What are Somatics, and How Can They Help Me?

Many of us can relate to the feeling of having tense shoulders after a long day, or the pit in your stomach when you’re facing a difficult conversation. Our mental health clearly involves managing the patterns of stress within our mind, but it also can involve the physical reactions to stress within our body. 

What Are Somatics? 

In the Greek language, Soma means body. Somatics teaches us that the mind and the body are linked. With Somatics, we learn that we don’t have to rely on our mind to inform our opinions and our actions, because our body provides us with information to help guide us. 

Somatics uses a bottom-up approach: while traditional mental health therapy focuses on the mind, Somatics utilizes the body to release stress and tension. 

How can my body tell me about my emotions?

Consider your breath rate, posture, hunger cues, and muscular tension, just to name a few. These physical sensations occur fast and without thought. The cues your body gives you are directly linked to how you feel.

What happens when I pay attention to my body cues?

Bringing our attention to where in the body you feel discomfort helps us identify our emotions, determine what we can do to feel better, and seek support. 

With Somatics, we can learn to be present within our bodies during challenging situations, joyful moments, and day-to-day mundane tasks. In a way, Somatics is about coming home to ourselves. 

How Does Somatic Therapy Work?

Start by bringing our awareness to our body. At all times, our incredible body is interpreting the world around us through our sensory organs: taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight, balance, proprioception (sense our position and movement in relationship to objects around us), and interoception (our body’s ability to sense and interpret signals within the body, like our breath rate, hunger, and temperature, and impacts our ability to regulate our emotions, participate in social interactions, and assess safety). 

Awareness can help us detect threat, but it can also help us return to a state of relaxation. 

How Can I Use Somatics to Relax? 

Somatics utilizes a wide range of tools to help us become more aware of our body’s stress responses, and to choose relaxation through deep breaths and nervous system regulation. Somatic tools include:

Somatic Orienting aims to connect your mind and body and help you regulate yourself. It can be practiced anytime and anywhere. Try this quick introduction to the practice and an invitation to bring your awareness to your body: 

• Pause: Take a moment to intentionally pause from your current task 

• Look: Let your eyes scan your environment slowly, taking notice of anything that they are drawn to or curious about. 

• Observe: With detailed attention and a sense of curiosity, notice the shapes, colors, textures, or objects around you. Pay close attention, on purpose. Feel free to look up, down, forward, and backward. 

• Engage: What do your other senses notice about this environment? Are there smells, sounds, or tastes to engage with? How does the current temperature feel to you? If you are sitting, is your chair comfortable? If you are standing, are your feet firmly planted on the ground?

• Breathe: Intentionally, take a few slow deep breaths. Try to extend your exhale until it’s about twice as long as your inhale. 

• Notice: How are you feeling in your body? Do you notice any softening, warmth, or other calm sensations? 

Kind Hands is another excellent tool within Somatics. This practice invites us to generate warmth, or kindness as a gift to ourselves. To try Kind Hands,

Prepare

• Find a comfortable position. 

• Close your eyes or soften your gaze by looking gently at the floor.

• Take two or three natural breaths. 

Generate Warmth

• Rub your palms together for 10 to 15 seconds.

• Focus on the sensation of friction, the sound of your hands and the warmth of your hands

Mindful Touch

• Place your warm hands on your body. Choose instinctively, wherever you need it most. You can try:

  • Your forehead and the other on the back of your head

  • Both hands over your closed eyes 

  • One hand on your chest and one hand on your belly.

  • GIving yourself in a gentle hug

  • Let the full weight of your hands settle onto your body without pressing down hard.

Awareness

• Notice the temperature difference

• Notice where your hands end and your body begins

• Repeat to yourself a grounding phrase, such as: "I am safe," or "I can rest."

• Stay here for 1 to 2 minutes.

Finish the exercise

• Slowly slide your hands away from the  body

• Rest your hands by your side

• Gently open your eyes, take in your surroundings

Is Somatics for Me?

Yes! Somatic Therapy is relatively easy to practice, and anyone can try it. Even if you find the exercises challenging and like they didn’t work, the feedback you get from somatic therapy can be helpful for many people, especially those that may feel overwhelmed by anxiety, tense with stress, or disconnected from their body.

To learn more about Somatic Therapy, or to experience a therapist-guided somatic exercise, contact us.

Kristy Correll, LMSW, integrates somatic and mind-body approaches that can help alongside talk therapy. Schedule a free consultation or learn more on Kristy Correll's profile .

Kristy is available in person in Ann Arbor, Michigan or via telehealth.