron, Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) is thought to have evolved as a way to promote species survival. While some humans evolved to take quick action, highly sensitive people developed a keen awareness of their environment, carefully noticing subtle cues and detecting potential threats, opportunities, or the need for strategic action. This trait is marked by deeper cognitive processing, heightened emotional responsiveness, greater empathy, and sensitivity to sensory input. Rather than being a flaw or disorder, high sensitivity is a biologically-based trait offering important advantages in the right contexts, such as caregiving, leadership, creativity, and intuition.

Stay tuned for more thoughts about grieving as an HSP.