Somatic Yoga is a gentle way to move that helps you feel better in your body. What is Somatic Yoga? It is a practice focusing on the feeling inside your body as you move, rather than how a pose looks from the outside. Can I do it? Yes! It is perfect for everyone, especially beginners and those with pain or stiffness. Who is it for? It helps people who want to move more freely, reduce pain, or simply feel more at home in their bodies.
This guide will show you how to start practicing simple Somatic Yoga movements. These are often called somatic movements for beginners. They help you learn to sense and control your muscles better.
Image Source: somatics.org
Why Try Somatic Yoga?
There are many good reasons to try Somatic Yoga. These are often called the benefits of somatic practices.
- Less Pain: It helps relax muscles that stay tight. This can give Somatics pain relief.
- Move Easier: You learn to use your muscles in a more balanced way. This makes moving around feel better.
- Feel Your Body: It teaches you gentle body awareness. You notice what your body feels like without judging it.
- Calm Your Mind: Focusing on feeling your body helps quiet busy thoughts. It’s a connecting mind and body exercise.
- Heal from Stress: The slow, safe movements can help the nervous system calm down. This can be helpful as a kind of trauma release yoga.
- Better Balance: You sense where your body is in space more clearly.
Somatic Yoga is different from regular yoga. Regular yoga often focuses on stretching or holding poses. Somatic Yoga is about the process of moving slowly and feeling what happens inside your muscles.
Core Ideas of Somatic Yoga
Somatic Yoga comes from the work of Thomas Hanna. He created something called Hanna Somatic Education. A key idea in Somatic Yoga is something called “pandiculation.”
Think about a cat or dog waking up. They stretch slowly, arching and then releasing their back. That’s pandiculation. You gently tighten a muscle, slowly lengthen it while feeling it, and then completely release it. This helps your brain regain control over muscles that have forgotten how to relax.
Most of us have tight spots we don’t even know about. These tight muscles can cause pain or make us feel stiff. Somatic movements help wake up the brain’s connection to these muscles. This teaches them how to relax again.
Getting Ready to Start
You don’t need much to start Somatic Yoga.
- Quiet Space: Find a spot where you won’t be bothered.
- Comfortable Clothes: Wear clothes you can easily move in.
- Soft Surface: A yoga mat or a rug works well.
- Pillow or Blanket: Good to have nearby for head support if needed.
You will do these movements lying down on your back. This helps your body feel fully supported.
Simple Somatic Movements for Beginners
These movements are slow and small. The most important thing is how it feels inside your body. Do not push or strain. If something hurts, make the movement smaller or don’t do it.
Start with just a few repeats of each movement. Focus on the feeling as you slowly tighten, slowly release, and then fully relax.
Movement 1: The Back Wave (Arch & Flatten)
This movement helps the muscles in your back and front learn to relax.
- Step 1: Lie on your back. Your knees are bent. Your feet are flat on the floor. Your arms are by your sides.
- Step 2: Gently arch your lower back. Lift your tailbone slightly off the floor. Tip your pubic bone away from your nose. Feel the muscles in your back working a little bit.
- Step 3: Slowly, slowly flatten your lower back onto the floor. Gently tip your pubic bone towards your nose. Feel the muscles in your front belly working a little bit. Let your tailbone lift just a tiny bit.
- Step 4: Go back and forth between the gentle arch and the gentle flatten. Do this very slowly. Pay attention to how your back and belly feel.
- Step 5: Do this 3-5 times.
- Step 6: Rest completely. Lie flat for a few moments. Notice the feeling in your back and belly. Does one side feel different from the other?
Movement 2: The Side Reach (Side Bend)
This helps the muscles on the sides of your body relax. These often get tight from sitting or standing.
- Step 1: Lie on your back. Your knees are bent. Your feet are flat on the floor. Arms by your sides.
- Step 2: Keep your legs still. Very gently, reach your right hand down towards your right foot. This will make your right side shorten a little. Feel the muscles on your right side working.
