Somatic Yoga Is the Key to Truly Relaxing and Unwinding This Year

Yoga that’s truly relaxing and meditative can be surprisingly hard to find these days. (If you’ve ever found yourself doing biceps curls in a “yoga” class, you know what I’m talking about.) And while there’s a place for yoga classes that feel more like interval workouts, sometimes you need a practice that allows you to slow down and reset.

One antidote to the yoga trends that make your heart race (like “snake yoga”—yes, you read that right) is somatic yoga, a practice that combines somatic movements—where you focus on how an exercise makes you feel by moving your body as gently and compassionately as possible—and yoga postures and that emphasizes the mind-body connection.

But what, exactly, is somatic yoga, and what makes it so different from the kinds of classes you’re probably more familiar with? We asked two veteran teachers to explain, and to share the benefits of this unique practice.

Okay, seriously, what is somatic yoga?

Somatic yoga classes typically include yoga poses you already know, plus somatic exercises, which are typically simple, small movements aimed at promoting more awareness within the body.

But in somatic yoga, it’s often not so much what you’re doing that’s unique, but how you’re doing it. “We’re practicing holding our attention on what we’re doing throughout the entire practice,” says Lisa Tatham Flynn, a New York City-based teacher certified in Hanna Somatic Education and trauma-informed yoga therapy. “It’s a first-person, internal, lived-experience practice,” unlike in some other types of yoga, where you may be focused on your body from the outside in.

Not all somatic yoga classes look exactly the same, and different teachers may have different approaches (some may incorporate elements of yoga therapy, for instance, or Feldenkrais Method). But here are some ways that a somatic yoga class might look and feel different from other forms of yoga.

1. It’s about how you feel, not achieving a posture

Unlike in other forms of yoga, where the focus may be on achieving a posture or a movement with the correct form or to the fullest extent, in somatic yoga, the actual shapes that the body is making aren’t so relevant, says Armen Menechyan, a Los Angeles-based teacher specializing in yoga therapy and somatic practices and founder of Pür Joy.

“There’s no right way that a posture needs to look,” Menechyan says. Instead, somatic yoga encourages moving within a range that’s comfortable for your body, and approaching the movement with a sense of playfulness and exploration.

2. You’ll probably spend lots of time on the floor

The first thirty to forty minutes of Menechyan’s classes are often spent on the floor, moving from a relaxed, lying down position. In the Hanna Somatic Yoga that Flynn teaches, students relax on the floor between postures, taking a minute to “notice the sensory feedback that the movement generated,” she says. “There’s information coming from the skin, muscles, joints, bones, and your peripheral nervous system up to your sensory cortex, and your motor cortex uses it to help you do whatever movement comes next.”

3. It’s not focused on stretching

For some people, yoga is basically synonymous with stretching. But in somatic yoga, “we don’t stretch,” Flynn says. In fact, instead of focusing on the lengthening side of a movement (for example, your back during cat pose), in somatic yoga, the focus is on the contracting side of the movement (so the abdominals in cat pose).

The idea is that “by putting our attention on the contracting side of the movement, we’re using our nervous system to inhibit the lengthening side from contracting, and it gets to lengthen without being stretched,” Flynn says.

4. Much of the practice happens in your mind

Hanna Somatic Yoga teaches that students should visualize doing a posture before actually doing it. “When you do a visualization, your premotor cortex sends what’s called a motor plan to your body, letting your muscles know what they’re going to need to do,” Flynn says. And if there’s a posture that you’re not able to do, or that just isn’t in your practice that day? “Do it in your imagination,” she says.

“Somatic yoga encourages moving within a range that’s comfortable for your body.” —Armen Menechyan, somatic yoga teacher

The benefits of somatic yoga that’ll convince you to give it a shot

1. Reengaging dormant muscles

“Most of us have places where we carry sensory motor amnesia,” Flynn says. “You lose the sense of what a muscle feels like or what it does.” She says we might experience this as a range of motion that is limited and doesn’t seem to improve no matter how much we stretch it. Somatic yoga helps to reengage and reset those muscles, she says.

2. Managing tightness

Flynn says somatic yoga can help teach your body to help release muscles that it is contracting habitually. “Your nervous system is working 24/7 to maintain those contractions, so if you think about your brain as a computer, you have less bandwidth available,” she says. “Sleep is affected, and if you’re holding tight abdominal muscles, as many of us are, digestion and breathing are probably affected.”

3. Better mind-body connection

“I think the biggest benefit that my head and my heart are aligned, and I’m not neglecting my body,” Menechyan says. Flynn likens the idea of integrating your mind and body to having a sixth sense. “You’re tuning in, you’re developing that sixth sense, which gives you a sense of how you are in any moment,” she says. “When you have the ability to internally monitor, you have the ability to self-regulate and self-heal.”

