Somatic Healing for Trauma, Exercises and Practices

Healing from trauma isn’t only about talking through painful memories. Sometimes, words aren’t enough because trauma often lives in the body. This is where somatic therapy and somatic healing become powerful. They focus on reconnecting with your body to release stress, tension, and emotions that may be “trapped” inside.

Whether you’re searching for somatic healing near me, exploring somatic therapy London, or just curious about different approaches like somatic yoga near me or somatic breathwork, this guide will explain everything step by step.

What Is Somatic Therapy?

At its core, somatic therapy is a type of body-based healing therapy. Instead of focusing only on thoughts and emotions, it works with body sensations, breathing, and movement.

So, what is somatic therapy for trauma?

It’s a way of helping people release the physical and emotional tension left behind by stressful or traumatic experiences. When the body stores these experiences, they can show up as muscle tightness, fatigue, or even chronic pain.

Many people ask, how does somatic therapy work?

It works by calming the somatic nervous system, which controls our fight, flight, and freeze responses. By doing exercises like grounding, breathing, or movement, the nervous system learns to relax. This process is often called somatic release.

In short: somatic therapy helps people reconnect with their body, feel safe again, and gently process unresolved trauma.

Different Types of Somatic Therapy

There isn’t just one way to practice this; there are several approaches, sometimes called the 3 types of somatic therapy:

Somatic experiencing therapy near me – focuses on slowing down, noticing body sensations, and releasing stress gradually.

Somatic movement therapy – uses mindful movements to restore physical and emotional balance.

Somatic breathing or somatic breathwork – practices that regulate breathing to calm the body and mind.

Somatic Exercises to Try at Home

If you’re wondering, how to do somatic therapy on your own, here are some simple somatic exercises:

Grounding: Stand or sit with your feet firmly on the floor. Feel the support beneath you. This helps the body feel safe.

Breath awareness: Practice slow, deep somatic breathing. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Notice how your body relaxes.

Body scan: Close your eyes and notice areas of tension or ease. Just observing these sensations can release stress.

Somatic exercises to release trauma: Gentle shaking, stretching, or even applying deep pressure therapy (like hugging a pillow) can help regulate the nervous system.

Many people ask, what is somatic exercise? or what are somatic exercises? In simple words, they are movements and practices that bring awareness to the body and help release built-up stress.

Somatic Therapy and Memory

An important concept is somatic memory. Sometimes, the body “remembers” trauma even when the mind has forgotten. This can appear as somatic pain, physical pain that doesn’t have a clear medical cause but is linked to past emotional experiences.

By addressing the body directly, somatic approaches allow people to process this somatic experience safely. Over time, these methods can reduce both emotional distress and physical discomfort.

Somatic practices remind us that healing doesn’t just happen in the mind. It happens in the body too. By combining approaches like somatic yoga, somatic pilates, somatic stretching, and somatic movement therapy, you can release stored tension and rebuild a sense of safety.

If you’ve ever wondered about the somatic meaning, it simply refers to the connection between body and mind.