- Step 3: Slowly, slowly return to the middle. Feel the right side muscles letting go.
- Step 4: Gently reach your left hand down towards your left foot. This shortens your left side. Feel the muscles on your left side working.
- Step 5: Slowly, slowly return to the middle. Feel the left side muscles letting go.
- Step 6: Go back and forth between reaching right and reaching left. Do it slowly. Feel the sides of your body. Does one side feel tighter?
- Step 7: Do this 3-5 times on each side.
- Step 8: Rest completely. Notice the feeling in your sides.
Movement 3: The Hip and Leg Turn (Pelvic Tilts and Turns)
This movement helps relax the muscles in your hips and lower back.
- Step 1: Lie on your back. Your knees are bent. Your feet are flat on the floor. Arms by your sides.
- Step 2: Keep your knees together. Gently let both knees fall a little bit to the right side. Your feet might lift on the left edge. Keep your left shoulder on the floor. Feel the twist in your belly and hip.
- Step 3: Slowly, slowly bring your knees back to the middle.
- Step 4: Gently let both knees fall a little bit to the left side. Your feet might lift on the right edge. Keep your right shoulder on the floor. Feel the twist in your belly and hip.
- Step 5: Slowly, slowly bring your knees back to the middle.
- Step 6: Go back and forth, letting the knees fall a little to each side. Do it slowly. Feel the muscles in your waist and hips working and letting go.
- Step 7: Do this 3-5 times on each side.
- Step 8: Rest completely. Notice the feeling in your hips and lower back.
Movement 4: The Head Turn with Opposite Leg Bend (Proprioceptive Rolling)
This helps connect the movement of your head, neck, and hips.
- Step 1: Lie on your back. Your knees are bent. Your feet are flat on the floor. Arms by your sides.
- Step 2: Gently turn your head to the right side. As you turn your head, slowly straighten your left leg out along the floor.
- Step 3: Slowly, slowly return your head to the middle and bend your left knee back up.
- Step 4: Gently turn your head to the left side. As you turn your head, slowly straighten your right leg out along the floor.
- Step 5: Slowly, slowly return your head to the middle and bend your right knee back up.
- Step 6: Go back and forth between turning head right/straightening left leg, and turning head left/straightening right leg. Do it slowly. Feel how the movement travels through your body.
- Step 7: Do this 3-5 times on each side.
- Step 8: Rest completely. Notice how your neck, back, and legs feel connected.
Movement 5: The Arm & Leg Lift (Diagonal Movement)
This helps connect movement across the body.
- Step 1: Lie on your back. Your knees are bent. Your feet are flat on the floor. Arms by your sides.
- Step 2: Gently lift your right arm straight up towards the ceiling. Lift your left leg with the knee bent a little bit off the floor. Do not lift them high. Just enough to feel the muscles work.
- Step 3: Slowly, slowly lower your right arm and left leg back down at the same time.
- Step 4: Gently lift your left arm straight up towards the ceiling. Lift your right leg with the knee bent a little bit off the floor.
- Step 5: Slowly, slowly lower your left arm and right leg back down.
- Step 6: Go back and forth, lifting the opposite arm and leg. Do it slowly. Feel the connection from your arm across your body to your opposite leg.
- Step 7: Do this 3-5 times on each side.
- Step 8: Rest completely. Notice the feeling across your body.
Resting Between Movements
Rest is very important in Somatic Yoga. After each movement, lie still for a few moments. This downtime allows your brain and body to fully sense what just happened. It helps the learning sink in.
Notice where you feel contact with the floor. Is it different after the movement? Do you feel more relaxed anywhere?
Applying Somatic Ideas to Mindful Yoga Poses
Once you get the hang of somatic movements, you can bring these ideas into other activities, like regular yoga poses. This creates mindful yoga poses.
Instead of just trying to get into a shape, focus on:
- How you feel: What sensations are in your muscles?
- Gentle Movement: Can you move into the pose more slowly?
