Why Your Therapist Keeps Telling You to “Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Body”
Introduction
If you’ve ever heard your therapist say something like “Try to notice what’s happening in your body right now,” or “Let’s take a breath and drop into the body,” you might have wondered - why do they keep saying that?
It’s not because your therapist wants you to become a yoga instructor or a master of meditation. It’s because one of the most powerful ways to calm your nervous system and access real clarity is by reconnecting with your body.
At Mountain Brow Counselling, many of our therapists are somatically trained - often called bottom-up therapists. As such, we will often emphasize the mind-body connection as a key part of helping you move forward in a deeper, more sustainable way.
We live in our heads (a lot).
When stress hits, or we’re feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or ashamed, most of us run straight to our minds for safety. We analyze, replay conversations, plan what to do next, and try to “logic” our way out of the discomfort.
It’s actually a clever coping strategy because your brain is trying to protect you from pain by staying busy. But when we live only in our heads, we disconnect from the signals our bodies are sending us, such as the tight chest, shallow breath, and clenched jaw. These physical cues are how your body tells you what it needs.
And ignoring them doesn’t make the problem go away; rather, it just keeps you spinning.
The body is where regulation happens.
Your body and brain are constantly talking through your nervous system. When you’re stressed, your heart rate, muscles, and breath respond. And the amazing thing? It works both ways: calming your body sends messages of safety back to your brain.
That’s why grounding, breathing, and gentle movement are such powerful tools because they help your body feel safe, which helps your mind think clearly again.
You can’t think your way into calm, but you can often breathe or move your way there.
Okay, but… what about my actual problem?
You might be thinking, Sure, I can breathe and stretch and notice my body, but I still have a problem I need to solve. How does this help me with that?
Here’s how: when your nervous system is activated - when you’re anxious, panicked, or overwhelmed, your brain isn’t wired for complex problem-solving. It’s wired for survival. You’ll find yourself looping on the same thoughts, overanalyzing, or catastrophizing because your system is in threat mode.
When you calm your body, you create access to your higher brain again, which is the part that can think flexibly, creatively, and rationally. Once you’re regulated, you can see the problem from a more grounded place. The solution that felt impossible often becomes clearer once your body feels safe enough to stop defending and start thinking.
Getting into your body doesn’t make your problems disappear. It helps you face them with your full self—steady, present, and capable.
So how do you actually “get into your body”?
Here are a few small ways to start:
Notice your breath.
Without changing anything, just observe it. Is it deep? Short? Heavy? Simply noticing pulls your awareness out of your thoughts and into the moment.Name sensations.
Use words like “tight,” “buzzing,” “warm,” “numb.” This helps connect emotion to sensation and builds body awareness.Ground through your senses.
Look around and name five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, one you can taste.Move gently.
Stretch, walk, or roll your shoulders. Movement releases stored tension and signals safety to your brain.Check in often.
A few times a day, pause and ask, “What’s happening in my body right now?” Over time, you’ll notice tension and emotion sooner - before they take over.
Why this matters in therapy
Therapy isn’t just about thinking differently - it’s about feeling differently. Our patterns live in the nervous system, not just in our thoughts. When you learn to tune into your body, you stop fighting against yourself and start working with your system.
So next time your therapist says, “Let’s drop into the body,” know that they’re not asking you to ignore the problem. They’re helping you find the state where you can actually solve it.
If you’d like to learn more or explore how this approach could support you, you can book a free consultation with one of our therapists today.
