How to Use Somatic Exercises to Release Trauma

Imagine it's a Tuesday afternoon. You're trying to focus on a spreadsheet, but your jaw is clenched and there's a familiar tightness in your chest. Your body is acting like you're in danger.

That kind of physical response can come from many things: stress, poor sleep, caffeine, a looming deadline, or general nervous system load. For some people, it can also be an echo of past trauma, a physical memory that stays long after the event is over.

About 64% of U.S. adults report at least one adverse childhood experience, with 17% reporting four or more. Most people exposed to trauma don't develop persistent somatic symptoms. When the body does hold on (often because the original experience wasn't fully processed at the time), the patterns can show up as the kind of physical tension this article explores.

Key Learnings

• Somatic exercises work with physical sensations to help your body release tension it's been carrying, whether from chronic stress or unresolved trauma.
• Gentle, body-based practice helps the nervous system shift out of chronic fight, flight, or freeze patterns and return to balance.
• Starting with gentle practices like grounding and conscious breathing can create a foundation of safety, making it easier to process more difficult sensations over time.

Why Your Body Remembers What Your Mind Tries to Forget

When you experience something overwhelming, your brain and nervous system jump into action. They're designed to protect you by triggering a fight, flight, or freeze response. Sometimes that energy gets stuck. Your brain might know the danger has passed, while your body remains on high alert.

This is the same dynamic Bessel van der Kolk wrote about in his 2014 book The Body Keeps the Score.

The unresolved energy from trauma can show up as chronic muscle tension, digestive issues, or a feeling of being disconnected from yourself. Somatic experiencing has shown preliminary evidence for reducing PTSD-related symptoms by working directly with the physical responses trauma leaves behind.

Somatic exercises work directly with this physiological imprint. They are gentle, body-focused movements and awareness techniques that help your nervous system complete those protective responses and release the stored stress.

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5 Gentle Somatic Exercises to Help Your Body Release Trauma

These exercises are designed to be done slowly and with deep attention to your body’s signals. The key is to stay within your window of tolerance, the range where you can feel emotions and physical sensations without becoming overwhelmed or numb. Inside the window, you might notice discomfort and still feel present and able to think clearly.

Signs you've moved outside the window:

• Your breath gets shallow or your heart rate spikes
• You feel suddenly numb, foggy, or disconnected from your body
• Emotions become flooding rather than manageable
• You feel an urgent need to stop and escape

If any of these show up, gently pull back. Take a few slow breaths, look around the room, feel your feet on the floor, and return to the practice only when you feel settled.

1. Grounding

When your nervous system is in overdrive, grounding helps it recognize that you are safe right now. It brings your awareness to the physical support of the ground beneath you. Grounding has been shown to shift brain signaling almost instantaneously. Shifting attention to neutral sensory information in the present moment signals to your nervous system that the immediate environment is safe.

How to do it:

• Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor.
• Feel the weight of your body in the chair and the sensation of your feet connecting with the ground.
• Slowly press your feet into the floor for 10 seconds, then release.
• Notice the subtle shifts in your legs and body.
• Repeat this 3–5 times, paying close attention to the physical sensations.

2. The Butterfly Hug

Developed for trauma survivors, the butterfly hug is a form of bilateral stimulation that helps calm and regulate the nervous system by engaging both sides of the brain. This self-soothing technique helps regulate your emotions and process experiences.

Activating both hemispheres of the brain is thought to reduce the intensity of distressing feelings and create a sense of containment and safety.

How to do it:

• Cross your arms over your chest, so your right hand rests on your left shoulder and your left hand on your right shoulder.
• Link your thumbs to form the butterfly's body.
• Begin to tap your hands on your shoulders slowly and alternately, like the gentle flapping of a butterfly's wings.
• Breathe slowly and deeply as you tap for 1-2 minutes.

3. Pendulation

Pendulation is the practice of gently shifting your attention between a sensation of tension or discomfort and a place in your body that feels neutral or even pleasant. This teaches your nervous system that it can experience a moment of activation without getting stuck there. It builds resilience and flexibility, showing your body it can move out of a stress state and back into a relaxed one.

