Enhance Your Body Awareness
If you’re looking to enhance body awareness, strengthen the mind/body connection, or simply foster a profound connection with your physical self, somatic yoga could be just what you’ve been looking for! Join us in this post to learn all about somatic yoga along with 5 different somatic yoga exercises that you can add into your practice!
What does 'somatic' mean?
The word somatic means ‘of the body,’ so a somatic practice is about deeply connecting with your physical body.
Somatic exercises or somatic yoga has been becoming more popular as of late but this idea has been around for some time. I first learned about somatic exercise when I was in Physical Therapy School.
We learned about something called the ‘Feldenkrais Method’ which is a form of somatic movement. The intentional movements taught in this technique are thought to help improve body awareness and help you to better understand where your body is in space. By moving through slow, gentle movements, you are able to truly notice what your body is telling you. Moving in this slow manner also helps to improve the connection between the brain and the body or as I like to call it, the mind/body connection.
The body is pretty complex and is made up of so many different joints and muscles, through these intentional movements, you can develop a deep connection with your body.
And if you think, well I already know where my body is in space, I’m sure you do to a point but I think that we can all work to improve this. I’ve witnessed firsthand the challenges that many face with body awareness. Attempting to guide someone to perform a proper squat or deadlift shows that there’s often room for improvement. This is precisely where somatic exercises come into play to help us improve our body awareness.
What is somatic yoga?
When looking at somatic yoga, we’re essentially applying the principles of somatic exercise to our yoga practice. This approach involves cultivating deep awareness of the body and its sensations. When you practice somatic yoga, you are VERY aware of what is happening within your body during your movements.
To find this body connection, it can be helpful to focus on drawing your awareness within; this way the external world is not distracting your focus and you can truly focus on your body. This is kind of like how we draw our attention inward during meditation to quiet the mind and limit distractions of the mind. By placing your awareness within, you are able to focus on your body and how it feels during movement. This is why it can be helpful to close your eyes while moving through somatic yoga exercises.
While somatic yoga focuses on the body, it’s crucial to remember the interconnectedness of body, mind, and soul. This approach strengthens the mind-body connection significantly.
Also, because somatic yoga focuses on subtle body movements, it’s important that your yoga teacher has a deep understanding of the body’s anatomy.
It’s also worth noting that not all yoga classes qualify as somatic; classes that are more of a fast paced vinyasa or power yoga are not specifically focused on somatic exercise while slow flow classes are closer to being somatic.
The defining factor of a somatic yoga practice lies in its intention and execution as well as performing the movements in a slow, controlled manner.
Below, you’ll find five examples of somatic yoga exercises to help kickstart your somatic journey.
5 Somatic Yoga Exercises
With all of the exercises below remember these basics:
- Perform these movements mindfully and try to fully place your awareness on your body.
- It can be helpful to close your eyes.
- Move slowly and with control.
- Keep the breath steady and at a pace that feels comfortable to you.
- Notice any feelings (physical or emotional) without judgment.
- If there is pain, adjust the movement to be in a pain-free range. If there is still pain, hold off on the exercise.
- If a movement isn’t right for you due to an injury or condition, please hold off on that exercise.
1. Segmental Bridges
While bridge pose is a classic yoga pose found in many yoga classes, to make this a somatic yoga exercise we’re going to perform our bridges segmentally. This means we move through our bridge in a slow & controlled manner and work to move each ‘segment’ of the spine individually.
Now when I say individually, I don’t mean that each vertebrae moves on its own without the others moving; I just mean that we’re working to slow down and separate this movement to the best of our ability.
This exercise can really help you to connect with the movement of your spine.
Segmental Bridge Instructions:
- Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor & hip-width apart and your arms resting by your sides, palms facing down. Your spine should be in neutral with a slight space between your lower back and the ground.
- Begin the movement by flattening your lower back into the ground.
- Next, press your feet into the ground and slowly lift your hips off the ground (first the tailbone should lift, then the sacrum).
- Notice the glute activation here.
- Continue lifting vertebrae by vertebrae, slowly moving up the spine.
- As you lift, focus on lifting one vertebra at a time off the ground starting with the lower vertebrae and moving up the back.
- Continue lifting your hips until you come to the top of your bridge pose.
- Once you’ve reached the top of the movement, hold the position for 1-3 breaths.
- Then lower with control segmentally back down to the ground.
- So you’ll lower the upper back first (vertebrae by vertebrae) all the way down to the lower spine, then the sacrum, then the tailbone. Once the tailbone is on the ground, come back to a neutral spine and allow the abdominals and glutes to FULLY relax.
- Repeat this exercise 5-10 times.
2. Slow Controlled Cat/Cow
Cat/cow is a pretty popular exercise found in yoga and this one is often done in a somatic way. Remember, what makes this somatic is performing this exercise slowly and with control.
There are a few different ways you can perform cat/cow somatically but for this post, we’ll keep it simple by somatically moving through a traditional cat cow.
In this movement we are working between flexion and extension of the spine.
Slow Controlled Cat/Cow Instructions:
- Begin on your hands and knees in a tabletop position, with your wrists directly under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Start with a flat back, keeping the spine straight. Make sure to keep a slight bend in your elbows throughout the exercise.
- Move into cow pose, slowly and mindfully.
- Start by tilting the pelvis forward, slowly allowing your belly to drop down and creating an arch in your lower spine.
- Then keeping the arms where they are, allow the chest to drop down to create a slight arch in the upper back.
- Lastly, slowly look up so you’re gazing forward.
