8 Morning Somatic Exercises For A Full Body Workout

How you begin your day sets the tone for everything that follows. Instead of jolting your system with an intense workout or hitting the snooze button one more time, what if you could gently awaken your body and mind from the inside out?

This gentle approach is the promise of a morning somatic routine. The somatic practice can reconnect your mind with your body, release overnight stiffness, and prepare you for the day with newfound ease and control.

Somatic exercises are not about pushing through pain or achieving a specific look. 

As pioneering educator Thomas Hanna, author of Somatics, explained, the goal is to “re-awaken the mind’s control of movement, flexibility, and health (1).” 

It’s a process of internal exploration. You learn to sense and release habitual muscle tension that you might not even know you’re holding.

What are invigorating morning somatic exercises?

This guide will walk you through a complete morning somatic sequence, drawing on principles from Hanna, his mentor Moshe Feldenkrais, and other somatic experts to create a powerful start to your day.

What Time Of Day Is Best For Somatic Exercises?

While you can practice somatic exercises any time, the morning is arguably an ideal time to do them. After a night of relative stillness, the body can feel stiff and disconnected. A morning somatic session acts as a gentle “reboot” for your nervous system, priming your muscles and mind for the day’s activities.

Pioneers like Moshe Feldenkrais, creator of the Feldenkrais Method®, and Thomas Hanna, who developed Clinical Somatic Education, emphasized the importance of slow, conscious movement to retrain ingrained motor patterns (2, 3). Your nervous system learns best when it’s not rushed.

In the morning, before the demands of the day take over, you have a unique opportunity to create a quiet space for this focused, internal listening. This quiet time allows you to dissolve stiffness from sleep and establish more efficient, comfortable movement patterns you can carry with you all day long.

Do Morning Somatic Workouts Actually Work?

Yes, morning somatic workouts are highly effective precisely because they work with your nervous system rather than just your muscles. 

The core mechanism is sensorimotor re-education (4). You are teaching your brain to release chronic, involuntary muscle contraction, which is what Thomas Hanna called “sensory-motor amnesia (5).” 

Instead of passively stretching a tight muscle, you actively engage it, then slowly and consciously release it. This process, known as pandiculation, recalibrates the baseline tension level set by your brain (6). Yawning is one example.

The result is a release that is deeper and more lasting than what you might get from a typical stretch. Even a short 15-minute session can create noticeable changes in your posture, breathing, and overall sense of ease.

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A few key benefits of morning somatic workouts include (7, 8):

• Reduced Stiffness and Pain: By resetting your muscles’ resting tone, you can alleviate chronic tightness in the back, neck, and hips.
• Improved Posture and Coordination: You’ll stand taller and move with more grace and efficiency as your body rediscovers its natural alignment.
• Increased Body Awareness: The somatic practice enhances your ability to sense what’s happening inside your body, helping you prevent future strain and injury.

For a deeper dive into cultivating this state of quiet awareness, you should learn more about morning meditation.

Read more: Somatic Pilates For Weight Loss: Body-Aware Movement For A Leaner, Stronger You

Who Benefits Most From Morning Somatic Routines?

Nearly everyone can benefit from a morning somatic routine, as it addresses the universal patterns of tension that accumulate from daily life. 

However, certain groups may find it particularly transformative.

• Desk Workers: Somatic routines counteract the effects of prolonged sitting, such as a tight lower back, rounded shoulders, and a stiff neck (9).
• Athletes: Enhances body control, improves coordination, and accelerates recovery by releasing compensatory tension patterns that can lead to injury.
• Morning somatic exercises for seniors: Offers a safe and gentle way to maintain mobility, improve balance, and alleviate the aches and pains often associated with aging (10).
• Morning somatic exercises for beginners: Provides an accessible entry point into mindful movement without requiring special equipment or a high level of fitness. It’s a perfect starting point for building a mind-body connection.
• People with Chronic Tension: Anyone experiencing persistent headaches, back pain, or generalized stiffness can use these movements to address the root cause: learned muscular contraction (7).

