Somatic therapy exercises: What to try when your body won't calm down

Your body is always talking to you. That full-body “yes” feeling when something clicks—relaxed shoulders, easy breathing, a clear head. And the opposite: the tight chest before a hard conversation, the racing heart when anxiety spikes, the 3 a.m. mind that won’t stop replaying your to-do list.

When your body sends those distress signals, it’s easy to interpret them as proof that something is seriously wrong—which tends to amplify the feeling rather than resolve it. But just like your nervous system can send you into a spiral, you can send signals back: a slow exhale, shoulders deliberately dropping, feet pressing into the floor. These cue your nervous system that it’s safe to stand down, which often helps your body settle enough to respond more intentionally.

That’s the premise behind somatic therapy exercises. They work with your body’s own communication system to interrupt the stress response and guide you back to calm. And certain exercises work better for certain moments—which is exactly how this guide is organized.

Woman in a white shirt sitting on a gray couch across from a therapist

What are somatic therapy exercises?

Somatic therapy exercises are body-based regulation techniques used across many therapy approaches—including somatic therapy, CBT, and DBT—to help calm the nervous system through physical sensation, movement, or breath. They’re useful when you’re feeling stressed, anxious, disconnected from your surroundings, or triggered by something from your past.

Common types include breathwork, grounding exercises, and progressive muscle relaxation, but the full range is broader than most people realize. Plus, different exercises work better in different situations.

Why do somatic therapy exercises work?

To understand why these exercises work, it helps to understand what’s happening in your body when stress hits. Your nervous system is essentially a team of specialists, each with a distinct role. Here’s who’s in charge depending on what you’re experiencing:

The prefrontal cortex: Your logical decision-maker. Under normal circumstances, this part of your brain helps you think clearly, weigh your options, and respond intentionally to what’s happening around you.
The amygdala: Your emotional alarm system. When the prefrontal cortex detects a significant enough threat, it steps back—and the amygdala takes over. The amygdala is excellent at processing emotions and reading the room, but logic isn’t its strong suit. In the driver’s seat, it produces automatic, survival-driven reactions (snapping at someone before you’ve thought it through, freezing up when you need to speak, or reading a neutral message as a threat)
The fight-or-flight response: When the alarm goes off. “As soon as you go into the stress response, the thinking or logic part of your brain—the prefrontal cortex—is offline,” says Kelly Kellerman, a licensed clinical social worker at Thriveworks. When that happens, the amygdala runs the show, and flexible thinking becomes harder to access. Your reactions tend to be faster and more emotional than you’d like.

The key insight: Trying to think your way out of a stress response is an uphill battle since the part of your brain responsible for rational thought is much harder to access. Calm the body first, then the prefrontal cortex can come back online.

That’s exactly what somatic exercises do. “Somatic exercises are great resources to come back to the present,” says Toni Teixeira, LCSW, a licensed therapist specializing in somatic interventions. “When you can do that, you can find more possibilities to deal with your situation.”

10 somatic therapy exercises, organized by the moment you need them

Rather than give you a generic list of techniques, we asked therapists which exercises work best for specific situations you’re likely to encounter. Here’s what they recommend.

When your mind won’t slow down at night

You’ve been looking forward to sleep all day. And then the moment your head hits the pillow, your brain decides it’s the perfect time to replay that weird thing you said in a meeting three weeks ago, worry about your kid’s screen time, or catastrophize about a text you haven’t answered.

Try this: Ankle circles

This exercise is simple, but the physical focus is the point: It gives your brain something concrete to track instead of the spiral.

Start with a few slow, deep breaths. “Those breaths, especially a longer exhale, can help signal to your brain that you want to be calm,” Kellerman says. If deep breathing makes you lightheaded, switch to smaller breaths and slow the exhale.
Lying flat on your back, flex your feet and do four small circles with your ankles, staying fully focused on the movement.
Reverse direction—four circles the other way. “Breathe in and out throughout. We want to give the message to the body that ‘I’m safe and I’m relaxed,’” Kellerman says.

Another option: Progressive muscle relaxation

Lie flat on your back, take a few deep breaths, and start at your toes. “Curl them and hold tight for five seconds, then release,” Kellerman instructs. Work through each muscle group from your feet up to your face, tensing and releasing as you go. The physical release of tension signals to your nervous system that there’s no threat—nothing to brace for.

When anxiety is spiking and you need immediate relief

When anxious or worried, “our breathing usually gets shallow and can lead to hyperventilation,” Teixeira says. The problem is that shallow breathing feeds anxiety, making your heart beat faster and your muscles tense up. You have to interrupt that pattern before it escalates.

Try this: 3-5 breathing

Inhale for a count of three, then exhale for a count of five. Use the “one Mississippi, two Mississippi” pace to keep it slow. The extended exhale is what does the work: It signals your nervous system to downshift. Research confirms that slow, controlled breathing reduces both subjective anxiety and its physical symptoms, including elevated heart rate and muscle tension.

When you’re dreading a difficult conversation

Whether it’s asking your manager for a raise or finally addressing something with a friend who keeps crossing a line, the anticipation of hard conversations can be its own kind of overwhelm. Your nervous system doesn’t always know the difference between “real danger” and “uncomfortable talk you’ve been putting off.”

Try this: Intentional walking

“If you’re dreading a conversation, do some walking with intention,” Kellerman says. “Notice your feet on the ground. How does it feel? How do your feet feel in your shoes?” Movement refocuses attention on the present—what’s physically happening right now—instead of the conversation you’re mentally rehearsing.