- Slowly come out by bringing the upper back and the neck back to neutral, then bring the low back to neutral.
- Now, move into cat pose, slowly and mindfully.
- Start by rounding through the upper back creating a curve.
- As you curve the upper back, allow the head to start to slowly drop down.
- Lastly, pull the abdominal muscles up and in as you start to round through the lower back. Remember to keep the breath steady!
- Slowly come out by relaxing the abs and bringing the lower spine back into neutral, then bring the upper back and neck back to neutral.
- Flow on and off between cat and cow 5-10 times.
3. Walk The Dog
If you’ve practiced vinyasa yoga, you likely have heard your teacher cue you to ‘walk the dog’ while in downward dog. Simply put, walking the dog can help stretch the calf muscle and can help improve ankle mobility.
When we do this as a somatic exercise, we do this mindfully with all of our awareness on the lower legs and ankles.
Walk The Dog Instructions:
- Begin in a downward facing dog position. Make sure the hips are up toward the sky and the back is flat.
- To ‘walk the dog,’ bend the left knee lifting the left heel off the ground and allow the right knee to straighten while the right heel sinks towards the ground.
- After a few seconds, switch sides.
- Continue alternating sides. Move at a slow and controlled pace.
- To make this a somatic yoga exercise, keep your awareness through the feet, ankles, and calves; connecting with the roots of our body and noticing any sensations that arise.
- After completing 5 repetitions on each side, return to a traditional downward dog and hold for 3 breaths.
- After holding downward dog, slowly come out of the pose.
4. Segmental Supine Twist
Again, a supine spinal twist may be a yoga pose that you are familiar with.
What makes this exercise somatic is that instead of just letting your legs fall over to one side mindlessly, we will be moving slowly & with control and become conscious of what is happening in our body while we move into this posture.
Segmental Supine Twist Instructions:
- Begin by lying on your back with your knees bent and feet planted on the ground. Extend your arms out to the sides, forming a “T” shape.
- Start to slowly lower both knees to the right moving one inch at a time. Keep your shoulders grounded on the mat. Use your core abdominal muscles to help control this motion. Keep the breath steady.
- Once you get to a point that feels like that is as far as your body wants to twist, hold it there for 1-3 breaths.
- Then slowly, one inch at a time, bring the knees back up to the starting position; again using the core abdominal muscles and keeping the breath steady.
- Repeat this same sequence moving to the left.
- To make this a somatic yoga exercise, place your awareness fully on the movement. Notice how the abdominal muscles need to work, notice how it feels to twist your spine, notice the sensation of different parts of your body being in contact with the ground.
- Repeat 5 times on each side.
- When you complete, come back to the starting position.
5. Pelvic Clocks
While pelvic clocks are not a specific yoga pose, it is a classic somatic exercise that we can do in a mindful yogi way.
This exercise helps deepen the awareness through your pelvis which is a major part of our anatomical structure. Although the pelvis is so important, many are disconnected from it and an exercise like pelvic clocks can help to rebuild your relationship with your pelvis.
When performing this exercise remember that this is a subtle and small movement!
Pelvic Clock Instructions:
- Begin by lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Keep your spine in a neutral position meaning you’ll have a slight space between your lower back and the ground.
- Place your hands on your pelvis.
- To locate your pelvis, start with your hands at your waist and slide down until you feel a bony area, this is the top of your pelvis. Then, bring your hands a little further down and wrap them around to the front where you will feel a bony prominence on each side. This area is known as the ASIS (anterior superior iliac spine) and is where you want to place your hands for this exercise.
- To move between 12:00 and 6:00, you’re going to move through what is called an anterior pelvic tilt and a posterior pelvic tilt. To tilt anteriorly, it’s like you are creating an arch in your lower back. To tilt posteriorly you are flattening your lower back into the ground. Try moving back and forth between these two motions in a slow and controlled manner. As you get more comfortable, see if you can make this motion smaller.
- Next, work with shifting your pelvis from side to side between 3:00 and 9:00. When doing this, try to keep a neutral spine so you have that slight space between your lower back and the ground. Again, keep it slow and controlled.
- Next, try moving the pelvis diagonally through the other times on the clock, like moving between 2:00 and 8:00.
- Lastly, you can try going around the entire clock, making small circles with your pelvis.
- Take your time with each position. Focus on the sensations and range of motion in your pelvis and remember that these are SUBTLE movements!
- There’s not a specific amount of reps to do when working with this, but I suggest trying this out for about 1 minute. Try tapping into your intuition and moving through the clock in whatever way your body intuitively needs!
Don't Skip Savasana!
After completing these somatic yoga exercises, I highly suggest ending with savasana for a good 5-10 minutes.
This will allow you to integrate your practice throughout your entire being. It’s also a great time to become conscious of any shifts in your body and to just check in with how your body feels after practice.
Final Thoughts on Somatic Yoga Exercises
Practicing somatic yoga is a wonderful way to deepen your connection and relationship with your physical body.
While we are more than just the body, the body is an integral part of how we operate in our human experience, so it’s important to build a relationship with it. Building this relationship not only helps us to know when we need to pay attention to our physical body, but the body can also be used to receive messages from our energy and from spirit.
So although I want you to remember you are not defined by your body, the body is an important tool in our human experience and through practices like somatic yoga, we can continue to deepen our body, mind, soul connection.
Check out the video below to practice all of these somatic poses in a yoga sequence!
Practicing with guidance can be really helpful when it comes to somatic yoga.