20 Somatic Practices to Help You Heal and Reconnect with Your Body
One of the things I love most about somatic work as a somatic therapist is that there are so many was to weave these healing practices into your life and many of them are free or offer multiple ways to integrate them. Somatic therapy is powerful but it is definitely not the only way to bring mind-body healing into your life and, in fact, having practices outside of therapy to foster embodiment and wellbeing can make your time in therapy more powerful.
What Makes This Somatic Work?
So below is a list of practices to help you bring somatic practices into your daily life. Here are some important steps that make these things somatic practices and opposed to just enjoyable activities.
Check in with your body beforehand. Scan your body noticing any sensations you can notice (cool, warmth, stillness, tingle, relaxation, tension, etc.)
Attend to the present moment. Pay attention to shapes, patterns, smells, sounds, colors, light, and the physical feels of connection, texture, weight, etc. Stay connected using all of your senses and notice where your body is in space and how it is moving through space.
Notice what goes on in your body during and after especially any pleasant sensations. If there are no pleasant sensations see if you can notice any neutral sensations (those can be really good sensations as well.) Also notice if there is a reduction in unpleasant sensations or a release in tension.
See if these shifts in your physical state create any shifts in your emotional state, perception, or thoughts.
Movement
Mindful walking- go out around your neighborhood, to a park, to a trail, or anywhere that could be a safe enough and pleasant walking space and notice everything from shapes to colors to sounds to the movement of your limbs through space and your feet touching the ground.
Yoga- it is so important who is guiding you through your yoga practice and that they are an instructor who honors the cultural roots and legacy of yoga as well as approaches yoga from a liberatory and anti-oppressive perspective. I really appreciate the work of Susanna Barkataki if you want to learn more about what all that means.
Walking and counting- walk around any space (your office, apartment, a park) and walk while counting backwards from 10, repeat this as many times as you want almost like a meditation. You can sync up your counting with your breathing if you would like.
Press the wall- stand near a wall, facing it, and place your palms flat against the wall as if you are about to do a wall push up then press against the wall as hard as is comfortable or feels good for you. You can choose to put your legs into the motion or apply lighter pressure. This is great for engaging your sense of proprioception
Ecstatic dancing- this is just free form dancing where the focus is not on having great moves or rhythm but simply moving your body in ways that feel good, embodying the beat of the music and sounds, and moving vigorously. There are many forms of cultural dance including dance from different regions of Africa and South American and Indigenous American dances that function in this way as well as African-American dance traditions. This is great for releasing built up tension if your nervous system is in a high zone or generating energy if you feel like your nervous system is in a low zone.
Nature Based
Grounding-You can definitely do grounding inside if that is more accessible during any given moment but the practice can be particularly powerful outside. Kick off your shoes and let your feet actually touch grass, soil, sand, or earth. Notice the feeling of your feet on the ground and what it is like to be supported by the earth beneath you.
Touching nature- Get outside and let your hands make contact with nature. Gently touch or brush leaves or a flower, place your hand against a tree, or hold a stone in your hand. Pay particular attention to the texture, weight, feel, and shape of whatever you are touching.
Plant care and gardening- Whether you have space for a full blown garden or a couple of potted plants by your window, slow down you plant care time. Take time to touch your plants or the soil, notice shapes and colors, and notice what it feels like to be nurturing something that is alive.
Creativity and Art
For all of these practices the focus is not on creating something that is going to be pretty or aesthetically pleasing. The focus is the process. The benefit is coming from moving your hands, fingers, or arms, paying attention to what is going on in the body, focusing on what you are creating so that your whole mind and body can get engaged.
Drawing resources- choose something that has been connecting you will wellbeing recently, a place, a moment, a memory, an experience, a person, or anything and draw an image of it. Use colors that represent the way you feel when engaging with this resource and think about the resources as your draw. Meditate and reflect on it. You can also choose to put your drawings somewhere where you can look over them when you need a boost of wellbeing.
Resource photography- choose a day, a week, or a time of day and take photos of any places, moments, experiences, people, or anything connecting you with wellbeing from a cup of tea or coffee you really enjoy to a park you enjoy passing by and then put them in a folder that you can look over whenever you want to reflect on resources.
Bilateral drawing- sit in a comfortable position with a piece of paper in front of you and a pencil, pen, or marker in each hand. Move both hands together making marks on the paper at the same time. Don’t worry about the image you are creating just focus on the process and experiment with different pressures, colors, paces of drawing, direction, and allow your hands to move in a way that feels rhythmic.
Finger painting- connect with your inner child and get your hands and fingers dirty. Grab some skin-safe pain and a piece of paper and use a method similar to bilateral drawing. You can choose to create a specific image or not but focus on experimenting with colors, shapes, patterns, pressure, and speed.
Shaping clay- grab some air dry clay and begin playing with it. Squish it, squeeze it, notice what shapes and motions are pleasant for you, mold it into shapes that are appealing to you. If you would like you can also choose to paint it afterwards.
Communal
Communal dancing- Find your safe space whether that is a club, gathering space, dance class, your living room with friends, or an impromptu dance party with your kids or family and move your body to some music. This brings you all the benefits of dancing for your nervous system plus some co-regulation benefits as well.
Communal singing- go to a concert, join a choir, go to karaoke, or attend a religious or spiritual service that involves singing. Singing itself is regulating and can help us to process and express deep emotions. Singing with others provides our nervous system with a deep sense of connection with others and supports us through co-regulation as well.
Community organizing or activism- community organizing and activism allows you to physically embody and live into your values. Just like other practices to make it somatic focus on spaces and gathering that give you a sense of security (like the security of being around other people who share values of justice and liberation) and focus on what is going on in the body, any pleasant sensation, and being present in the moment.
Resource together- When you are with family, friends, or a group of others direct the conversation to one of these questions “What has been connecting you with wellbeing lately?” “What has been connecting you with joy lately?” As people share pay attention to their facial expressions and body language and notice what goes on in your own body.
Extended (30 minutes or more)
Somatic journaling- bring your body into your journaling. As you process different thoughts and emotions, whether you are gratitude journaling or free form writing out your thoughts, pay close attention to sensations in the body. Notice what brings up sensations of wellbeing, sensations of distress, and what additional thoughts and insights come up as your notice those sensations.
Go for a float- If you have access to a pool, lake, or any body of water that is safe to float in or you have a float spa nearby then going for a float can be meditative and so supportive for regulation and your nervous system.
Parts check in- A parts check in, especially one that is somatically based, can be a great way to connect mind and body. You can find detailed instructions on how to do that here.
