How Somatic Yoga for Anxiety Can Help You Find Calm and Balance

It seems we all experience anxiety in one form or another. Whether the phone lights up and you see it’s your kids school, triggering racing thoughts (oh no what happened?! Did they get hurt?) or the generalized panic of having to be around a new group of people. Perhaps you even have an underlying level of anxiety happening at all times.

The beauty of anxiety is it is your brain and nervous system’s way of keeping you safe. When your body goes on alert your brain plays out potential situations so that you can prepare for them and keep yourself safe.

The issue, and when it really starts to affect you mental health, seems to be that our bodies are on alert all of the time. This modern world is designed to keep us on our toes. Because of this we start to see potential threats everywhere, even in places that we would logically perceive as safe, and anxiety becomes chronic.

One of the best ways to release yourself from anxiety’s grip? 

Somatic yoga.

How Somatic Yoga Helps Release Anxiety

Anxiety is defined as a future-oriented emotion focused on diffusing a threat or perceived threat. It is characterized as causing worry, tension, troubled thoughts and physical responses like high blood pressure. This can often be in response to an unidentifiable threat.

One of the biggest, of the many, somatic yoga benefits is that somatic yoga helps release anxiety. It does this by connecting the mind and body through slow, mindful movements that retrain the nervous system to reduce stress and allow the body to let go of chronic tension. Somatic yoga focuses on releasing stored tension in the muscles and fascia, particularly in areas where anxiety is often held, such as the neck, shoulders, and hips. By doing so, it creates a calming effect, helping to manage and reduce feelings of anxiety.

How Somatic Yoga Helps Release Anxiety Physically

Somatic release techniques work with both the physical and the energetic body to release anxiety and tension. It’s a balanced, holistic approach to regulating your nervous system. Science even backs up the efficacy of this practice in reducing stress and anxiety symptoms. 

Some of the ways it helps your physical body include:

• Body Awareness: Somatic Yoga encourages deep attention to physical sensations, which can help people become aware of where they hold physical tension related to anxiety.
• Mind-Body Connection: Slow, controlled movements help to regulate the nervous system, shifting from the “fight or flight” response to a more relaxed state.
• Nervous System Reprogramming: By practicing somatic movements regularly, the body learns to release habitual tension patterns that contribute to anxiety. Leading to greater emotional well being.
• Breathing Techniques: Paired with movement, deep breathing helps lower cortisol levels, which is crucial for anxiety reduction.

Take my feminine energy quiz to get a recommended practice for balancing YOUR feminine energy 👇

How Somatic Yoga Helps Release Anxiety Energetically

If we look at anxiety energetically you’ll see that it can be caused by an imbalance in the upper chakras. Namely an overactive third eye or crown chakra. This means there is too much energy flowing through the upper chakras and it needs to be brought back down. 

Incorporating somatic exercises in your yoga practice will:

• Pull energy down through the body: somatic experiencing brings your awareness away from your head and into your body; pulling the energy that may have gathered up during an anxious episode back down into your lower energy centers. The ones that connect you to the physical world and have you feeling safe.
• Ground your energy: much of somatic healing brings your awareness into the present moment, helping you ground and calm your energy.
• Release stagnant energy: energy stuck in the body from an incomplete stress cycle(fight/flight/freeze response) can increase feelings of anxiety. Somatic movements and yoga can help release these from the body.

Awaken Your Feminine Energy with my Somatic Self Healing Masterclass (usually $67) FREE👇

Symptoms Somatic Yoga Can Address

When you experience anxiety it’s often not just affecting your mental health. Meaning, there are physical reactions to this emotion. It can range from muscle tension to an upset digestive system. 

Some of the symptoms that somatic yoga for anxiety can address are:

• Tightness in the chest, neck, or shoulders
• Shallow breathing or rapid heartbeat
• A sense of unease or restlessness
• Hip tension or chronic pain

Through mindful movements and somatic yoga poses you can start to heal stiffness and pain and calm your mind.

