Somatic Exercises for Reducing Anxiety – Workshop Details Below
By Swapna Viswanathan, Registered Psychotherapist Qualifying
Anxiety can show up in the body in various ways and sometimes is unique to the person experiencing it. Be it an elevated heart rate for some, shallow breathing for someone else, or one might say they experience tightness in their chest, whereas someone else might experience ruminating thoughts. Anxiety shows up in everyday life without warning, most of the time disrupting daily functioning. While psychotherapy or talk therapy helps reduce anxiety, research shows that adding somatic modalities can be beneficial in reducing anxiety (Kuhfuß et. al., 2021).
Somatic-based therapy modalities acknowledge the connection between our mind and body, which leads to trauma manifesting physically in our bodies. One of my favourite books that explores the relationship between emotions and physical manifestations is You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay.
What is Somatic, and the psychology behind somatic healing?
The meaning of somatic is body-oriented. The modalities that help us to heal by experiencing our body in the here and now, or the present moment, are somatic psychology modalities. This can be accessed in various ways, including physical movement, breath work, and increased awareness of sensations and embodied emotions. As well as inviting qualities such as non-judgment, curiosity, openness, and self-compassion.
Some of the somatic exercises that you can practice often are as follows:
- Grounding exercises: 5-4-3-2-1 sensing exercises (five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste).
- Breath work, whether it is simple box breathing or specific yogic breathing practices known as pranayama (Anulom Vilom pranayama, Brahmaree pranayama or Kapalbhati).
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation technique
- Physical slow movements: Stretching, dancing, walking, yoga, nature walk and more.
To learn somatic exercises to reduce anxiety Swapna Viswanathan is hosting a three workshop series with different content every session.
You can book either 1, 2 or all three workshops.
REGISTER FOR THE SOMATIC EXERCISE WORKSHOP
Only 10 seats are available for each session. Open to pre-registered participants only.
References:
Kuhfuß, M., Maldei, T., Hetmanek, A., & Baumann, N. (2021). Somatic experiencing -effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy: a scoping literature review.
European journal of psychotraumatology, 12(1), 1929023.
https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1929023
564-572 Weber Street North, Unit 3A Waterloo, Ontario N2L5C6