If you’re in a small space like a bathroom stall before a meeting, try pressing your palm flat against the wall and noticing what it feels like—the texture, the temperature, the pressure.

When dread or anxiety hits and you’re around other people

You can’t exactly get up and take a walk during a work meeting or when you’re standing in line at the grocery store. These two techniques work when you need to regulate without drawing attention to yourself.

In an active conversation or meeting, try this: Feet on the floor

“Put your feet on the ground and really notice your feet on the floor,” Kellerman says. That simple act of grounding redirects your attention to physical sensation and signals safety to your nervous system.

In a public space where you’re not engaged, try this: 5-4-3-2-1 technique

Name (out loud or in your phone’s notes app):

5 things you can see
4 things you can feel
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste

The sensory inventory interrupts anxious thought loops by anchoring you in exactly where you are right now—which, your nervous system will note, is probably fine.

When a past trauma is triggered

Both large-scale traumas—assault, sudden loss, serious accidents—and the quieter ones that still leave a mark, like being chronically criticized as a kid or a devastating job loss, can shape how your nervous system responds to the world. When a trigger reminds you of that past experience, consciously or not, the reaction can feel overwhelming or even out-of-body.

Try this: The anchor scan

“Sit up straight and start moving your head slowly over your left shoulder, scanning the room,” Kellerman explains.

Complete four full, slow scans from left to right:

Scan 1: Name objects you see out loud (a lamp, a window, a bookshelf).
Scan 2: Once you’re all the way to the right shoulder, scan again. This time, name the color of each thing.
Scan 3: Name the shapes of the items.
Scan 4: Look for a specific category—all white things, all rectangular things.

“It’s doing double duty,” Kellerman says. “You’re engaging your prefrontal cortex by naming things, but you’re bringing in that slow movement to indicate you’re not in danger.” That combination of slow movement and active naming is what Kellerman finds makes it particularly effective for trauma responses in her work with clients.

Important note: Body-focused or trauma-oriented exercises can be activating for some people. If this increases distress or dissociation, stop and switch to external orienting (name neutral objects) and consider practicing with a therapist.

When you’re annoyed by what’s happening around you

Long line, bad traffic, noise you can’t escape. Small environmental irritants can compound quickly, especially on difficult days, and before you know it, irritation has escalated into anxiety or anger.

Try this: Visual orienting

“Start by looking around and noticing your environment,” Teixeira says. “When you look around, you’re cueing your body that you’re safe. Slow breathing while you do this is a bonus.” The deliberate act of scanning for neutral or safe details—rather than fixating on the source of the annoyance—signals to your nervous system that the situation is manageable.

When stress is constant and nothing seems to shift it

If anxiety is your baseline—not a spike you can ride out, but a low-grade hum that’s always there—a technique called Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), or tapping, may be worth exploring.

For EFT, you tap on specific points on the face and body while talking through your emotions. A therapist can help you develop what to say as you tap, but free instructional videos are also widely available online if you want to get a sense of how it works first. Some studies suggest EFT may reduce distress—particularly related to anxiety, depression, phobias, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—but more research is needed to confirm exactly how it works. If you try it, treat it as one tool and see how you respond.

How to get the most out of these exercises

The exercises above work best when you’ve already practiced them before you need them.

“You can’t just do a somatic therapy exercise when you experience the trigger—it’s very much like muscle memory,” Kellerman says. Practice might look like trying one or two during a quiet moment in your day, or working through them with a therapist.

“Once you’ve practiced exercises when you felt calm for two to four weeks, you might start being able to intervene and use them more effectively when you’re feeling dysregulated,” Teixeira adds.

Understanding the types of somatic therapy exercises

The scenarios above give you a sense of what to reach for in the moment. This table offers the bigger picture: the main categories of somatic exercises, when they’re most useful, what they do, and an example of each.

Type	When to use it	What it does	Example
Visual orienting	Feeling annoyed or triggered by your environment	Anchors you in the physical space	Look for something specific in your environment and name it
Breath-based exercises	Anxiety or panic spikes	Regulates the autonomic nervous system	3-5 breathing
Release exercises	Difficulty sleeping or pent-up energy	Calms the body’s stress response	Progressive muscle relaxation
Movement	Anxious or dreading something ahead	Refocuses attention on the present moment	Intentional walking
Grounding exercises	Dissociation or disconnection	Grounds you in your body and environment	5-4-3-2-1
Body-centered techniques	Persistent or chronic anxiety	Calms the body and mind	Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
Trauma-specific techniques	Trauma responses or out-of-body feelings	Re-engages the prefrontal cortex and signals safety	Anchor scan

When to bring in a therapist

Somatic exercises are genuinely useful on their own. They can calm your body, clear your head, and give you a way to intervene when things start to spiral. But Kellerman is clear that they’re one part of the picture. “The other part of the work is figuring out the root cause.”

She uses an analogy that lands: If you’re taking antacids every day for a week and still having symptoms, you’d go see a doctor to understand what’s actually going on. Somatic exercises work the same way. They’re worth using—they provide real relief—but they work best alongside therapy that helps you understand why your nervous system keeps going there in the first place.

“Somatic practices may help you regulate in certain situations,” Teixeira explains, “but having the support of a therapist can help you make changes in your patterns of behavior that go along with some triggers.”

If you’re ready to explore that deeper work, finding a therapist who incorporates somatic approaches can be a natural next step. You can browse Thriveworks providers online or call us to find someone who fits.