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Somatic Exercises for Sleep, Stress, and Nervous System Regulation
What if the key to better sleep and less stress wasn’t doing more, but moving less?
In this episode, I sit down with Liz Tenuto, aka The Workout Witch, to talk about somatic exercises, nervous system regulation, and why so many of us can’t sleep or relax.
Liz teaches tiny, lazy movements that release stored tension from the body, and she demonstrates three of them during our conversation. We also talk about why standard sleep advice fails trauma survivors, and how dissociation shows up in women who take care of everyone but themselves.
If you feel wired but tired and can’t remember the last time you felt truly rested, this episode is for you.
Topics
- 00:00 Meet Liz Tenuto, The Workout Witch
- 02:57 Liz’s origin story: chronic pain, anxiety & a 10-year search for relief
- 05:43 The ancient roots of somatic healing
- 08:23 Why sleep issues are so widespread right now
- 10:08 Luxuriating your sleep routine (and why rigid sleep rules fail trauma survivors)
- 13:39 A lazy hip-rocking somatic exercise for better sleep
- 17:14 What nervous system dysregulation actually means
- 20:24 The nuanced faces of dissociation in high-functioning women
- 22:43 Two quick exercises: the ear pull & the forehead swipe
- 25:15 Inside When the Body Speaks: what your symptoms may be telling you
- 27:41 Our biggest boundary struggles: overgiving & people pleasing
Resources mentioned
- When the Body Speaks: How Somatic Healing Sets You Free by Liz Tenuto
- DM the word “release” to @theworkoutwitch_ on Instagram to receive the hip-rocking sleep exercise video
About Liz Tenuto
Liz Tenuto, widely known as The Workout Witch, is a leading expert in somatic exercises. With more than 230,000 students and 4.8 million social media followers across platforms, Liz is transforming the way this generation deals with long-term stress and trauma. She holds a degree in Psychology from UC Santa Barbara, is certified in Pilates and Reiki, and spent six years being mentored in teaching the Feldenkrais Method under Augusta Moore. With fifteen years of hands-on teaching experience, Liz bridges science, movement, and compassion to show others her signature method to release stress, stored trauma, and tension from their bodies.
Liz’s work has been featured in USA Today, BBC News, The Daily Mail UK, Harper’s Bazaar France, MSN, and NY Weekly, among others. Her first book, When the Body Speaks: How Somatic Healing Sets You Free, was published April 7, 2026 by HarperCollins.
“People in ancient cultures used movement as a therapeutic modality — for transcendence or for healing.” — Liz Tenuto