389. Creating and maintaining change with somatic practices with Dr Luke Sniewski389. Creating and maintaining change with somatic practices with Dr Luke Sniewski
How I quit alcohol
Dr Luke Sniewski joins Danni Carr to talk about building nervous system capacity through somatic practices so change around alcohol can actually stick. Their conversation blends retreat stories, practical tools and reflections on authenticity, discomfort and core beliefs.
52:48•3 Oct 2026
Creating Real Change: Somatic Capacity, Discomfort and Sobriety with Dr Luke Sniewski
Episode Overview
- Lasting change around alcohol comes from increasing nervous system capacity, not just changing jobs, locations or relationships.
- Bringing attention back to the body during discomfort is a key first step, helping you notice urges and emotions before reacting.
- Conscious discomfort practices such as breath work, stillness, ice baths and phone-free meals can gently train the body to tolerate stress.
- Small, authentic choices in daily life begin to rewrite long-held beliefs like "I’m not good enough", even if others react unpredictably.
- Respecting your own authenticity also means accepting other people’s authentic responses, rather than trying to control their view of you.
“The fastest way to create change is to change the environmental stimulus, but the slowest way and most stable way to create change is to change your capacity.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? This conversation between host Danni Carr and somatic therapist Dr Luke Sniewski looks at that question through the lens of “capacity” – what your nervous system can actually handle without reaching for a drink. You’ll hear Danni and Luke riff on their recent retreat work, where somatic practices helped participants release “tension and trauma that had been stored in their body” after years of talk therapy couldn’t touch it.
Luke explains his core idea that “the fastest way to create change is to change the environmental stimulus, but the slowest way and most stable way to create change is to change your capacity,” making it crystal clear why swapping jobs, partners or postcodes doesn’t automatically end addictive patterns. The chat is relaxed, funny and very practical.
Using alcohol as a key example, Luke breaks down why willpower collapses when booze has been your “number one stress reducer”, and how body-based practices like breath work, stillness, ice baths, TRE and conscious eating build the capacity to sit with discomfort instead of escaping it. Danni shares her own experiments, from having a phone-free solo dinner ("it was excruciating") to coaching people through ice baths and watching the exact moment their bodies soften into the cold.
They also dig into deeper themes of authenticity and people pleasing. Luke explains how core beliefs such as “I’m not good enough” are formed through repetitive behaviours, and why tiny “sprinkles of authenticity” in everyday life start to rewrite those beliefs over time – even when other people don’t react how you’d like.
If you’re sober-curious or in recovery and feel stuck in the same loops, this episode offers a grounded way to think about change: build your capacity first, and let new choices flow from there. How ready are you to sit with discomfort instead of pouring a drink over it?
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