Healing can feel overwhelming — especially when you don’t know where to start.
I know that feeling well. After 15 years as a Somatic Trauma Therapist, I’ve sat with hundreds of clients who came to me exhausted from trying to think their way through trauma. And I’ve lived it myself.
The truth is: the body has to heal the body.
Talk therapy and shadow work are essential — but they can’t release what’s stored in your tissues, your nervous system, your fascia. That requires something different. That requires somatic work.
Here are 8 somatic exercises you can do at home, for free, starting today.
What Is Trauma, Really?
Trauma is any event that causes a disconnection between ourselves, our identity, and our intuition. It’s not about the intensity of the event — it’s about how that particular event impacts a particular person. Two people can experience the same thing; one walks away fine, the other carries it for years.
What trauma leaves behind isn’t just a memory. It’s an imprint on the nervous system. It lives in the body — in held breath, in braced muscles, in the gut that never quite settles.
Somatic healing is the practice of going into the body to complete what the mind couldn’t process alone.
8 Free Somatic Exercises to Do at Home
1. Physiological Sigh
This is the fastest nervous system reset I know — and it’s backed by neuroscience.
How to do it:
- Take a deep inhale through the nose
- At the top, take one more quick sniff to fully expand the lungs
- Release in one long, slow exhale through the mouth
Repeat 2–3 times. The double inhale fully inflates the alveoli; the extended exhale activates your parasympathetic nervous system. You may feel your shoulders drop, your jaw soften, your chest open.
2. Grounding Body Scan
Trauma pulls us out of the present. This brings us back.
How to do it:
- Sit or lie down comfortably
- Close your eyes and bring attention to the soles of your feet
- Slowly scan upward — ankles, calves, knees, thighs, hips, belly, chest, shoulders, neck, face
- At each area, simply notice. Warmth, tingling, tightness, numbness — no judgment
- When you find tension, breathe into it and allow it to soften
Spend 10–15 minutes here. This is one of the most deceptively powerful practices I know.
3. Shaking and Tremoring
Animals shake after a threatening experience to discharge adrenaline and cortisol from the body. We learned to suppress this natural response — and we carry the cost of that suppression.
How to do it:
- Stand with feet hip-width apart, soft bend in the knees
- Begin to gently bounce or shake the legs
- Let the movement travel up through the hips, belly, and torso
- Don’t control it — let it become organic
- Continue for 5–10 minutes, then lie down and rest
What comes up emotionally is information. Stay curious.
4. Pendulation
Pendulation is a core somatic technique — moving attention between a place of difficulty and a place of ease, teaching the nervous system that it can move through hard states without getting stuck.
How to do it:
- Find somewhere in your body that feels tense or uncomfortable
- Find somewhere that feels neutral or pleasant — hands, feet, the back of the skull
- Slowly move your attention back and forth between the two places
- Notice how the difficult area shifts as you do this
This is the foundation of trauma-informed somatic work. It prevents overwhelm while still allowing the body to process.
5. Diaphragmatic Breathing
Most of us breathe shallowly — into the chest — which keeps the nervous system in a low-grade state of activation. Diaphragmatic breathing signals safety at a cellular level.
How to do it:
- Place one hand on your chest, one on your belly
- Inhale slowly through the nose for 4 counts — the belly hand should rise, chest hand stays still
- Exhale slowly through the mouth for 6–8 counts
- Repeat for 5–10 minutes
The extended exhale is key — it’s what activates the vagus nerve and shifts you out of survival mode.
6. Hip Circles and Pelvic Release
The hips are one of the primary storage sites for unprocessed emotion — particularly fear, grief, and rage. Slow, intentional movement here can unlock patterns that have been held for years.
How to do it:
- Stand with feet hip-width apart, hands on hips
- Begin slowly circling the hips — large, deliberate movements
- Breathe deeply and notice where movement feels restricted
- After 1–2 minutes, reverse direction
Stay with what arises. Sometimes tears come. That’s the release.
7. Psoas Release — Full Guided Class
The psoas is the deepest muscle in the body — running from the lumbar spine through the pelvis to the femur. It’s directly connected to the fight-or-flight response and is one of the primary places we store chronic stress and trauma.
Releasing the psoas can resolve lower back pain, hip tension, anxiety, and emotional holding that nothing else seems to touch.
I’ve put together a full guided psoas release class you can do at home. This is the practice I use with clients — and myself.
8. Somatic Resourcing
Resourcing is the practice of deliberately activating positive physical sensations to build nervous system capacity — the foundation that makes deeper trauma work possible.
How to do it:
- Think of a place, person, memory, or image that brings a sense of safety or warmth
- Close your eyes and bring it fully to mind
- Notice where in your body you feel that positive sensation
- Stay with it — breathe into it, let it expand
- Spend 5 minutes here before or after more activating practices
The nervous system learns through repetition. The more you practice accessing states of safety, the more easily your body can return to them.
How to Practice Safely
Go slowly. Somatic work isn’t about intensity. Subtle is powerful.
Stay within your window of tolerance. If you feel overwhelmed, stop. Use the physiological sigh to return to baseline.
Be consistent. 10 minutes daily is more effective than an hour once a week. The nervous system changes through repetition.
Ready to Go Deeper?
These practices are a starting point. If you’re working with complex trauma, chronic pain, or patterns that feel deeply stuck, guided work can accelerate what you’re able to do alone.
Book a 1:1 somatic session with Rio →
I offer in-person sessions in Montreal and remote sessions for clients outside my area. Insurance receipts available under Naturopathy.
Or if you’d like to explore this work through an online program, visit Inner Alchemy Academy — where I teach somatic healing, shadow work, and Reiki certification.
Rio de Ki is a Somatic Trauma Therapist, Bioenergetic Educator, and Reiki Master/Teacher. She is a registered Naturotherapist with the Academy of Naturopaths and Naturotherapists of Canada and a certified Holistic Health + Wellness Mentor with the International Association of Wellness Professionals.
