From Cognitive to Somatic: How I Help You Heal from the Inside Out

When Thinking Isn’t Enough: The Limits of Cognitive-Only Healing

If you're a high achiever, you’ve probably mastered the art of thinking your way through problems.

Maybe you’ve read the books, done the talk therapy, listened to the podcasts. You’re insightful, self-aware, and emotionally intelligent — yet you still find yourself stuck in patterns you can’t seem to shift.

The truth is, understanding a problem doesn’t always resolve it. That’s because many of our stress patterns — especially the ones rooted in trauma, chronic pressure, or emotional overwhelm — live not just in our thoughts, but in our nervous system.

And that’s where somatic healing comes in.

What Is Somatic Healing (and Why Does It Work)?

Somatic healing focuses on the body—how it holds on to stress, how it signals safety or danger, and how it can become a doorway to lasting change.

Using tools that regulate the autonomic nervous system and access the subconscious brain, we can shift from “always on” mode to a state of regulation, presence, and wholeness.

At Retune Health, I blend four powerful, evidence-based approaches that work with the body to unlock change from the inside out.

Let’s take a look at how they work together:

🧠 Brainspotting: Finding the Root, Fast

Best for: subconscious stress, trauma, stuck emotional patterns, performance blocks

Brainspotting uses your visual field to locate areas in the brain where unresolved experiences are stored. By combining this precise eye-positioning with bio-lateral music, we help your brain process stress naturally — without needing to talk through every detail.

Why it matters: Many clients find Brainspotting to be the key that unlocks change they couldn’t reach through talk therapy alone. It goes beyond insight into deep nervous system release.

👂 Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP): Tuning the Nervous System

Best for: social anxiety, chronic stress, emotional reactivity, trauma-related symptoms

SSP is a music-based intervention that stimulates the vagus nerve to bring your body out of fight-or-flight. You listen to specially filtered music over several days to weeks, helping your system feel safe, present, and socially connected.

Why it matters: Regulating your physiological state is foundational to any healing. SSP is like turning the dial down on your stress response — making everything else more effective.

🎵 Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP): Resetting Rhythm and Repair

Best for: sleep issues, digestive problems, chronic fatigue, postpartum healing, immune challenges

RRP is a rhythm-based listening program designed to re-sync the body’s core functions with the brainstem’s natural rhythms. By listening to gentle, curated audio, your system begins to shift from dysregulated to regulated — improving sleep, digestion, immune balance, and even reproductive health.

Why it matters: RRP targets the dorsal branch of the vagus nerve — helping you move out of freeze states and restore core vitality. It’s a foundational tool I use with many clients seeking whole-body healing.

🧩 Internal Family Systems (IFS-Informed Coaching): Healing the Inner Landscape

Best for: inner critics, perfectionism, anxiety, emotional overwhelm, burnout

IFS views your inner world as a system of “parts” — like the Overachiever, the Inner Critic, the Anxious Child. We work to identify these parts, understand their protective roles, and help them soften so that your Self — calm, compassionate, clear — can lead.

Why it matters: High achievers often carry strong internal managers. IFS helps unburden them, creating space for joy, ease, and creativity.

How It All Comes Together

When you work with me, we co-create a path that addresses you — not just your symptoms.

Sometimes that means starting with a gentle protocol like RRP or SSP to calm the body.

Sometimes we dive into Brainspotting to process a stuck experience. Other times, we explore parts work to understand what’s driving your exhaustion or self-doubt.

Each tool has its strengths. But together? They create a powerful system for rewiring your stress response, reconnecting with your intuition, and restoring energy from the inside out.

🌱 Ready for a Different Kind of Healing?

If you’ve been doing all the “right” things and still feel stuck… it’s not your fault.

You don’t need to push harder. You need a new approach — one that includes your body, your brain, and your whole self.

Curious about working together? Let’s talk.

Explore my services or book a free 30-minute consult to see what’s right for you.

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✍️ About the Author

Andrea Goodwin is a Somatic Coach and the founder of Retune Health, a science-backed, heart-centered wellness practice that helps high achievers and wellness seekers regulate their nervous systems, release subconscious stress patterns, and restore balance in body, mind, and spirit.

With over 20 years of experience as a healthcare executive, Andrea brings a unique blend of real-world leadership, clinical insight, and holistic care to her work. Because burnout and overwhelm show up in our bodies, minds, and energy, she offers deeply personalized, mind-body-spirit support to help clients feel more grounded, clear, and alive — often in ways they never thought possible.

Through 1:1 sessions, group programs, and integrative experiences, Andrea guides clients toward a more intuitive, connected, and joyful way of being.

🌿 Explore sessions or subscribe to the newsletter at www.retunehealth.com

📍 Based in the northwest suburbs of Chicago | Virtual sessions available worldwide