Episode 552: Liz Tenuto: Why Stress Gets "Stuck" In The Body, The Science of Somatics, & How to Finally Let It Go

Habits and Hustle

Jen Cohen

Entrepreneurship, Education, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Business

4.5 • 818 Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The field of somatics has one uncomfortable truth most people aren't ready to hear: you cannot think your way out of trauma or chronic stress. If the stress response of the body never gets discharged through physical movement, your body stays on high alert. Some people still write somatics off as “woo-woo”. That gap between what the science actually says and what people assume is exactly why I wanted to go deeper with Liz Tenuto, better known as The Workout Witch. Liz holds a degree in Psychology from UC Santa Barbara, is certified in Pilates and Reiki, and spent six years being mentored in the Feldenkrais Method under Augusta Moore. She got herself off beta blockers for anxiety using the same somatic exercises she now teaches. In part two of this three-part Fitness Friday series with Liz, she breaks down the actual science, Polyvagal Theory, the psoas muscle, why betrayal trauma has a biological address in your body, and why your nervous system is still running an operating system designed for surviving predators, not inbox anxiety. If you have ever felt stuck in stress no matter what you try, this is the episode that explains exactly why. What's Discussed: (0:00) How Liz grew to 4.8 million followers and who her audience really is. (1:01) Why somatics bridges the gap where doctors just tell you it's stress. (1:48) How Liz got off beta blockers for anxiety using somatic exercises. (3:12) What somatics can actually help with and how it works for sleep. (9:11) The science behind somatics and how your body stores stress physically (13:33) How trauma gets stored as subconscious muscle tension and shows up as pain. (16:52) Liz's personal story: how quitting dance made her chronic pain worse, not better. (27:05) Sleep positions that reveal your stress state: T-REX ARMS, mountain climber, extreme fetal. (33:21) The psoas muscle: the muscle of the soul and its role as a first responder in fight or flight. (35:13) The gentle 18-day protocol Liz uses before ever touching the psoas. Thank You to Our Sponsors! AirDoctor: Head to AirDoctorPro.com and use promo code HUSTLE to get up to $300 OFF today! AirDoctor comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, plus a 3-year warranty (an $84 value) FREE! Kion: Visit getkion.com/habits or 20% OFF Momentous: Ready to try supplements that actually do what they claim? Head to livemomentous.com and use code JEN for 35% OFF your first subscription. Therasage: Visit therasage.com and use code JEN to get 15% OFF your order. Your skin deserves this level of care. Magic Mind: Head over to magicmind.com/jen and use code JEN at checkout. Prolon: Prolon is offering listeners 30% OFF sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program! Just visit prolonlife.com/JENNIFERCOHEN and use the code JENNIFERCOHEN to claim your discount and your bonus gift. Rho Nutrition: Go to RhoNutrition.com and try Rho's Liposomal Glutathione. Use code JEN20 for 20% OFF sitewide. Manna Vitality: Try it now by using the code Jennifer20 at mannavitality.com. Find more from Jen Cohen: Website: www.jennifercohen.com Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements Find more from Liz Tenuto: Website: theworkoutwitch.com/ Instagram: @theworkoutwitch TikTok: @theworkoutwitch YouTube: @theworkoutwitch Threads: @theworkoutwitch Facebook:The Workout Witch Embody App: theworkoutwitch.com/products/embody When The Body Speaks Book: theworkoutwitch.com/pages/book

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, guys. It's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.
0:06.7	Hey, friends, you're listening to Fitness Friday on the Habits and Hustle podcast, where myself and my friends share quick and very actionable advice for you becoming your healthiest self. So stay tuned and let me know how you leveled up.
0:29.4	And during COVID, I really started posting it online and people became, people became, I thought
0:36.4	it was going to be very niche, but now I have like
0:38.5	4.8 million followers across platform. That is crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Like how many you have on
0:43.5	Instagram alone doing this? Uh, 1.9 million. And like, you have basically 2 million people who then,
0:50.5	and who's your audience, really? My audience generally is like 30 to 60.
0:58.0	That's a big demo.
0:59.0	Big demo tends to be high-achieving people.
1:04.1	My audience specifically is more women than men, but it works for all genders.
1:10.4	Yeah, folks who are really high-achieving who have a lot of responsibilities, but it works for all genders. Yeah, folks who are really high achieving who have a lot
1:12.3	of responsibilities, but also perhaps have sleep issues or, you know, perhaps like when they get
1:18.9	home at night, they're kind of silently struggling with something, whether it's lower back pain
1:23.1	that won't go away or they're going to a doctor for their gut issues, but they can't really
1:26.8	figure out what's going on. So Maddox is really good at bridging the gap where doctors, you'll go
1:34.7	to the doctor and the doctor will say it's stress and you can't necessarily like change your
1:39.0	whole life. You can't quit your job. You can't like not have a kid. You can't be like, bye. And I'm
1:43.8	going to be a monk and go
1:44.8	live, you know, on a hill. Exactly. So, so Maddox is really good at reducing all of those stress
1:50.8	symptoms and giving you immediate relief from those symptoms. And over time, as you continue to do
1:56.9	them, you can, you can actually, you know, for me, I really did get rid of my insomnia and my gut
2:02.4	issues and my anxiety through doing them. So you did get, you got rid of insomnia, gut issues,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jen Cohen, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jen Cohen and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.