4. Shifting out of the sympathetic nervous system

Flynn says somatic yoga can help practitioners shift from the sympathetic nervous system, where your body is activated and stressed, to the parasympathetic nervous system, where your body is relaxed and conserving energy. “You’re not going to remain there all the time—life means there’s moments when you need to become activated,” she says. “But you won’t stay activated—you’ll reset.”

5. Mental and physical relief

“If I’ve had a stressful day, the class will bring me back home to my body,” Menechyan says. “If there’s any sort of symptoms of anxiety or depression, it’ll give me space around that to see more clearly. When it comes to chronic pain and fatigue, it provides less neural inflammation and less body inflammation, so pain goes down a lot of times.” (Check out these somatic exercises for depression.)

5 somatic yoga poses to try

Flynn emphasizes that the principles of somatic yoga can be applied to any yoga pose and any style of yoga. Here, she shares some somatic exercises, plus how to approach several common poses from a somatic yoga perspective.

1. Shoulder lift

1. 1.
   Kneel on the floor with your palms on the tops of your thighs, or sit in a position that’s most comfortable for you.
2. 2.
   Slowly draw your shoulders up, tilting your head back slightly.
3. 3.
   Then, even more slowly and with control, allow your shoulders to release to gravity and your head to come forward to neutral.
4. 4.
   Repeat three times.

TIP

“The first time you do it, you may feel like you can’t control it,” Flynn says. “But the next time, it’ll be a little smoother.” Take a moment afterward to notice any new sensations.

2. Lying twist

1. 1.
   Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, a comfortable distance apart. (If you experience any lower back pain, try widening your feet.)
2. 2.
   Have your arms out to your sides in a T-shape, and gently roll your arms so that one palm is facing the floor and the other is facing the ceiling.
3. 3.
   Slowly roll your head so that you’re facing the palm that is up, and shift your knees towards the palm facing the floor, leaving your feet grounded and only going as far as is comfortable.
4. 4.
   Carefully, reverse the exercise.
5. 5.
   Continue slowly alternating from side to side for about three cycles, then come back to a neutral position.

TIP

When you’re finished, pause and see what internal sensory information you notice, Flynn says.

3. Tree pose (Vrikshasana)

1. 1.
   Begin standing with your feet hip-width distance apart and your arms down by your sides.
2. 2.
   Inhale to elongate your spine, then exhale to shift your weight onto your left foot.
3. 3.
   Place the sole of your right foot against the inside of your left ankle, then slide the sole of your right foot up the inside of your left leg as far as you can comfortably go.
4. 4.
   Inhale and gently open your chest. As you exhale, press your foot and inner leg together to stay centered and strong.
5. 5.
   Bring your palms together in front of your heart in prayer position. (You can hold onto something for more stability if needed.)
6. 6.
   Stay here for a few rounds of breath, then repeat on the other side.
7. 7.
   After working with each side, come back down to the floor to a relaxation position and do a body scan, noticing how the posture has affected you.

4. Cobra pose (Bhujangasana)

1. 1.
   Lying on your stomach, first visualize doing cobra.
2. 2.
   Then, bend your elbows so your hands are facing forward by your side.
3. 3.
   Extend your spine as you inhale, using your back rather than your arms.
4. 4.
   Count to three, then exhale as you slowly release back to the floor.
5. 5.
   Repeat three times.
6. 6.
   Then, stack your hands under your forehead and rest, breathing deeply and noticing how you may feel different.

5. Legs up

1. 1.
   Lie on your back, and visualize doing the following posture before doing it.
2. 2.
   Bend your knees to plant your feet on the floor.
3. 3.
   Using the flexor muscles in your abs and hips, bring your knees toward your chest.
4. 4.
   Slowly, extend your legs towards the ceiling, drawing your attention to the front side of your body.
5. 5.
   Stay there for eight cycles of breath, counting “ohm one, ohm two, ohm three, ohm four” on the inhale and the same on the exhale.
6. 6.
   Slowly and with control, bend your knees to plant your feet back on the ground, then slide your legs out.
7. 7.
   Take a minute to relax and notice any sensory feedback the posture generated.

How to know if somatic yoga is right for you

Everyone can benefit from somatic yoga, Flynn says, but she recommends it especially for anyone who feels stuck in their yoga practice or has gotten injured trying other forms of yoga. “This is a practice that you can do, and you are in control,” she says. “You get to determine what’s the right version for you.” She also suggests it for those interested in exploring their brain-body connection, and those who find other forms of yoga too regimented.

Those suffering from burnout or have trouble concentrating or regulating their emotions may also want to give somatic yoga a try, Menechyan says. “Or anyone who needs slowing down,” he says. “And I think that’s a lot of people right now.”