Somatic Yoga for Beginners

Somatic yoga is about finding what feels good in your body. Somatic practices invite you to explore your inner landscape with curiosity. You are invited to get out of your head and into your body as you explore various movements. The focus is not on alignment or mastering a pose, it’s on your internal experience while in motion or in stillness. Movement still occurs in stillness–your breath, blood, lymph–are all in motion even when you’re not engaging in physical movement. This inward practice can bring to light habitual movement patterns in your body, which can contribute to pain, tension, and movement restrictions, which can impact your range of motion and flexibility.

Somatic practices are usually low to the ground and involve slow movements. The pace of this practice may stir up feelings of discomfort. Allow the discomfort to surface. We can learn so much about ourselves when we lean into discomfort.

My very first somatics practice was a challenge because I was so used to being told what to do and how to do it. The stillness and the quiet also created discomfort in my body as I was used to doing, not simply being. Somatics helped me get back into my body. It helped create a felt inner sense of safety and well-being. As I relaxed into my practice, I realized just how much my body was craving stillness, a slower pace, as well as the option to explore what feels good for me. Little did I know that somatics would be useful for chronic pain, anxiety, emotional processing, as well as panic attacks. It is a transformative practice–I don’t say these words lightly. If you stick with it, it can create lasting changes in your mind, body, heart and spirit.

There’s no right or wrong experience in somatic practices. Your experiences are unique to you. Each time you show up on the mat will likely feel different as each day is different. Meet yourself wherever you are.