- Finding Comfort: Can you adjust the pose so it feels easeful, not strained?
- Breathing: How does your breath connect with the movement?
For example, in a simple pose like Cat-Cow:
- Instead of quickly rounding and arching, move very, very slowly.
- Feel each part of your spine as it moves.
- Notice which muscles tighten as you arch and which tighten as you round.
- Can you make the movement smoother by letting muscles release gently?
By focusing on the inner feeling, any yoga pose can become a somatic practice.
Using Somatics for Pain Relief
Many people find Somatics pain relief. Chronic pain often comes from muscles that are stuck in a tight state. The brain has lost its ability to fully relax them.
Somatic movements help remind the brain how to release these muscles. By doing the slow, conscious movements, you teach your nervous system to let go of holding patterns.
- Lower Back Pain: The Back Wave and Hip & Leg Turn movements can be very helpful.
- Neck and Shoulder Pain: Movements that involve gentle head turns and shoulder rolls can help. (We focused on lying down movements here, but seated or standing somatic movements also exist).
- Hip Pain: The Hip & Leg Turn helps free the hip joint.
Always move gently. If a movement makes pain worse, stop or make it much, much smaller. The goal is to feel less pain over time as muscles learn to relax.
Somatics as Restorative Movement Therapy
Somatic Yoga can be seen as a type of restorative movement therapy. It helps restore natural, easy movement patterns. It’s not about making you stronger or more flexible in a forceful way. It’s about helping your nervous system reset how it controls your muscles.
This resetting helps the body heal and regain its ability to move freely. It can be very helpful for people recovering from injury, dealing with chronic conditions, or just feeling stiff from daily life.
Somatics and Trauma Release
The gentle, self-focused nature of Somatic Yoga can be very supportive for trauma release yoga. Trauma can cause the nervous system to get stuck in “fight or flight” mode. This often leads to chronic muscle tension and a feeling of not being safe in one’s own body.
Somatic practice offers a safe way to:
- Feel Present: Focus on the body in the here and now, not stuck in the past.
- Build Safety: Learn that gentle movement can feel safe and comfortable.
- Release Tension: The slow movements can help release held tension patterns linked to stress and trauma.
- Empowerment: You are in control of the movements. You decide how small or large to make them. You learn to listen to your body’s signals.
This kind of gentle body awareness, done at your own pace, can be a powerful tool for healing the nervous system.
Telling Somatics Apart from Feldenkrais
Sometimes people wonder about Feldenkrais vs Somatics. Both methods are wonderful for improving movement and body awareness. They share some ideas, but they are different.
- Hanna Somatic Education (Somatics): Developed by Thomas Hanna. It focuses a lot on the concept of “sensory-motor amnesia” (muscles forgetting how to relax). The main technique is pandiculation – the gentle contract, lengthen while resisting, and release. It often focuses on specific muscle groups or reflexes that tend to get tight.
- Feldenkrais Method: Developed by Moshe Feldenkrais. It involves “Awareness Through Movement” lessons. These are often more varied, complex sequences of small movements. The focus is on exploring different ways of moving and finding easier, more efficient patterns. It’s less about specific muscles and more about the whole pattern of movement.
Think of it this way: Somatics often helps you release chronic muscle tension. Feldenkrais helps you discover new, easier ways to move your whole self. Both are gentle and focus on internal feeling, but they have different approaches and movement lessons. This guide focuses on Hanna Somatics ideas applied to simple movements.
Tips for Your Practice
- Go Slow: This is the most important rule. Slower is always better in Somatic Yoga.
- Feel, Don’t Force: Pay attention to the sensations inside your body. Do not try to achieve a certain look or depth of movement.
- Less is More: Small, gentle movements are more effective than big, forceful ones.
- Rest Often: Use the rest periods to integrate the feeling.
- Be Patient: It takes time for the brain to learn new habits. Practice regularly.
- Listen to Your Body: If something feels wrong or painful, stop.
