Melanie Smithson (she/her)

Melanie joined Momma on May 25, 2026 for a live Q&A via Twitch and YouTube to talk about Somatic Practices & Letting Go

About Melanie

Melanie Smithson is a Licensed Somatic Psychotherapist, business owner, Certified Spiritual Integration Hypnotherapist, and the award-winning author of Stress Free in 30 Seconds—A Slightly Irreverent Approach to Navigating Life’s Challenges and the recently released Shake Yourself Free- 81 Somatic Practices to Let Go of Limitation. She has great compassion for, and simultaneously finds comedic relief in, the human experience. 

The body holds the wounds from the past, and for effective release, we must engage the body. Where the mind hesitates, or pretends to let go, the body is happy to shake, rattle and roll its way to freedom.

And where the body goes, the mind will follow.

Melanie is an expert at blending therapeutic modalities in service to letting go and spiritual growth. She is comfortable being interviewed and able to navigate any questions about mental health from the audience (and host). If appropriate, she can offer suggestions for movement practices in response to questions.

Socials / Links for Guest Connection

• Website - http://www.smithsonclinic.com/

• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MelanieBethSmithson/

• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@MelanieSmithson-g8l

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/melaniesmithson/

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniesmithson/

References / Things Mentioned During the Stream

• Recommended KDramas:

  • Mr. Sunshine

  • Extraordinary Attorney Woo

  • Alchemy of Souls

  • Mr. Queen

• Somatic Therapy

• Favorite Poems: 

  • Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

  • Quote below by Gabrielle Roth

Episode Summary

Somatic therapist Melanie Smithson joined ETFA to talk about why your shoulders, your gut and your jaw remember things your brain would rather forget.

Melanie Smithson has spent thirty years as a somatic psychotherapist, and she opened this episode with a truth most of us avoid: your body remembers everything your mind tries to forget. Stress, grief and old wounds don't just live in your head, they lodge in your shoulders, your gut and your jaw. And according to Melanie, the way out isn't more thinking. It's movement.

Melanie is the award winning author of two books, Stress Free in Thirty Seconds and her newest release Shake Yourself Free, and she sits on the board of NAMI New Mexico. Her whole approach centers on one idea: letting go is a skill we were all born with and most of us lost somewhere along the way.

We got into practical stuff fast. Melanie broke down small, doable somatic practices anyone can use at a desk, in a chair or stuck in a rut of apathy. Throw your arms in the air. Shake your body loose for thirty seconds. Bounce in your seat. Even groaning counts, and she's working on a new book about exactly that. The goal isn't to look graceful. It's to remind your nervous system that you're not stuck, even when your mind insists you are.

We also talked about anger, and Melanie gave one of the most useful distinctions of the whole conversation: the difference between expressing a feeling and raging at someone. It comes down to checking in with your body first and doing an honest inventory before you ever open your mouth. She walked through how she handles it in her own marriage, and it's a practice worth stealing.

Grief got its own space too. Melanie explained why grief isn't one feeling but a whole cluster of them, sadness, anger, despair, stuck-ness, and why figuring out which one you're actually sitting with changes everything about how you move through it.

One of the most striking parts of our conversation was Melanie's point about why physical illness gets accepted in our culture while mental struggle still carries shame. Her answer wasn't what I expected, and it reframed the whole stigma conversation for me.

We closed on letting go itself. How do you know when something is actually released instead of just shoved back down? Melanie's answer comes back to the body every time. She also shared a line that stuck with me long after we stopped recording: you cannot let go of who you are, only what you've accumulated. The more you release, the closer you get to yourself.

This episode is full of small, real, actually usable tools, not vague advice to just relax. If you carry tension in your body, if you've been told to calm down without anyone telling you how, or if you're ready to stop pushing feelings back down just to have them resurface later, this conversation will give you somewhere to start.