Fast, intense workouts that leave you sweating and out of breath aren’t the only workouts that provide results—sometimes what you need more than an extreme workout is slow, somatic movements that target your mental and emotional health rather than just the physical.
A somatic exercise program is a valuable and beneficial addition to your daily routine if you’re looking for better balance, less stress, and less tension.
If you’ve never done somatic exercises before, don’t be overwhelmed—somatic exercises are quite easy to perform for everyone. In this blog, we’ll go over what somatic exercises are, where to start with them, and some of the best somatic exercise programs for women and men.
Somatic exercises focus on the mind-body connection. This method doesn’t focus on how much you move but on how you feel when you move. Somatic exercises use the mind-body connection to help determine and listen to your body’s signals in regard to pain, discomfort, or emotions. As it focuses on internal feelings and emotions, it can be used to help improve mental health (1).
Your health goes beyond just having a toned body; you should also focus on your mental health, balance, and posture. Somatic workouts can prove to be effective in helping your body get rid of physical and emotional tension, in addition to improving balance and strength and reducing pain (2). This is why adding somatic workouts to your exercise program can be very beneficial.
The amazing thing about somatic exercises is that anyone can do them. You don’t need to be super fit or strong, and you can do them without equipment and in the comfort of your home.
There are several types of effective somatic workouts and what the best somatic workout is for one person is dependent on preference and needs. While somatic workouts are typically low-impact and not highly intensive and their focus is on the mind-body connection, they typically don’t burn a lot of calories. However, somatic workouts can still help with weight loss in other ways.
The mind-body connection is a powerful tool for weight loss. The mind plays a strong role in weight management. When you deal with stress, it takes a toll on you mentally, emotionally, and physiologically. Chronic stress can trigger the release of hormones such as cortisol, which can then result in an increase in appetite and cravings for high-calorie foods (3).
In addition, high cortisol levels can promote the storage of fat in your body, specifically the belly area, as well as disrupt your sleep patterns. All of these factors, caused by stress, can cause hunger cravings that make it more difficult to maintain a healthy weight, let alone lose weight (4).
Therefore, the best somatic exercise program for weight loss is one that specifically reduces stress.
Read More: Somatic Yoga for Weight Loss: A Guide for Beginners
One of the best somatic exercises for lowering stress and worry is progressive muscle relaxation (PMR). This works to tense and relax each muscle in your body, starting with your head and working down to your feet, which makes it one of the best somatic exercise workouts.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do the progressive muscle relaxation:
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While more research and studies are required on how effective somatic exercise programs are, they’ve been known to help people by improving symptoms. People who regularly perform somatic exercises find that they’re more flexible, able to move more freely, and better able to balance. There is also evidence that flexibility and mobility are beneficial for supporting a healthy aging process and helping reduce the risk of injury (6).
Somatic exercises have been known to significantly lessen stress and even help with chronic pain and trauma healing (7). In addition, somatic exercises can significantly reduce stress and improve your sleep, which is incredibly important to your overall mental and physical health (8).
One of the great things about starting somatic exercise is that practically anyone can do it; it doesn’t require much strength, flexibility, or time. Somatic exercises are different from other forms of exercise as they focus on raising bodily awareness through slow and controlled movements, rather than focusing on burning calories or strength training. The goal is to improve people’s understanding of how their bodies react when they’re stressed or tense.
The best somatic exercise program for beginners is to start with a somatic body scan. The body scan is a great beginner somatic exercise that’s easy and helps you become more in touch with your mind-body connection. You can do the body scan by lying down or sitting in a comfortable chair and mentally scanning your body from head to toe, purposefully trying to identify areas of tension and discomfort. If you find an area of tension, focus on that area for a few moments while breathing until you feel your body relax and find relief (9).
There is no single best somatic exercise program, as it varies for each person according to their needs and preferences. Some of the most popular somatic exercises are somatic yoga and Pilates, martial arts, walking, dancing, body scans, and progressive muscle relaxation (9).
One of the most beneficial—and easy—somatic exercises is mindful breathing. Mindful breathing is known to help reduce stress, calm the central nervous system, improve sleep, and uplift the mood (10). As it’s simple to do and accessible to most people, this is a fundamental practice in many somatic and mindfulness-based therapies.
The best somatic exercise programs for healing are those that focus on releasing trauma and stress from your body. Trauma can store itself in your body, so performing somatic exercises that help rid your body of stored emotions and trauma can be incredibly helpful for those who have had previous traumatic experiences, whether in childhood or adulthood (11). We can feel the effects of childhood trauma in adulthood if we don’t address it and work through it properly. Somatic exercise is a great tool to help pinpoint your trauma and release it from your body(12).
If you’re new to somatic exercises, it would be incredibly beneficial for you to use some helpful resources to guide you through the process and exercises.
Read More: Somatic Stretches You Can Do in Bed
One of the best resources and tools you can easily use for learning and growing in somatic exercises is an app that helps educate you on different somatic exercises. Try BetterMe: Health Coaching app.
The BetterMe app provides users with a large variety of resources regarding many aspects, but particularly somatic exercises. The app offers several free somatic exercises for weight loss and somatic exercises to release trauma that you can incorporate into your workout regime.
In addition to BetterMe’s somatic exercises, users can also find a large library of articles on somatic exercises and therapeutic exercises and subscribe to the health coaching aspect on the app.
You can do somatic workouts on your own in the comfort of your home (13). These somatic movements mostly focus on slow, thoughtful, and gentle movements, which can easily be done alone (14). However, you can always seek out a somatic therapist if you desire.
Somatic exercises don’t need to be long to be effective. In fact, it only takes five to 15 minutes per day of somatic exercises to experience the benefits they have to offer. They are best done in the morning, but you can do them at any time of day (15).
Yes, you can do somatic exercises in bed. Sometimes that is actually the best place to do them, as the more relaxed, lazy, and peaceful your body feels while performing somatic movements, the better (16).
Somatic exercises, which emphasize slow, mindful movements and the mind-body connection, are gaining recognition for their mental and emotional health benefits. Unlike intense workouts that focus solely on physical exertion, somatic exercises aim to improve balance, reduce stress and tension, and help with weight loss by addressing internal sensations and emotions (4). These exercises are accessible to everyone, regardless of their fitness level, and can be performed without special equipment.
Among the most effective somatic exercises for reducing stress and supporting weight loss are progressive muscle relaxation workouts, which involve systematically tensing and relaxing the muscles from head to toe. This method helps alleviate physical and emotional tension, which contributes to overall well-being. Beginners can start with simple exercises such as body scans to enhance bodily awareness.
If you’re looking for an addition to your weight loss and fitness regime, incorporating a somatic exercise program could be quite beneficial. The wonderful thing about somatic exercises is that they’re easy for anyone to do. You need minimal to no equipment, and it only takes five to 15 minutes of somatic exercise a day for you to start seeing its benefits.
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