Reconnect to Your Body: An Introduction to Somatic Movement and Breathwork
/Do you live in your head? Do you feel disconnected from your body? Do you feel ungrounded?
This fast-paced world easily detaches you from your physical self and pushes you into stressed-out living.
Your body holds onto experiences, storing unprocessed emotion as chronic tension and anxiety.
Are you feeling stressed out? Do you feel the need to release stored stress and emotions? Do you feel the need to return to your wholeness and cultivate an internal awareness that heals the body-mind connection?
Somatic movement and breathwork offer a powerful pathway home to your body. Unlike traditional exercise, somatic practices aren't about burning calories; instead, they cultivate a calm connection to your body and internal awareness that heals the mind-body connection.
Let’s look at how these embodied practices work to restore balance.
What is Somatic Movement?
The root word "soma" means the living body experienced from within. Therefore, somatic movement is a movement practice that emphasizes your internal physical perception and experience.
Rather than forcing your body into a pose or mindlessly counting reps, somatic exercises encourage you to move slowly and mindfully with conscious attention that helps you re-educate the brain, allowing it to release areas of chronic amnesia and tightness.
The Role of Somatic Breathwork
Your breath is the most direct bridge to your autonomic nervous system. While we breathe automatically, somatic breathwork involves using conscious breathing patterns to influence how you feel.
When stressed, your breathing becomes shallow and rapid, keeping you stuck in "fight-or-flight." Somatic breathwork uses specific techniques—like deep belly breathing or connected circular breathing—to signal safety to the brain. By focusing on the feeling of the breath moving through you, you can shift your nervous system into a restorative "rest-and-digest" state.
The Benefits of an Embodied Practice
When you combine gentle somatic movement with intentional breathwork, you create a holistic environment for healing. These practices complement each other by:
Regulating the Nervous System: Shift out of chronic stress states into calm present-moment awareness.
Releasing Trapped Tension by gently unwinding tightness in the neck, shoulders, hips, and jaw.
Processing Emotions: Create a safe internal space for difficult feelings to surface and move through you without judgment.
Restore Vitality: Clear energetic blocks, leaving you feeling more grounded and energized.
Listen to Your Body’s Story
Somatic healing teaches you to listen to the wisdom held in the body. By slowing down and tuning in through gentle movement and breath, you can access a calmer, deeper sense of self.
