Safety First: Pacing and Consent With Yourself
Before diving in, a word on pacing. Somatic work can move fast and occasionally stir things up. These exercises are gentle entry points — not deep dives. Give yourself full permission to stop, shift, or soothe at any point. A good rule of thumb: set a 10-minute timer and check in with yourself when it goes off. If something feels like too much, that’s information worth honoring, not pushing through. The body responds well to being asked and not forced.
A simple backup if things get uncomfortable — what I call “stop, shift, soothe.” Stop the exercise. Shift your attention outward (look around the room, notice five things you can see). Soothe with something grounding — a hand on your chest, a slow exhale, a sip of water.
Grounding and Orienting Somatic Therapy Exercises
Grounding is probably the most accessible somatic tool there is. It doesn’t require any special training or equipment — just your body and a few minutes. Here’s a simple 5-step script you can use anytime:
- Look around the room slowly. Let your eyes land on things they are drawn to rather than scanning quickly.
- Name 3-5 colors you see out loud or in your head.
- Feel where your body makes contact with the chair or floor. Your feet on the ground. Your seat in the chair.
- Take a few longer exhales — make the exhale longer than the inhale. This activates your parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” side).
- Check your internal intensity on a 0-10 scale. Where were you before? Where are you now?
This exercise works because it interrupts the loop of anxious thinking by pulling your attention into the present moment. The body is always here — the mind is often not.
Micro-Pauses and the Felt Sense in Somatic Therapy
One of the most underrated practices in Focusing is also one of the simplest: the pause. Not a meditation, not a breathing exercise — just a moment of checking in.
Try this: set a reminder on your phone for some time in the middle of your day. When it goes off, stop what you’re doing for 20-60 seconds and ask yourself — what wants a little space or attention right now? Try to notice the bodily sensation of this along with a descriptor word or two.
Don’t immediately answer with your mind (the mind will often answer immediately). That’s the trap. Instead, drop your attention into your body. Notice the belly, the chest, the throat. Something might show up — a tightness, a heaviness, a quiet hum of something unresolved. You’re not trying to fix it. You’re just making contact.
A subtle example: maybe you notice a slight “yes” somewhere in your chest when you think about calling a friend, and a vague “no” in your belly when you think about answering work emails. These are micro-signals from the felt sense — your body voting on your life. The more you practice noticing them, the louder and clearer they get.
Breath, Posture, and Gentle Movement: Integrating Somatics Into Daily Life
You don’t need a yoga mat or a dedicated hour to work with the body. Here are a few options depending on where you are and what’s available to you:
Seated: Place both feet flat on the floor. Take 3-5 slow breaths. On each exhale, allow the shoulders to drop a little more. Uncross your legs if they’re crossed. Notice how the body feels in this more settled position.
Standing: Try a light shake. Stand up and gently bounce on the balls of your feet. Let the arms hang and shake loosely. Do this for 60-90 seconds — it doesn’t have to look graceful. This is one of my favorite ways to clear a space before or after a hard moment in the day.
Walking: Walk slowly and feel each foot make contact with the ground. Let your eyes be soft — not focused sharply on a destination. Notice what arises in the body without trying to solve anything.
For limited mobility: Almost all of this is adaptable. The seated breath, noticing sensations, placing a hand on the heart — none of it requires physical exertion. The body can be worked with from almost any position.
Somatic Therapy Exercise Closing Rituals
Ending a self-directed somatic exercise matters. Without a clear close, the nervous system can stay in a slightly activated state. Here’s a simple 4-step cool-down:
- Shake out your hands for 10-15 seconds.
- Sip some water slowly and notice the sensation of drinking.
- Name one word that captures what’s present for you right now. Don’t overthink it — the first word that surfaces is usually the right one.
- Re-orient to the room. Look around. Take in where you are. Let yourself land back in ordinary life before jumping into the next thing.
This is a small ritual, but rituals matter. They signal to the body that we’ve completed something.
When Somatic Therapy Exercises Bring Up Big Feelings
Sometimes you drop in, and something big is there waiting. That’s not a bad sign — it usually means the body trusts you enough to show you something. The key is titration, which just means working in small doses. You don’t need to feel the whole thing all at once. You can touch the edge of a difficult feeling, then return your attention to your breath or the ground. Touch the edge, come back. Touch the edge, come back.
If you feel flooded, overwhelmed, or like you’re spinning out — that’s your signal to move your attention external. Look around. Name what you see. Feel your feet. Come back to the surface.
Red flags that warrant professional support: feeling disconnected from your body for extended periods, flashback-like experiences, significant increases in anxiety or low mood following these exercises, or anything that feels beyond your window of tolerance to manage alone. These exercises are meant to supplement therapy, not replace it.
Bringing This Into Your Somatic Therapy Sessions
The most useful thing you can do after practicing on your own is bring it back into the room. Before your next session, jot down 3 short notes:
- What exercise did you try?
- What did you notice in the body?
- What surprised you, confused you, or felt incomplete?
This gives you and your therapist something real and fresh to work with — not just a recap of your week, but actual somatic data from your own practice. That’s where the integration happens. If you live in Maine and are interested in exploring somatic therapy, I invite you to reach out to me directly. Please visit my website, focusingwithjosh.com, to book an introductory 20-minute discovery call with me to help clarify if working together may be productive