Somatics & the Mind-Body Connection

The word somatic is being used more and more these days. If you’re reading this, chances are you already have a sense of what it means—derived from the Greek soma, meaning “body,” it refers to anything of or relating to the body (Dictionary.com, 2023). You might associate it with nervous system regulation, trauma release, or expressive movement. Maybe you’ve seen images of people shaking, crying, or lying on the floor mid-somatic release.

While those associations aren’t wrong, the field of somatics is far richer and more diverse than these surface snapshots. Somatic practices span from ancient, embodied wisdom traditions to modern, science-informed methods. They are widely used not only in therapeutic contexts but in sports, education, dance, rehabilitation, and personal growth. So to be clear: somatics are not just for spiritual retreats or therapy rooms—it’s for anyone with a body.

Thomas Hanna (Hanna, 2016) , the founder of the field of Somatics (1976), described somatic practices as exploring the body, as perceived from within, from a first-person perception. Rather than viewing the body as an object to be fixed or manipulated, somatics treats it as an intelligent system, capable of feedback, communication, and agency to create positive change when provided the right conditions.

This mind-body connection occurs through both top-down and bottom-up mechanisms:

• Top-down (cognitive-affective to somatic): Involves engaging intention, attention, and language to influence bodily states. For instance, repeating grounding affirmations or visualising safety can modulate stress responses via cortical and limbic pathways.
  
• Bottom-up (somatic to cognitive-affective): Uses movement, breath, posture, and sensory input to affect mood, perception, and behavioural response. For example, extending the exhale or adjusting spinal alignment can influence vagal tone and alter emotional state.

Over time, we begin to map the internal landscape—learning that bodily sensations often carry emotional or cognitive associations. Feeling “a lump in the throat” might relate to unspoken emotion; tension in the jaw may signal unresolved social stress. Somatic practices allow us to notice, hold space, and respond—skills that increase agency in how we relate to ourselves and our environment.

This blog explores the principles behind somatic practices and how they can support greater self-awareness, resilience and wellbeing in our lives. If you're curious to try them out for yourself, my online Somatic Self-Care classes are a low-pressure, pay-as-you-feel space to begin.

Somatics and Interoception

Interoception, often described as the “eighth sense,” refers to the nervous system’s ability to perceive, interpret, and integrate signals from within the body (Schmitt & Schoen, 2022). These internal signals include heart rate, respiration, gastrointestinal activity, muscular tension, and more. Interoceptive pathways play a key role in emotional regulation, decision-making, and overall physiological coherence.

The vagus nerve—extending from the brainstem into the viscera—is a major player in interoceptive signalling, linking internal organ states to neural circuits involved in arousal, threat perception, and social engagement. How we interpret these signals is influenced not just by sensory input but by context, learning history, and belief systems (Ceunen et al., 2016).

Somatic practices build interoceptive awareness through conscious attention to these internal cues. Yet they go beyond simply noticing; they invite participation and experimentation. Whether you're adjusting your breath, exploring movement patterns, or tracking emotional shifts, you're refining your interoceptive sensitivity and increasing your range of embodied responses.

🌀 Practice example: Body scan – Slowly and attentively moving awareness through the body enhances interoceptive tracking and can reveal habitual patterns of tension or numbness. Observing without judgment builds tolerance for sensation and supports system-wide integration.

Breath as a Regulatory Bridge

Breathwork is foundational in many somatic modalities because of its dual nature: it is both automatic and voluntary. This makes it a powerful regulatory mechanism, influencing both autonomic function and conscious awareness.

Practices like diaphragmatic breathing (sometimes called belly breathing) stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and can lead to reductions in heart rate, cortisol, and overall arousal. As a result, breath becomes a tool for shifting state—not as a way to suppress discomfort, but to create internal conditions conducive to curiosity, presence, and learning.

🌀 Practice example: Diaphragmatic breathing – Inhale slowly through the nose, expanding the abdomen. Pause. Exhale gently through the mouth for a longer count. This simple practice activates vagal pathways associated with rest and restoration.

Proprioception, Exteroception & Embodied Learning

Somatic practices also engage our proprioceptive and exteroceptive systems—our ability to sense where we are in space and to respond to external stimuli like touch, temperature, or sound (Meehan & Carter, 2021). These sensory pathways help us orient ourselves in our environment and move with more coordination, ease, and presence.

By tuning into subtle shifts in posture, movement, or contact with the ground, we learn to notice where we’re holding unnecessary tension or bracing, and begin to explore more easeful, efficient ways of being in our bodies. This process is less about achieving a specific form and more about improving sensory awareness and functional movement through experiential learning.

🌀 Practice example: Try standing with your feet hip-width apart and slowly shifting your weight side to side. Notice the pressure under each foot, the sway of your torso, or how your breath responds. These small, mindful movements help us refine body awareness and reconnect with the natural intelligence of our sensory-motor system.

