We dwell in a world that celebrates exhaustion. We brag about being busy, put on sleep deprivation like a badge of honor, and even flip mindfulness into one other productiveness hack. But after we lastly collapse on the sofa on the finish of the day, the issues we name “enjoyable”—scrolling, streaming, sipping—not often depart us feeling restored. They’re distractions, not renewal. In reality, even the dashing itself is usually a distraction, conserving us from noticing what lies beneath.
What if slowing down might truly refill your tank in a manner that lasts? What if relaxation wasn’t one thing you needed to earn, however one thing you possibly can select—intentionally, unapologetically, and with the identical intention you carry to your exercises or your workday?
Why Slowing Down Feels So Onerous
Only a heads up: slowing down can really feel uncomfortable at first. I see this on a regular basis with new college students and retreat contributors. Many people are so used to transferring on the tempo of the world round us that pausing feels unnatural—and even flawed.
I do know this firsthand. As a Division 1 volleyball participant in faculty, I used to be skilled to push by way of damaged fingers, sprained ankles, and again ache. I grew to become an professional at ignoring my physique—and for years, that mindset saved me from noticing after I really wanted relaxation.
It took me a very long time to comprehend that slowing down isn’t weak point. It’s power of a special form. It’s a observe of listening, of tuning in, of reclaiming power as an alternative of leaking it. That’s the guts of somatic yoga: a mild but highly effective method to reconnect with your self, soothe your nervous system, and uncover what true relaxation and renewal can really feel like.
What Is Somatic Yoga?
Consider somatic yoga as a observe that shifts the main focus from how a pose appears to be like to the way it feels. As an alternative of striving for “excellent” alignment, it invitations you to decelerate and spot the subtler messages your physique is sending.
Actions are light, intentional, and sometimes smaller than in a conventional class—however don’t let that idiot you. These conscious explorations can create huge shifts: releasing rigidity, bettering mobility, calming the nervous system, and bringing you again into stability.
At its core, somatic yoga is about transferring from inside. It’s much less about attaining an exterior purpose and extra about creating notion—what you’re feeling inside (interoception), the place your physique is in house (proprioception), and the way you connect with the world round you (exteroception). On this manner, somatic yoga doesn’t simply complement conventional observe, it deepens it—serving to you method acquainted poses with contemporary consciousness and perception.
The Science Behind Slowing Down
Why Your Mind Wants Gradual Motion
Slowing down is required if you wish to transfer with deliberate intention and targeted consideration. Quick actions start and finish earlier than you’ve had an opportunity to note something. However gradual motion offers your mind time to assemble data, interpret it, and reply—creating a transparent, detailed “map” of your physique in movement.
Consider it like this: zipping down the freeway offers you solely a blur of the town, however strolling the streets enables you to discover the structure, the cafés, the hidden gardens. The slower the tempo, the extra element your mind can register—and the extra prospects you uncover.
How Somatic Yoga Reduces Ache
For this reason slowing down can change the way in which we expertise ache. At full velocity, you may conclude, “My shoulder hurts every time I raise my arm.” However whenever you transfer slowly, chances are you’ll discover the ache solely reveals up whenever you raise shortly, at a sure angle, or past a sure top. That consciousness offers you a manner in—an opportunity to discover new choices as an alternative of avoiding motion altogether. And whenever you understand your “unhealthy” shoulder doesn’t at all times damage, the story you inform your self about your physique begins to vary.
The Neuroscience of Gradual
Somatic yoga additionally takes benefit of the Weber–Fechner Legislation, which explains that when the depth of a stimulus is low (like transferring gently and slowly), our mind turns into significantly better at detecting variations. It’s why you may simply catch the distinction between one candle and two, however not between 100 candles and 101. In motion, slowing down reveals pointless rigidity and energy that will in any other case go unnoticed.
In line with Henneman’s Measurement Precept, the physique recruits small, exact motor models first, earlier than calling on the larger, much less refined ones. In observe, which means gradual, low-force motion depends on the finer, extra managed muscle fibers—serving to us construct coordination and steadiness.
And after we decelerate, we break away from behavior. Fast actions are likely to fall into our previous, acquainted patterns, whereas gradual actions create house for novelty. That novelty—attempting one thing in a brand new manner—is what sparks neuroplasticity, the mind’s capability to rewire itself and study.
Maybe most significantly, transferring slowly tells your nervous system that you just’re secure. Diminished mechanical forces decrease the sense of risk, creating a relaxed surroundings the place your physique feels free to discover actions that when brought about ache or had been lengthy uncared for. Security is the inspiration for progress and therapeutic, and somatic yoga gives precisely that.
Coming Again to Your self
Somatic yoga is an lively type of relaxation—one which helps you reset and restore whereas strengthening your connection to your self. The place different types of train push you to your edge, somatic yoga pulls you inward, asking: What do I discover? The place do I really feel ease? The place do I really feel caught?
Every time you come back to a motion, it’s by no means fairly the identical—that’s the somatic precept of “repetition with out repetition.” Each breath, each shift of consideration creates a brand new expertise. Over time, these explorations construct larger self-trust, company, and resilience.
Somatic yoga doesn’t simply change the way in which you progress on the mat—it adjustments the way in which you progress by way of life.
Attempt Somatic Yoga for Your self
When you’d wish to expertise it firsthand, right here’s a guided observe on the connection between the backbone, core, and low ribs to get you began.
Take the Free Somatic Yoga Class right here
And if you happen to really feel known as to go deeper, I supply weekly somatic yoga courses dwell on Zoom—sure, I ship out recordings—in addition to annual somatic yoga retreats the place we discover this work in neighborhood. —Karin
References
- Enoka, R. M., & Duchateau, J. (2014). Understanding neuromuscular operate. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
- Kattenstroth, J. C., et al. (2013). Dance improves stability, coordination, and cognition in older adults. Frontiers in Ageing Neuroscience.
- Doidge, N. (2025). Slowness of motion boosts consciousness and studying. Psychology At the moment.
- Hartley, L.Knowledge of the Physique Transferring: An Introduction to Physique-Thoughts Centering.
- Hargrove, T. A Information to Higher Motion: The Science and Observe of Transferring with Extra Talent and Much less Ache.
- Cohen, B. B. Sensing, Feeling, and Motion: The Experiential Anatomy of Physique-Thoughts Centering.
- Hanna, T. Somatics: Reawakening the Thoughts’s Management of Motion, Flexibility, and Well being.