A crucial principle, emphasized by Lawrence Gold in his Guidebook of Somatic Transformational Exercises, is the importance of working “gently enough to be comfortable.” 

Somatic practice is not about focusing on “no pain, no gain” (11). If you feel sharp pain, reduce the range of motion or stop. The goal is exploration, not strain.

Which Exercises Work Best For Waking Up The Body?

A great morning somatic sequence flows from breath to full-body integration, waking your system in a logical, supportive way. 

The following 8 exercises, adapted from Lawrence Gold’s guidebook and the principles of Hanna Somatics, create a complete workout that will leave you feeling open, coordinated, and ready for your day. Go slowly, and remember the goal is to feel the movement from within.

1. Preparation for Breathing Maneuvers

This initial exercise calms your nervous system and brings awareness to your breath, the foundation of all movement. It helps you distinguish between passive, automatic breathing and active, deliberate control.

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
2. Simply notice your natural breathing for 5 slow cycles, without trying to change it.
3. Begin to regulate your pace: inhale for 6 seconds, hold the air in for 2 seconds.
4. Exhale for 6 seconds, then hold the breath for 3 seconds.
5. Inhale for 6 seconds, hold for 4 seconds. Exhale for 6 seconds, hold for 5 seconds.
6. Inhale for 6 seconds, hold for 6 seconds.
7. Rest and return to your natural breathing, noticing any changes.

2. Arch & Curl

This fundamental somatic movement, taught by Thomas Hanna, integrates the muscles on the front and back of your torso. It helps release tension in the lower back and abdominals, 2 areas that are often tight from stress and sitting (12).

1. From the previous position, interlace your fingers and place your hands behind your neck, with elbows wide on the floor.
2. Arch: As you inhale, gently arch your lower back, pressing your elbows, head, and tailbone into the floor. Feel your back muscles engage.
3. Curl: Begin to exhale and flatten your back. Bring your elbows together, then point them toward your knees as you lift your head. Exhale completely.
4. While curled, take a full breath in.
5. As you continue to inhale, slowly lower yourself back down, spreading your elbows and returning to the arch.
6. Repeat the cycle 4-5 times, moving more gently with each repetition.

3. Freeing The Ribs (Version A)

Your ribs play a massive role in breathing (13), but they often become locked and immobile. 

This movement uses gentle pressure to remind your ribcage of its capacity to expand in all directions.

1. Lie on your side with your knees bent. Tuck your elbow under the side of your ribs (at the soft part of your waist).
2. Drape your other arm over, grasping the triceps of your underarm. Tuck the foot of your topside leg behind the ankle of the underside leg.
3. As you inhale, feel your ribs expand into your elbow. Pause and feel the sensation.
4. Slowly exhale and sink onto your arm, allowing your torso and top shoulder to relax and roll slightly forward.
5. Repeat 4-5 times.
6. Before switching, roll onto your back and notice the difference in breathing capacity between your two sides. Then, repeat on the other side.

4. Rolling and Unrolling Your Shoulders

This exercise coordinates your shoulder, neck, and eye movements with your breath, releasing deep-seated tension in the upper back and chest. 

This move is a powerful antidote to “computer posture.”

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and together, arms out to your sides at shoulder level with palms up.
2. As you exhale completely, roll your arms so your palms face down. Simultaneously, look strongly toward the tip of your nose and lift your head slightly.
3. As you inhale completely, roll your arms so your palms face up. Simultaneously, look upward toward the root of your nose, the area between your eyebrows, then lower your head, tipping it back.
4. Repeat this sequence slowly 4 more times.
5. After the last repetition, inhale and hold your breath.
6. Compress the air by tightening your belly, then gradually relax your belly while compressing with your chest. Feel the air move.
7. Relax and breathe normally.

