Somatic Exercises to Release Trauma: How They Work

Your mind knows the danger is over, but your body keeps acting like it isn’t. Your heart pounds in quiet moments, your shoulders stay clenched, and sleep never feels restful. Somatic exercises help by working through the body rather than arguing with thoughts. Slow breathing, grounding, gentle movement, and paying attention to physical sensations send your nervous system a clear signal that you are safe now. Over time, the body can stop holding on to the alarm. Below, we explain how this works and which exercises to try, and we describe when it helps to have a trained guide.

Why Trauma Lives in the Body

Trauma is not only a memory. It is also a physical event. When your brain detects a threat, it triggers the fight, flight, or freeze response. Stress hormones surge, muscles tense, and your breathing gets shallow.

Normally, that wave passes once the danger does. After trauma, the system can get stuck in the “on” position. People often describe it in physical terms:

• A racing heart or tight chest for no clear reason

• Jaw clenching, stomach trouble, or chronic muscle tension

• Feeling numb or “far away” from your own body

• Being startled easily

• Trouble falling or staying asleep

What “Somatic” Actually Means

The word comes from the Greek soma, meaning body. Somatic approaches start with physical experience – breath, posture, heartbeat, muscle tension – and use it as a doorway to healing.

Talk therapy works mostly through language and thinking. Somatic work adds a bottom-up approach. Instead of reasoning your way to calm, you give your body the experience of calm first. The thinking brain often follows.

Researchers have found that people with trauma histories may have a harder time sensing internal signals, a skill called interoception. Rebuilding that skill is a big part of why somatic exercises help. If you can notice tension early, you can respond to it before it becomes overwhelm.

How Somatic Exercises Release Trauma

No exercise erases a painful memory. What they do is change how your body carries it. Here is the process in plain terms.

They activate your body’s calming system. A long, slow exhale stimulates the vagus nerve, which helps shift the body from alarm to rest. Heart rate slows, and the body gets the message to stand down.

They finish the stress cycle. Animals shake, tremble, or run after a close call, and then settle. Humans often freeze or push through, leaving that energy unspent. Gentle movement lets some of it discharge.

They build tolerance. You practice staying with small amounts of sensation, then settling again. This teaches your system that feelings can rise and fall without taking over.

They restore a sense of choice. Trauma takes control away. Deciding how to move, breathe, or position yourself hands a little of it back.

Six Somatic Exercises You Can Try at Home

Start small, keep sessions short, and stop if anything feels like too much.

1. Extended-Exhale Breathing

Breathe in through your nose for a count of four. Breathe out slowly through pursed lips for a count of six to eight. Repeat for two to three minutes. The longer exhale is what signals calm to your nervous system.

2. The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Exercise

Name five things you see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste. This pulls your attention to the present moment, which is especially helpful during flashbacks or anxiety spikes.

3. Orienting

Slowly turn your head and look around the room. Let your eyes land on anything that feels neutral or pleasant, and notice the details. This tells your brain that you have checked your surroundings and nothing threatening is here.

4. Pushing Against a Wall

Stand facing a wall and press your palms into it with steady effort for 10 to 15 seconds. Feel your legs and arms working, then release. Firm pressure helps many people feel contained and strong in their bodies.

5. Gentle Shaking

Let your hands, arms, and legs loosen and shake for 30 to 60 seconds, like a dog shaking off water. It’s a simple way to release built-up tension.

6. The Butterfly Hug

Cross your arms over your chest and alternate slow taps on each shoulder. This rhythmic, two-sided movement is often used to soothe distress.

Be honest with yourself about your limits, though. If an exercise brings up flashbacks, dizziness, or panic, pause and reach out for support. Trauma-informed care exists so you don’t have to push through alone. Our Grief, Trauma and Loss support is built around moving at your pace.

When Self-Help Isn’t Enough

Somatic exercises are a valuable daily practice, but they have limits. If trauma has disrupted your sleep, relationships, or work, a trained therapist can offer something a video or an app can’t: a safe, attuned person who notices what you can’t and adjusts in real time.

At Vibrant Life, we use several body-based, evidence-informed approaches:

• EMDR: You briefly focus on distressing material while engaging in guided eye movements or other stimulation, which helps your brain reprocess it.

• Brainspotting: We use eye position and bilateral sound to reach trauma held below conscious thought.

• Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART): This approach helps replace painful mental images with healthier, self-chosen ones, often in very few sessions.

For many clients, the starting point is individual therapy, where we work together to determine which approach fits. If anxiety is the loudest symptom, our anxiety care can help too.

Taking the Next Step

Healing from trauma is not about forcing yourself to feel better. It’s about teaching your body, one small experience at a time, that the threat has passed. Try one exercise this week and notice what changes, even if it’s tiny.

If you’d like guidance, we’re here. We see clients in Minneapolis and Maplewood, and we offer telehealth across Minnesota. We’re in-network with many major insurance plans, so you can check your coverage before you book. Call us at (612) 424-2533 or meet our therapists to find the right fit.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Somatic exercises may not be right for everyone, and some can bring up strong emotions. If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or call 911 right away.