A Somatic Perspective on Limiting Beliefs: Why Mindset Work Isn’t Enough
Why You Can’t Change Your Limiting Beliefs with Mindset Work Alone
Have you ever tried to think your way out of a pattern - repeating affirmations, reframing your thoughts, trying to stay “positive” - only to find yourself right back in the same emotional place again?
If so, you’re not failing. You’re just trying to use the mind to fix what was never purely mental.
From a somatic perspective, your limiting beliefs aren’t simply faulty thoughts. They’re living memories - emotional imprints of who you had to be, and what you had to believe, in order to stay safe, loved, or connected earlier in life.
These beliefs live in your body.
In the tightness that appears in your chest when you want to speak your truth.
In the tension that rises every time you try to rest.
In the pull to care for everyone else before you ever consider your own needs.
They were shaped by younger parts of you. Parts of you that once carried too much. And parts that learned to protect you the best they could.
This is why “mindset work” can feel so frustrating or even invalidating. It tries to rearrange the words without tending to the wounds underneath. It asks you to replace the belief without meeting the part of you who created it.
And that part isn’t ready to let go until it feels met, understood, and safe in a new way.
Real change begins when we stop trying to correct these parts and start listening to them. When we bring presence and compassion to the places in our bodies that hold these stories, the tightness in the throat, the weight in the chest, something begins to shift. Those parts start to trust that they’re not alone anymore.
That’s the deeper work of somatic healing. We’re not forcing ourselves to think differently; we’re learning to relate differently … to our feelings, our bodies, and the parts of us that still carry the past.
When you do that, the beliefs that once felt absolute begin to soften. Emotions that once felt overwhelming begin to move. And you start to feel more like yourself again. Not the self shaped by protection, but the self that’s always been waiting beneath it all.
In this week’s episode of Somatic Healing Meditations, I explore why mindset work isn’t enough and how to begin shifting your limiting beliefs through body-centered parts work, a gentle process that helps you connect with the deeper parts of you that are ready to be met, felt, and freed.
And tomorrow, join me for a guided Parts Work Meditation for Releasing Limiting Beliefs, a beautiful practice to help you begin this work for yourself.
Listen now!
Episode timing:
00:00 - Why Mindset Work Isn’t Enough to Change Your Limiting Beliefs
03:21 - What Limiting Beliefs Really Are (A Somatic Perspective)
05:13 - How Limiting Beliefs Live in the Body and Nervous System
09:19 - How Somatic Healing Helps You Shift Limiting Beliefs at The Roots
15:17 - The Three Compassionate Truths About Your Inner Parts
17:37 - Closing Reflections
This episode is part of my new “Your Healing, Your Questions” series, where I answer listener questions about healing and emotional growth. It’s an insightful, conversation-style episode rather than a meditation.
NOW ENROLLING!
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If you’ve spent years trying to change your patterns through mindset work or therapy but still feel stuck in the same emotional loops, this is the space where things finally shift.
Rooted + Resilient is the best way to work with me because we go to the level that truly matters: the subconscious and somatic roots that shape everything you feel, fear, and believe. As those layers dissolve, you naturally begin to move through life with more confidence, ease, and inner steadiness.
If you’re longing for real change, the kind that your body can actually feel, I’d love for you to apply.
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What is your biggest take away from today’s episode?
Please let me know in the comments!
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Thanks so much for joining me today!
About me
Hey, I’m Karena!
I’m a somatic emotional healing coach here to help you quickly identify and heal the subconscious blocks, old emotional wounds and self-sabotaging core beliefs that are holding you back!
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