5. Advanced Low Back Release

This movement retrains the relationship between your lower back, buttocks, and hamstrings. It’s an excellent way to release deep lumbar tension and improve pelvic mobility.

1. Lie on your back with your knees up and about 3 inches apart. Grasp each knee from the front.
2. Push your knees into your hands by arching your lower back. At the same time, inhale and gently shrug your shoulders. Feel how all these actions are connected.
3. Relax the push and exhale as you slowly draw your knees toward your chest. Keep a light tension between your arms and legs.
4. As you draw your knees in, alternately tense and relax your low back muscles in a subtle pulsing motion.
5. When your legs are near your chest, lift your head slightly, then lower it.
6. Reposition your hands above your knees. Pull your legs in as you push them away, slowly extending them until they are straight and on the floor.
7. Stretch your arms overhead and feel the length you’ve created. Repeat 2-3 times.

6. Gaining More Freedom of Thigh Movement

This subtle exploration on all fours is fantastic for releasing the adductors (inner thigh muscles) and improving hip mobility. It’s a preparatory movement that unlocks deeper freedom in the pelvis.

1. Start on your hands and knees, with your knees spread slightly.
2. Put your weight onto one knee.
3. Very slowly, move your other knee about 1 inch to the side, using your abdominal muscles to control the movement and prevent a sudden drop.
4. Bring the knee down and feel your body sag and relax. You might feel a gentle stretch in your inner thigh.
5. Repeat this process, inching your knees wider apart until you reach a comfortable limit.
6. Slowly reverse the process, bringing your knees back to the starting position.
7. Lie on your back and rest, sensing the new openness in your hips.

7. Freeing Your S-I (Sacro-Iliac) Joints

The S-I joints, where your spine meets your pelvis, are a common source of lower back pain. This twisting movement gently mobilizes them, releasing stiffness throughout the entire spinal column.

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet spread wide (about double shoulder width). Place your arms back, elbows bent at 90 degrees.
2. Lift the hip of your “active side” by planting your foot and pushing your knee forward. You should feel a stretch in the front of that hip.
3. Keeping the hip lifted, slowly drop the knee toward the center. Keep your other leg stable.
4. As your knee drops, turn your head toward the active side and press the shoulder of that same side down.
5. Allow your active hip to return to the floor.
6. Slowly roll your knee back to the upright starting position.
7. Repeat this circular knee motion 5 times, then switch sides.

8. The Amazing Walking Miracle (Supine Prep)

This exercise, named for its profound effect on gait, coordinates the diagonal connection between your leg and opposite shoulder. It’s the final step in preparing your body to walk with effortless grace.

1. Lie on your back with your legs straight and toes pointing up.
2. Bring your attention to your right foot. Bend it toward your knee as you point the toes of your left foot away. Relax. Repeat 5 times.
3. Now, lift your right leg slightly off the floor, feeling the movement originate from your core. Lower it slowly. Repeat 5 times.
4. Bring your attention to your left arm. Lift the arm and shoulder “forward” off the floor, as if taking a step. Lower it slowly. Repeat 5 times.
5. Combine the movements: slowly lift your right leg and left arm/shoulder at the same time. Synchronize the movement. Lower them together.
6. Repeat 5 times, then switch to coordinate your left leg with your right arm/shoulder.

Many of these gentle movements can occur first thing in the morning as somatic exercises in bed.

Read more: Somatic Awareness Practices: Simple Ways to Strengthen the Mind-Body Connection

How Long Should A Morning Somatic Session Last?

A morning somatic session can last anywhere from 10-30 minutes. 

The key is quality, not quantity. Because the movements are slow, they allow the nervous system to learn, and even 10-15 minutes are highly effective. 

This time-efficiency factor makes these sessions one of the most efficient options for morning somatic exercises at home.

• For a minimalist routine, you might choose 3-4 core exercises, like Arch & Curl, Freeing the Ribs, and the S-I Joint release.
• A fuller 20-30 minute session, like the 8-exercise sequence above, provides a comprehensive full-body reset.