Somatic Movement Examples

There are many types of somatic exercises you can do to relieve stress. Most often the gentle movements you’ll see in somatic yoga will mimic the movements you see in nature. Movements like rocking, spiraling/circles, shaking, and wave-like motions. This can be seen in somatic exercises like:

• Pelvic Rocks: Gentle back-and-forth tilting of the pelvis can release tension in the lower back and hips, areas where anxiety is often stored.
• Arm Circles: Slow, mindful arm circles release tightness in the shoulders and chest, calming the body’s stress response.
• Somatic Shaking: Gently shaking different parts of the body or even the whole body releases stored tension and breaks up anxiety. It induces the parasympathetic nervous system giving you greater emotional well being/regulation and will release stress. 

The beauty of these movements and somatic practices is that they work by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes relaxation and helps the body “unlearn” stress patterns over time.

Those listed are safe somatic yoga for beginners moves that you can try on your own. Pull out your yoga mat and give this class a try and see how you feel:

6 Somatic Yoga Poses For Anxiety

Somatic yoga offers specific poses designed to gently release tension relieve stress and anxiety, focusing on slow, mindful movements that calm the nervous system. These are movements that should feel soothing for you.

Try some of the following somatic exercises to help manage anxiety and increase somatic awareness:

Seated Forward Fold for Anxiety Release

This gentle fold helps to release tension in the lower back and hips, areas where anxiety often accumulates. Sit tall with legs extended, then slowly fold forward, reaching for your feet (it’s okay if you can’t touch them) while focusing on slow, deep breathing. This promotes relaxation and a sense of calm. You can also add some easy gentle movements like swaying if it feels good. 

Shoulder Rolls for Releasing Tension

Start seated or standing and begin by rolling your shoulders forward and backward in slow, mindful circles. This movement releases tightness in the neck and shoulders, where anxiety is frequently held. You might even want to add some somatic shaking with your arms for an added release.

Supine Pelvic Tilts for Grounding

Lying on your back with knees bent, gently tilt your pelvis forward and back. This slow, rhythmic motion helps release anxiety stored in the lower back and pelvis, increasing body awareness and creating a grounding effect. This slow movement can be especially soothing for anxiety relief.

Corpse Pose

Lie on your back, get as comfortable as possible. Exhale slowly as your body relaxes into the ground. Just let your body be in its natural state. Savasana is known to relax the body and regulate the nervous system.

Diaphragmatic Breathing to Calm

Either sit tall or lie comfortably on your back. With your hands on your belly, inhale. Fill the belly with a breath of air and notice your hand rising. Exhale as your belly and hand come back down. This has a calming effect on the body after only a few deep breaths. Of the different somatic breathing techniques I’d have to say the one I love the most is this deep belly breathing.

Body Scans for Awareness

Come to a comfortable position. Close the eyes and start with a few grounding breaths. Bring your attention to your toes. Notice any tension or sensations you feel. Just notice, no judgment. Do this as you gradually move your focus up through the different muscle groups of the body. This somatic awareness technique helps brings you to the present moment. It brings awareness to the muscle tension and different sensations throughout your body; bringing a deeper connection between the mind and your own body, plus promoting relaxation. Incorporate even more somatic practices by following this up with a progressive muscle relaxation practice as well. 

Each of these poses is designed to engage the mind-body connection and encourage deep relaxation, making them effective tools for managing anxiety through movement.

And if you’re a yoga teacher looking to make your classes more somatic, you can take a somatic approach to most poses. Whether its adding massage during a child’s pose or incorporating a butterfly hug with some hip rolls. Somatic and mindful movement is great for all fitness levels to improve their overall well being.

Closing Thoughts

A somatic yoga practice is a fantastic way to improve well being and reduce stress. You can always consider somatic coaching too, where you work with a professional trained in somatic movement.

Or, if you love this practice as much as I do you might consider somatic training and become the coach! My Somatic Yoga Training Certification combines the incredible practices of somatic movement with yoga and life coaching. So you can help your clients in unique ways and truly allow the space for them to heal.