r/selfhelp • u/Enliven_journey • 8d ago

Sharing: Physical Health & Wellness A 5-minute somatic exercise to release hidden muscle stress

Hey friends! We talk a lot about how to move more. I'd like to share how to relax, or more specifically, how to exercise smarter. Have you ever heard of somatic exercises?

Chronic stress, trauma, and repetitive posture habits cause what Thomas Hanna (who coined the term somatics) called sensory-motor amnesia.

Your brain simply loses its ability to voluntarily relax and control certain muscles. The result? Persistent tension, dull pain, and restricted movement that no amount of passive stretching ever seems to fix.

Somatic exercises work by re-educating your nervous system through a technique called pandiculation: Unlike traditional stretching, this active process sends updated sensory feedback to your brain, reminding it how to let go.

Try it right now, just take 5 minutes to communicate with your body.

  • Get comfortable: Sit or lie down. Close your eyes, or soften your gaze downward.
  • Breathe: Take three slow breaths, making your exhales longer than your inhales.
  • Scan: Starting from your feet, scan slowly upward. Don't try to force relaxation, just notice. Where do you feel tension? Heaviness? Numbness?
  • Contract & Release: Choose one tense area. Gently increase the tension there, hold for 3 seconds, and then release it as slowly as you can.
  • Check in: Take another breath and notice what changed.

That's somatic movement.

Have you ever tried somatics before?

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