• For morning somatic exercises for seniors, starting with just 10 minutes and focusing on 2-3 movements is an excellent approach.

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Can You Do Somatic Exercises Before Breakfast?

Yes, it is fine (and often ideal) to do somatic exercises before breakfast. 

Practicing on an empty stomach can make movements involving the abdomen, like Arch & Curl, more comfortable. Your body is not busy digesting, allowing you to direct more energy and awareness toward internal sensations.

However, listen to your body. 

If you wake up feeling dizzy or have low blood sugar, a small snack, such as a few nuts or a small bowl of fruit, is a good idea. Always hydrate with water before you begin.

What’s The Easiest Way To Build A Morning Somatic Sessions Habit?

Building a new habit is less about willpower and more about smart strategy. 

Here are a few evidence-based tips to make your morning somatic practice stick.

• Start with a Tiny Habit

Instead of committing to a 30-minute workout, commit to just 5 minutes. 

A short somatic yoga routine is far less intimidating. The goal is to make showing up so easy that you can’t say no. Once you establish the habit, you can naturally extend the time.

• Use Habit Stacking

Link your new somatic routine to an existing morning habit. 

For example, “After I brush my teeth, I will roll out my mat for my somatic exercises.” 

The old habit becomes the cue for the new one, automating the process (14).

• Reduce Friction

Make it as easy as possible to start. 

Lay out your yoga mat and comfortable clothes the night before. 

If you have the space, create a dedicated corner in your room for your practice. 

The fewer steps between you and the habit, the more likely you are to do it.

• Link It to Your Identity

Frame the habit as part of who you are. Instead of thinking, “I have to do my exercises,” shift your mindset to “I am someone who starts my day with mindful movement.” 

When a habit becomes part of your identity, it no longer feels like a chore (15).

• Create a Cue-Routine-Reward Loop

Design a clear loop. The cue might be your alarm clock. The routine is your 8-exercise sequence. The reward could be the immediate feeling of openness and calm, or the first sip of your morning coffee right after you finish. 

A tangible reward is beneficial. This reinforces the positive feedback loop in your brain (15).

Starting with an invigorating sequence can set a positive tone for your entire day. 

If you’re looking for more ways to start your day with ease, explore the following options for a quick morning workout.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can you lose weight with somatic yoga?

While weight loss is not the primary goal, a consistent somatic practice can indirectly contribute to it. 

By reducing stress hormones like cortisol (linked to fat storage) (16, 17), improving body awareness, and enabling more comfortable and frequent movement, it supports a healthier lifestyle that can lead to weight management.

• How many times a week should I do somatic yoga?

For the best results, consistency is key. Daily practice is ideal, even if it’s just for 10-15 minutes. This reinforces the new neural pathways you are creating. A dedicated somatic yoga routine 3-5 times a week will also yield significant benefits in reducing chronic tension and improving movement (18).

• Should you do somatic yoga before bed?

Absolutely. While this article focuses on a morning routine, a gentle somatic sequence before bed is an excellent way to release the day’s stress, calm the nervous system, and prepare the body for restful sleep.

• How do I start somatic exercise?

The easiest way to start is to pick 1-2 simple exercises, such as the Arch & Curl or a basic breathing maneuver. Find a comfortable spot on the floor, close your eyes, and move as slowly as you can, paying full attention to the physical sensations of the movement. The routine in this article is a great starting point for morning somatic exercises for beginners.

The Bottom Line

Morning somatic exercises offer a powerful and intelligent way to start your day. 

By shifting the focus from external performance to internal sensation, you empower yourself to dissolve chronic muscle tension, move with greater freedom, and cultivate a deep, trusting relationship with your body. 

The 8-step sequence provided here is more than just a workout; it’s a daily practice of self-awareness and self-correction that can transform how you feel and function, from the moment you wake up until you go to bed.