Summer Kid Movies with Somatic Sauce

Did you go to the movies this summer? Our family went to three movies this summer: DreamWorks’ live-action How to Train Your Dragon, Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch, Disney-Pixar’s Elio. These movies are really great for the whole family (although the dragons in HTTYD are very realistic so maybe not for the littlest of kiddos)!

***SPOILER ALERT, if you haven’t seen them yet, maybe read these after you do…

If you have already seen them, I wanted to share the “somatic sauce” that I noticed in each movie. (I used Perplexity.ai for the brief summaries.)

How to Train Your Dragon (2025)

Short Summary:

The live-action How to Train Your Dragon follows Hiccup, a young Viking who defies his tribe’s tradition of fearing and fighting dragons. Unlike his Chief father and their warrior culture, Hiccup shows true courage by befriending a wounded Night Fury dragon, Toothless, and discovering that dragons are not the enemies they've been taught to hate. His empathetic bond with Toothless leads him to challenge long-held beliefs, risking alienation to pursue peace. Hiccup’s journey shows that real bravery lies in understanding, not just in battle.

Somatic Sauce:

Hiccup is very attuned and open-hearted in the movie. He remains curious and notices Toothless’ behaviors and mannerisms and learns from them to help meet the dragon's deeper needs. He is courageous and willing to “sink deeper,” pausing when his survival instinct - his reactive resilience - is activated and chooses to find a different way to respond. It takes a lot of awareness and connection with ourselves before we can notice that activation and courageously choose to pause and respond differently.

Lilo & Stitch (2025)

Short Summary:

In the live-action Lilo & Stitch (2025), Lilo’s seemingly difficult behavior—like anger, isolation, and acting out—is a reflection of her deep grief over losing her parents and her struggle with attachment and abandonment. Beneath her defiance is a child longing for stability, love, and connection in a world that feels unpredictable and lonely. Her bond with Stitch, another “outsider,” becomes a powerful expression of this need, as she seeks someone who won’t leave her. The film sensitively portrays how her outward actions stem not from misbehavior, but from unresolved grief and a desperate desire to feel seen, safe, and loved.

Somatic Sauce:

In Lilo & Stitch, we see how outward behaviors can signal deeper needs for stability, love, and connection. Our nervous system holds our stress responses, trauma, and grief. As we experience emotional dysregulation our protective patterns are activated, trying to keep us safe. However, as we seek to meet these deeper needs, sometimes there are aspects of these protective patterns that do not serve us, actually keeping us from the connection that we need.

Elio (2025)

Short Summary:

Elio is an imaginative 11-year-old boy grappling with the loss of his parents and struggling to adapt to a new life with his Aunt Olga, who is equally unprepared for her sudden role as guardian. Both dealing with their own grief, they face challenges in connecting, as Elio withdraws into his obsession with space, longing for escape and a sense of belonging. Inspired by the idea that someone in the cosmos might understand him, he dreams of leaving Earth—until an unexpected turn of events lands him in space, where he's mistaken for Earth’s ambassador. Through this cosmic journey, Elio finds the connection he's been seeking, and both he and Olga slowly learn how to build a new kind of family together.

Somatic Sauce:

Elio is obsessed with being abducted by Aliens because he feels like the cosmos are where he is meant to be. Crisis and grief can be overwhelming and it is a natural human survival instinct to want to flee and avoid the painful feelings. Grief can feel isolating and lonely, feeling as if there is no one who understands. The deeper need is often to move through those feelings and find release, but it is a process. It takes support, time, and tools to help us release, reconnect, restore balance to our nervous system, and find a sense of connection and belonging.

When aliens actually abduct Elio, he ends up caught in the middle of a major conflict between the “Communiverse” and an authoritarian-esque planet. Throughout the movie, there is an exploration of cultural patterns and the best way to resolve conflict using might and destruction or communication and connection. Through the adventure, Elio sees the power of connection and a swaddle and that “bending toward” the pain helps release it. Elio is also reminded that none of us are alone on the journey, no matter the planet or universe.

Overall, each of these movies share a story about the search for belonging and connection and the need to "sink deeper" and move through fear and grief. In somatic coaching, we bring awareness to activation and cultivate a safe and supportive space to move through that activation and explore the deeper needs that arise. Utilizing centering tools and mindfulness and somatic (mind-body) practices, we seek to release the physical symptoms of emotional dysregulation. The goal is to slowly titrate the activation and help modulate it to bring the overall reactivity down to a manageable level and restore mind-body balance and alignment. With less activation, we are more centered and connected to ourselves and, therefore, better able to show up as our authentic selves and connect with others.

If you or someone you know are interested in Individual Coaching and/or joining us for our next Somatic Stroll, please reach out! Let's get there, together!

“Okay, goodbye! I love you!” - Elio ;)