Somatic Yoga Morning Routine

Tension can accumulate as we sleep as the mind and body works to process emotions. If certain emotions are not recognized and expressed before bed, these emotions can become trapped within the body. This can lead to tension, aches, pain and stiffness first thing in the morning.

Somatics is a powerful practice that invites the release of physical, mental and emotional tension.

Somatics, from the Greek “soma” meaning “of the body,” delves into the fabric of your being. Your soma holds emotions and expresses habits and thoughts. You are soma and you are made of soma. You can explore and understand the fabric of your soma by turning your attention inward. In other words, you turn towards your body for guidance and feedback.

Somatic practices invite you to explore internal sensations through a lens of curiosity. This can reveal habitual movement patterns, thoughts, emotions, feelings, impulses and sensations.

These internal experiences can provide important insights in relation to the state of your nervous system. If you find that you have a tendency to move quickly on the mat, then it is likely that you move quickly off the mat. What does this rushed movement communicate to your nervous system? It may communicate that you are in danger.

As you explore internal sensations, you may find that certain thoughts and emotions pop up. As they do, you have the opportunity to observe how your body responds. If you are experiencing feelings of anger, notice where you feel it in your body. If you are thinking of a past situation that caused you to feel hurt, notice where you feel this hurt within your body.

The focus of somatics is what you feel and experience internally in stillness or through movement. The focus is not on how you look in the pose or the movement. The external doesn’t matter. The focus is on how your body moves in space, and the internal sensations that you experience.

As you learn more about yourself, you are better able to retrain habitual movement patterns that may be showing up in your body as pain and tension. As you tune into your internal dialogue from a place of curiosity, you begin to recognize what emotions are attached to these thoughts. You then have the opportunity to observe, feel, label and release stuck emotions through somatic movement.

Somatics is about exploring what it feels like to be in your own skin. It’s about finding what feels good in your body. Somatic practices, like somatic yoga, can help you unlock the transformative power of the mind-body connection.

Somatics can be a healing and therapeutic practice.