"The only times I’ve ever finished a workout and felt regret is when I left knowing that I really didn’t put my all into it like I could have. Maybe it was because I was unmotivated, tired, or mentally elsewhere, but instead of putting intention into the exercises I was doing, I coasted through them just to get them over with. I’m left feeling a bit regretful and like I didn’t give my body what it needed.
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It’s easy to just go through the motions of a workout so you can check it off your never-ending list of tasks for the day. But what if on our to-do list, we wrote down “connect with my body” instead of writing “workout?” This perspective shift is a strong one, isn’t it? Instead of exercising to exercise, your “why” behind it is to honor your body and give it what it needs, whether that looks like a HIIT class or a slow stroll on your walking pad. Known as somatic exercise, the movement practice focuses on the internal perception of the body, honing in on how it feels rather than how it looks. Ahead, we’re sharing what somatic exercise looks like, why people are swearing it changed their lives, and tips for trying it out for yourself.
What Is Somatic Exercise?
The term “somatics” comes from the wider field of somatic movement. According to Healthline, the term somatics describes “any practice that uses the mind-body connection to help you survey your internal self and listen to signals your body sends about areas of pain, discomfort, or imbalance.” “Somatic movement is awareness or presence during movement, and being connected in your body,” explained Rachelle Tsachor, a movement therapist registered with the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA), to Everyday Health.
This type of connection can be accessed through exercises like Pilates or yoga (think: slow practices that connect breath to movement), but is mostly practiced through stretching. During somatic exercise, your intention is to truly connect with your body and gain an understanding of what it needs internally, rather than moving to get a certain number of repetitions in or focusing on external factors. The practice looks like focusing on being in tune with your body, thinking about the muscles you are engaging, and feeling where your body is holding tension. In doing so, you access somatic energy, allowing your internal needs to guide the movement in a way that removes tension, rather than pushing your body to move in a certain way for the sake of movement. Mindful movement is a key component of somatic exercises, promoting body awareness and emotional release through gentle and intentional practice.
What Are the Benefits of Somatic Exercise?
Somatic exercise has been used to relieve chronic pain because it can increase awareness of body signals, emotional awareness, and self-management of symptoms. Somatic therapy is also a method of releasing trauma that’s stored in the body (the body can hold onto emotions that have not been released and a lot of women especially experience tight hips due to stored emotions). Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, teaches that trauma literally reshapes the body. Even if you don’t experience chronic pain or believe you have tension related to stored emotions, somatic exercise can be beneficial. According to the Somatic Movement Center, this type of exercise can help everything from posture to a tight pelvic floor to muscular strength because it allows you to create new muscular habits (basically rewiring muscle memory and how your muscles react).
For example, I hold a lot of tension in my quads and rely on other muscles to do the heavy lifting of an exercise so I don’t have to put more strain on them. Somatic exercises help me to correct that, so instead of compensating in another way, I can release the pain in my muscles by changing my movements. Not only can somatic exercise help you strengthen muscles correctly, but it can improve mobility, balance, and coordination. But no matter the reasoning, it never hurts to tune into your body for the sake of healing—whether that’s physically or mentally.
Somatic exercises can be incredibly beneficial for mental health because they go beyond just physical movement—they help you reconnect with your body and emotions. By focusing on sensations and being fully present in your body, these exercises can promote a deeper sense of emotional well-being. They may help you release pent-up tension or stress, making it easier to navigate challenging emotions and feel more grounded. For those who struggle with anxiety or overwhelming feelings, somatic practices can offer a sense of calm and empowerment through simple yet powerful techniques.
Somatic Therapy for Stress
Somatic therapy, AKA somatic experiencing therapy, is a transformative approach centered around the mind-body connection, making it particularly effective for addressing trauma and stress. Unlike conventional talk therapies that may focus solely on the mind, somatic therapy recognizes that our bodies hold onto physical tension and stress from past experiences. By engaging in mindful movements and sensory awareness, this stored tension can be released, promoting deep relaxation and healing. Whether it’s through gentle stretches, mindful breathing, or somatic practices (e.g., deep breathing, meditation, or certain eye movements), the goal is to reconnect with your body, heighten body awareness, and listen to its signals. Being fully in tune with your body can be empowering for not only physical relief, but also your emotional and mental well-being.
The Science Behind Somatic Exercise
The term “somatic” comes from the Latin word SOMA, meaning “the living body.” An American philosopher and pioneer of neurology named Thomas Hanna founded the field of somatics in the 1970s and was trained in the brain-to-body communication. While there are several different methods of somatic exercise being used today, they all share the same goal: to increase awareness during movement, connecting the mind and body and offering a holistic approach to improving both physical and mental health. At its core, somatic exercise involves connecting to your internal awareness through mindful movements. By tapping into body awareness and the sensations within your body, you can identify and release areas of physical tension.
According to experts, somatic exercise can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression by addressing both the external and internal aspects of the body, contributing to emotional regulation and a sense of internal balance. This practice encourages you to move with intention, paying close attention to how your body feels and responds. For example, when you’re stressed or anxious, it may manifest as a clenched jaw, raised shoulders, or tightness in your chest. Whether you’re faced with stress or chronic pain, somatic exercise helps train the body to return to its natural state by regulating habitual movement patterns stored in the brain, promoting muscle relaxation and enhanced overall physical well-being.
6 Somatic Exercises to Try
1. Somatic exercises for lower back pain relief
2. Somatic exercises for total body stretching
3. Somatic exercises for releasing physical tension in the shoulders
4. Somatic exercises for emotional relief and mental health
5. Somatic exercises for hip pain
6. Somatic-inspired yoga for releasing tension stored in the hips
Somatic-inspired yoga is a unique blend of traditional yoga and somatic practices, designed to target and release tension stored in the hips. Considering the hips are the largest joint in the body and its muscles are closely connected to the adrenal glands, which are responsible for processing our fight-or-flight emotions, they’re more prone to hold onto unprocessed emotions. So by focusing on the sensations in your hips and the surrounding muscles, you can identify areas of pent-up emotions and physical pain and gently release them through mindful movements, like Pigeon Pose, Low Lunge, and Lizard Pose. This practice can not only help release past trauma and alleviate physical tension, but it also reduces the stress and anxiety that comes with them. Somatic-inspired yoga is a holistic approach that cultivates the strong mind-body connection we all possess, supporting physical, mental, and emotional health.
Hailey Bouche, Associate Editor
As an Associate Editor for The Everygirl, Hailey Bouche oversees, writes, and edits content across various categories on the site. From the pitching stage through publishing, she works alongside the team to ensure that the content that our readers see every day is inspiring, relatable, and timely.
Katherine Chang, Wellness Staff Writer
Katherine Chang is The Everygirl’s Wellness Staff Writer with over five years of experience in the health and wellness space. She navigates the latest wellness topics and trends through expert interviews and studies, and she’s always first in line to try them firsthand.
Feature image graphics credited to: SHVETS Production | Pexels