Thomas Hanna, who laid much of the philosophical and theoretical groundwork for the field of Somatics, spoke of "sensory-motor amnesia"—a state where habitual patterns of tension become unconscious and automatic. Somatic education aims to bring these patterns back into awareness, not through force or correction, but through curiosity and gentle re-patterning (Hanna, 1988).

Agency: Reclaiming Choice

One of the most empowering aspects of somatic practice is the way it helps us reclaim a sense of agency—the felt knowing that we can influence our internal state and respond to life from a place of choice, rather than reflex. In a world where we’re often pulled into fast-paced demands or conditioned responses, somatic work gives us space to slow down and sense. We learn that we’re not at the mercy of our emotions or our environment; we can notice what’s happening inside, and choose how to engage with it.

This doesn’t mean controlling every sensation or achieving constant calm—it means developing a relationship with your body that’s based on trust and responsiveness. Over time, this builds what is called self-efficacy: the belief that you can influence your wellbeing in meaningful ways (Reshmi, 2023). Somatic practices foster this through repeated experiences of tuning in, adjusting, and noticing the impact of even small shifts. The result is a growing sense of sovereignty—of being at home in your own body, and capable of navigating both intensity and ease with greater confidence.

Adaptability: Expanding Our Range of Response

Adaptability is a natural outcome of consistent somatic practice. As we build awareness of our internal states and learn how to influence them, we begin to widen the range of responses available to us—physically, emotionally, and mentally. Rather than defaulting to fight, flight, freeze, or collapse when faced with stress or discomfort, we develop the ability to pause, sense, and respond in a more flexible and grounded way.

This can also be looked at in terms of heart-rate variability, which determines how quickly we can recover from periods of stress (An et al., 2019) . Somatic practices support this by strengthening our ability to move between activation and rest, tension and release, stillness and movement. Over time, we become more resilient—not in the sense of enduring more, but in our ability to recover, reorient, and stay connected to ourselves in a changing world.

This capacity is deeply linked to mindfulness, which is itself a practice of noticing the present moment without judgment. Through somatic mindfulness, we learn to recognise our patterns and tendencies as they arise, creating space to choose new responses instead of reacting automatically.

Adaptability isn't about achieving a permanent state of calm or control. It's about becoming more versatile, more attuned, and more able to meet life’s fluctuations with presence and responsiveness.

Conclusion: What Somatic Practices Offer Us

Somatic practices are not defined by one technique, tradition, or theory—but by a shared approach: they center the lived experience of the body as a source of insight, adaptability, and presence. Whether you're engaging with breath, movement, stillness, sensation, or self-touch, all somatic approaches work with a few core principles:

• Awareness (Presence & Interroception): cultivating presence through the senses

• Embodied Experience: getting out of our heads and into our embodied experience
  
• Agency: learning to influence your internal state with gentleness and intention
  
• Adaptability (Mindfulness): expanding your capacity to respond, rather than react
  

These principles support everything from emotional regulation and mental clarity to better posture, movement, and stress management. But beyond any outcome, the real benefit of somatics is that it brings us into relationship with ourselves—a relationship based on curiosity, care, and embodied knowing.

You don’t need to be a dancer, a yogi, or a trauma expert to practice somatics. You just need a willingness to tune in. Small, regular moments of awareness—whether lying on the floor or pausing between emails—can begin to reshape how you feel and how you move through the world.

🌀 Want to explore for yourself?
I offer online Somatic Self-Care classes that are accessible, beginner-friendly, and offered on a pay-as-you-feel basis. These sessions weave together guided movement, breathwork, and self-awareness practices to help you reconnect with your body and deepen your sense of internal support. No pressure, no performance—just space to explore and feel well in your own way.

References:

An, E., Nolty, A. A. T., Amano, S. S., Rizzo, A. A., Buckwalter, J. G., & Rensberger, J. (2019). Heart Rate Variability as an Index of Resilience. Military Medicine, 185(3-4), 363–369. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usz325

Ceunen, E., Vlaeyen, J. W. S., & Van Diest, I. (2016). On the origin of interoception. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(743). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00743

Charles Scott Sherrington. (2013). The integrative action of the nervous system. Nabu Press.

Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words. (2023). Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/-soma

Hanna, T. (1988). Somatics : reawakening the mind’s control of movement, flexibility, and health. Addison-Wesley.

Hanna, T. (2016). What is Somatics? Somatic Systems Institute. https://somatics.org/library/htl-wis1

Meehan, E., & Carter, B. (2021). Moving With Pain: What Principles From Somatic Practices Can Offer to People Living With Chronic Pain. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.620381

Reshmi, T. (2023, August 21). The relationship between self-efficacy and mental Well-being. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.34684.72327

Schmitt, C. M., & Schoen, S. (2022). Interoception: A Multi-Sensory Foundation of Participation in Daily Life. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.875200