How to do it:

• First, find a place in your body that feels relatively calm or neutral (like your hands, or the feeling of your feet on the floor).
• Then, briefly bring your awareness to a place of mild tension (like a tight shoulder).
• Hold your attention there for just a few seconds, then gently guide it back to the place of ease.
• Go back and forth a few times, always ending in the place of comfort.

4. TRE Exercises (Shaking)

Have you ever noticed your hands shake when you're nervous, or how an animal shakes after a close call? This is called neurogenic tremoring, and it's the body’s natural way of releasing stress hormones and calming the nervous system. Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) intentionally activate this shaking mechanism.

One study found the exercises reduced the perceived severity of trauma symptoms by 33%. Involuntary shaking helps relieve the deep muscular tension created during a traumatic event, completing the fight-or-flight cycle.

How to do it (a simple version):

A note before you try this: of all the practices in this list, TRE is the most activating, and people with significant trauma histories are generally advised to learn it first with a trained TRE facilitator. The gentle introduction below is a way to explore the technique on your own. If the shaking becomes intense or overwhelming at any point, slow it down or stop entirely and return to a grounding practice.

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, close to your hips.
• Let your knees fall open to the sides, bringing the soles of your feet together.
• Gently raise your pelvis an inch or two off the floor.
• Hold this position and notice if any gentle shaking or trembling begins in your legs or pelvis. If it does, allow it without trying to control it.
• Let it continue for a minute or two, then slowly lower your hips and rest.

5. Voo Sounding

The vagus nerve is a major component of your parasympathetic nervous system, the part responsible for "rest and digest." Making a low, vibrating sound can gently stimulate this nerve, signaling your body to relax.

The vibrations created by the sound physically stimulate the vagal nerve endings in your throat and chest. This activation increases vagal tone, which is associated with better emotional regulation and a calmer nervous system.

The vagus nerve is a major component of your parasympathetic nervous system, the part responsible for rest and digest. Making a low, vibrating sound can gently stimulate this nerve, signaling your body to relax. The vibrations created by the sound physically stimulate the vagal nerve endings in your throat and chest, which increases vagal tone and is associated with better emotional regulation and a calmer nervous system.

How to do it:

• Take a slow, deep breath in, filling your belly.
• As you exhale, make a low, deep "Voooooooo" sound, like a foghorn.
• Feel the vibration in your chest and throat.
• Continue for the full length of your exhalation. Repeat 5-10 times.

Creating a Safe and Consistent Practice

Healing from trauma is not a linear process. The key to somatic work is consistency and self-compassion.

• Start small: Begin with just 5 minutes a day. The goal is to create a gentle, sustainable routine.
• Listen to your body: If an exercise feels overwhelming, stop. Your body’s wisdom is your best guide.
• Be patient: These patterns have been in your body for a long time. It takes time to build new ones.

Building consistency is easier with tools that help you notice what's shifting. Tracking your mood and physical sensations alongside these practices makes the subtle changes visible over weeks rather than days.

Reclaim Your Body as a Safe Place

Somatic exercises offer a powerful truth: your body has an innate capacity to heal. Trauma isn't a life sentence of tension. By learning to listen to your body’s signals and offering it gentle ways to release stored stress, you can slowly guide your nervous system back to a state of balance.

This journey is more than feeling calm; it's about reclaiming your body as a safe and trustworthy home. It’s about remembering that even after the most difficult experiences, wholeness is possible.

References

1. Brom, D., Stokar, Y., Lawi, C., Nuriel-Porat, V., Ziv, Y., Lerner, K., & Ross, G. (2017). Somatic Experiencing for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Outcome Study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 30(3), 304–312. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22189
2. Chevalier, G., Sinatra, S. T., Oschman, J. L., Sokal, K., & Sokal, P. (2012). Earthing: health implications of reconnecting the human body to the Earth's surface electrons. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2012, 291541. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/291541
3. 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), Article 1929023. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1929023
4. Parker, J., Shook, B., Washington, D., English, B., & Tatum, C. (2024). The Effect of Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) on Trauma Symptoms in East African Refugees. Psychology, 15(1).
5. Swedo, E. A., Aslam, M. V., Dahlberg, L. L., Niolon, P. H., Guinn, A. S., Simon, T. R., & Mercy, J. A. (2023). Prevalence of adverse childhood experiences among U.S. adults — Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2011–2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 72(26), 707–715. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7226a2.htm