I Am, Therefore I Think —
On Somatics and the Writing Life
What if writer’s block isn’t in the mind at all — but in the body that’s trying to speak?
When we feel stuck, it’s helpful to connect to our body.
If that feels like a strange way to deal with stuck-ness, I understand.
Once upon a time, I thought of my body as a transportation system for my mind, which was, well, me!
It was a living human vehicle that moved my wonderful mind (me) with all its ideas, creativity, thoughts, and intelligence from A to B.
I’d feel frustrated or annoyed if my body ached somewhere, didn’t go fast enough, or didn’t look as perfect as I expected it to.
But I didn’t think of it as me in the same way that I thought of my mind as me.
“I think, therefore I am.”
Descartes, it seems, felt the same way.
And it’s unlikely any of us got through our education without hearing this famous quote at least once.
But what I’ve learned as a somatic coach is that we are our whole body.
Of course, that seems obvious. But bear with me – what if we changed it to:
“I am, therefore I think.”
That would suggest that thinking is only part of who we are.
We’re also what we experience through our five senses — sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch.
We’re our intuition and our nervous system.
We’re our emotions.
An entire system beautifully designed for us to make sense of the world.
Why does this matter? Because the time between our body sharing information with us and our mind interpreting it is supersonically fast. Which means if we’re not connected to our body, we only take the mind’s interpretation of it – and that can be wrong, or at least unhelpful.
The somatic pause
Butterflies in the stomach before a meeting, that horrible feeling of unease and a tight throat — might be instantly interpreted by the mind as:
“I can’t speak up in the meeting. I don’t have any good ideas. Everyone will think I’m stupid.”
Which isn’t very helpful – and probably isn’t true.
If you believe it, you’ll feel worse. The feelings will continue into the meeting, fuelled by the thoughts in your mind.
A somatic approach would be to stay with the feelings.
Allow the feelings to just be.
Feel them – the butterflies in your stomach, the tight throat, the unease.
They aren’t harming you.
By not assuming the mind’s fast judgment is right, you buy yourself time to interpret in the moment.
Perhaps:
“I’m feeling a bit anxious because I’m not used to speaking in Zoom meetings. I’m not sure how it will go and that’s natural. I’ll just see how it goes today, and next time will probably be easier.”
If we’re used to jumping straight into our first thoughts, the first step is to get more connected to our body.
For me, reconnecting to my body has developed my intuition and creativity.
It’s taken my yoga and meditation deeper and expanded my understanding of the world and the people in it.
My body is no longer a vehicle for my mind.
I’m learning that every day, fascinated by how it all works together.
When I bring awareness to the body, the writing slows down in the best way.
Scenes start to breathe.
Characters aren’t only thinking or speaking; they’re sensing, reacting, feeling the world on their skin.
Somatic awareness helps me:
Notice what a character feels, not just what they say. A shift in breath, a tightening jaw, a hand resting too long on a doorframe — all of it tells story.
Write from the inside out. Instead of watching my characters from above, I inhabit them — what does fear feel like in their stomach? What sits behind their silence?
Stay present to my own body while writing. If I catch myself feeling tense or holding my breath, I know I’m pushing. When I soften, the story flows again.
That’s what “writing somatically” really is – letting the nervous system be your co-author.
The mind still shapes the words, but the body gives them life.
Journal or writing prompts
Where in your body do you feel most alive when you’re writing?
Where do you tighten or go numb?
Try writing a paragraph from a character’s physical sensations only – no thoughts, no backstory. What do you learn about them?
How might your own body signal when it’s time to rest, stretch, or walk – before you’ve hit the wall?
✨ Closing thought
If “I think, therefore I am” made us believe that the mind is the centre of everything, then maybe this is our revision:
“I feel, therefore I create.”
This year of writing my novel has become its own kind of somatic practice — breath by breath, draft by draft. Follow my progress in My Novel Year
My coaching work and my writing keep teaching me the same thing:
The story lives not in the head, but in the body that feels it.
Please find out about my work as a Somatic Life Coach HERE
And download Ten Ways to Reconnect to your Body HERE