How to Develop a Somatic Self-Care Practice
Somatics is derived from the greek root ‘soma’ which means ‘the living body in its wholeness’, or ‘the living body known from within’. Somatic self-care prioritizes connection to and care for your soma, helping you move towards aliveness and wholeness. Our bodies are both the vessels and the instruments of our experiences. Somatic self-care is an art, a practice of attuning to the whispers and wisdom within. It is the tender act of nurturing our nervous system, honoring the sacred connection between body, mind, spirit, and the systems that shape us.
The essence of somatic self-care is the intentional attunement to our soma’s sensations, emotions, beliefs, perceptions, movements, behaviors and rhythms. It is a practice rooted in the understanding that our bodies hold all of this, hold stories, and hold memories. By listening to our bodies, we come to better understand our needs, unlock pathways to healing, inner spaciousness, and transformative self-awareness.
One could write an entire book on the benefits of somatic practice. To keep it simple I will say that our bodies are wise beyond measure, containing our experiences, our longings, our gifts, and infinite possibilities.
When we commit to somatic practice, we choose to engage in a process of change that helps us more deeply know and feel ourselves, and thus every other facet of Life and connection.
It helps us release stored tension, repair old wounds, strengthen intuition, and develop the necessary skills to bring our gifts into the world and have a lasting impact.
Somatic practice improves our emotional regulation: aka our capacity to be with and more gracefully ride the waves of the full spectrum of our humanity. It enhances our resilience, and helps us create the inner space in which ease, vitality, presence, joy, and awe (to name just a few) can become our baseline reality.
I’ve created a FREE offering for you called “Well Resourced: A Guide to Developing a Somatic Self-care Practice” In this guide I support you to orient to 3 layers of somatic self-care:
Listening to your Body's Wisdom
Nurturing your Nervous System
Connection and Co-Regulation
You can download the free guide HERE
with care, Halie