Table: Comparing Gentle Practices
Let’s look at how Somatic Yoga fits with other gentle movement ideas.
| Feature | Somatic Yoga (Hanna Somatics) | Gentle Yoga (Basic) | Feldenkrais Method | Restorative Yoga (Basic) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main Goal | Release chronic tension, regain control | Gentle movement, body awareness | Explore movement options, efficiency | Relaxation, healing, nervous system |
| Core Technique | Pandiculation (contract, lengthen, release) | Gentle poses, breath, stretching | Varied movement sequences | Supported poses, rest, breath |
| Focus | Internal sensation, muscle control | Outer shape & inner feeling | Movement patterns, options | Comfort, letting go, stillness |
| Pace | Very Slow | Slow to Medium | Varied, often slow | Very Slow, Still Holds |
| Ideal for | Pain relief, stiffness, chronic tension | Beginners, general wellness | Improving movement skills | Stress, fatigue, recovery |
Somatic Yoga’s specific focus on pandiculation for releasing stuck muscles makes it unique. But it shares the gentle, internal focus found in mindful yoga and restorative practices. It is a great form of restorative movement therapy.
How Often Should You Practice?
Even a little bit of practice helps.
- For Beginners: Try doing 10-15 minutes a few times a week.
- For Pain Relief: Daily practice can be very helpful.
- To Feel Better: Fit it in whenever you can. Even 5 minutes of mindful movement makes a difference.
Consistency is more important than how long you practice each time. Your brain learns through repeated gentle signals.
FAQ Section
Here are answers to common questions beginners ask.
h4: Can I do Somatic Yoga if I have pain?
Yes, many people start Somatic Yoga specifically because they have pain. The movements are very gentle. You move slowly and only within a range that feels okay for you. The goal is to reduce pain over time by helping your muscles relax. Always listen to your body and stop if a movement makes pain worse.
h4: Is Somatic Yoga the same as stretching?
No, it is different. Stretching pulls muscles longer. Somatic movements involve gently contracting and then slowly releasing muscles. This re-educates the brain and nervous system. It helps muscles remember how to let go on their own. Stretching can be helpful, but it does not teach the brain to regain control in the same way pandiculation does.
h4: Do I need special equipment?
No. A comfortable surface like a yoga mat or soft rug is all you need. Wearing clothes you can move easily in is helpful. Some people like a small pillow for their head when lying on their back.
h4: How long does it take to feel results?
Some people feel a difference right away, like feeling more relaxed or less stiff. For longer-lasting changes, like pain relief, it takes regular practice over weeks or months. Your brain needs time to learn and change muscle habits. Be patient with yourself.
h4: Can Somatic Yoga help with posture?
Yes! Poor posture is often caused by muscles that are chronically tight. For example, tight belly muscles can cause you to slouch. Somatic movements help release these tight spots. As muscles relax and learn to work together better, your posture can naturally improve with less effort.
h4: Is Somatic Yoga a workout?
No, it is not like going to the gym or doing a strong exercise class. It is about control and awareness, not strength or endurance. You might feel some gentle effort as you contract muscles, but you should not feel tired or sore afterwards. It is a nervous system practice more than a muscle-building one.
h4: Where can I learn more movements?
There are books, videos, and teachers who offer Hanna Somatic Education or Somatic Yoga classes. Starting with the basic movements here is a great first step. Finding a qualified teacher can be very helpful if you have specific pain or issues you want to work on.
Conclusion
Somatic Yoga is a wonderful way to reconnect with your body. By using somatic movements for beginners, you start a journey of gentle body awareness. This practice is a true connecting mind and body exercise. It can lead to Somatics pain relief and help you move with more ease and comfort.
Whether you are new to movement, dealing with pain, or just want to feel more present in your body, Somatic Yoga offers simple, powerful steps. Start slow, listen to your body, and enjoy the process of discovering how good it feels to move from the inside out. It is a valuable restorative movement therapy for anyone seeking greater freedom and well-being.