Somatic
Etymology
From Greek “sōma” (body). The word draws the classic line between “soma,” the body, and “psyche,” the mind — a division that runs through all of Western medicine and philosophy. In practice the line blurs, which is why modern therapy increasingly attends to “somatic” experience, the body’s own record of stress and emotion.
adjective · /soh-MAT-ik/
Relating to the physical body, as distinct from the mind.
What it names
The bodily side of the mind-body line, giving a precise word for experiences that live in the flesh — a knot in the stomach, a clenched jaw — rather than in conscious thought.
Example
Her therapist encouraged her to notice the somatic signs of anxiety — the tight chest, the shallow breath — before her thoughts even caught up.
Related idea
Somatic means simply of the body; psychosomatic means bodily symptoms produced or worsened by the mind. A broken arm is somatic; a stress headache with no physical cause is psychosomatic — the second word insists the mind is doing the wounding.