Somatic Sensations and Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation
Our bodies are in constant conversation with us. They speak through touch, temperature, pain, pressure, tension, vibration and proprioception. These sensations help us sense our inner world and the world around us. They guide how we move, rest, protect ourselves and connect with others. They also shape our emotional life in ways we often miss until we slow down long enough to notice.
This is why somatic awareness matters and has become a key topic in yoga and yoga therapy for the past few years. When we learn to pay attention to these signals without rushing or analysing, we gain a clearer view of our stress levels, our patterns of reactivity and the places where we hold tightly. The body becomes a map, helping us understand our internal state with more honesty and insight.
How Somatic Sensation Shapes the Mind Body Connection
Somatic sensations are real physiological signals that guide how we feel and how we respond to life. They help us interpret our environment and the impact daily life has on us. Research on interoception, the sense of the internal state of our body shows how closely these signals are linked with emotional experience and self awareness.
When we tune into these sensations we see how physical tension, breath patterns, posture and emotion influence each other. A tight jaw can reflect overwhelm, a sunken chest tiredness, fear or chronically feeling as if the world is on our shoulders. A restless belly can point to worry. Over time as we notice these sensations they can give us space to respond rather than tighten further. It helps us recognise stress before it becomes burnout or exhaustion.
Somatic practices support trauma recovery because the body often holds memories and protective patterns long after our minds have moved on. When approached with care, these practices help release stored tension and build a sense of safety from within. They foster trust in the body’s signals and help us respond in a way that fits the situation and helps strengthen the connection between body and mind.
But what happens when sensation feels unsafe?
Not everyone feels comfortable sensing their body. For people with a history of trauma turning inward can bring up sensations of fear, numbness and overwhelm. This response is their bodies way of keeping them safe, showing how the nervous system has learned over time to protect them.
A trauma sensitive approach centres on choice. It lets people decide how far they want to go and gives permission to stay with the breath, the room, or the sounds around them if that feels easier. Research on somatic therapy, including Somatic Experiencing shows how this gentle pacing supports safety and regulation.
As yoga teachers or therapist these simple steps can support your work.
Orientation: Begin here. Look around the room. Notice colour and light. These small steps help the nervous system to settle.
Anchors: Use external anchors such as sound (not all sound is equal) I will give you an example in one of my case studies. grounding touch, or a slow steady breath. These help create a sense of safety.
Sensation as choice: Offer clear choices. Give ways to engage that do not require someone to sense the body directly.
Pacing: Use short periods of sensing rather than long ones. Brief moments are often easier to manage and can grow over time. In yoga nidra this may mean a simple 5 minute practice.
Grounding: Slow movement supports steadiness more than fast movement. Awareness of contact with the floor or seat helps the person to feel safe.
Going slowly respects the pace of the person. It avoids pressure or overwhelm and helps the person to feel safe. Creating a safe space should be at the heart of teaching yoga whether in a one-to-one or class environment.
Brain Shifts
Our brains shift through different states throughout the day and these shifts influence how we feel, how we process sensation, and how deeply we have access to rest.
Image courtesy of FitMind
Here is a simple way of looking at brainwaves states in relation to yoga and somatic work:
Beta: Our waking and thinking state. We can solve problems and deal with the outside world. If the mind is busy we can have trouble accessing somatic sensation, as it can feel sharp or scattered and focus can be challenging.
Alpha: Clarity is one word for alpha, our bodies are easier to sense and we often arrive here during slow breath work or gentle slow movement practices.
Theta: Deep rest and emotional processing, our somatic sensing becomes more vivid as our imagination, memory and intuition rise to the surface of our experience. When we work therapeutically in yin or restorative practices they often support access to this state.
Delta: We arrive at dreamless sleep. This is where our bodies heal and repair, the time spent here effects tissue healing, immune function and metabolic regulation. When the nervous system is overwhelmed delta can be harder to reach.
When we understand these states we begin to see one thing: that rest is not passive! It is a deeply physiological process which is shaped by the nervous system and the way we relate to sensation. Not all rest is equal!
Our Nervous System and Regulation
Our autonomic nervous system manages all the bodies automatic processes. Our heart rate, digestion, blood pressure, stress response and it works from two main branches:
Image courtesy of SimplyPsychology
Often in yoga we hear that we need to regulate our nervous system and activate the parasympathetic nervous system and whilst this is true, we must also understand that the sympathetic nervous system is not a problem to fix. It is essential to our survival and helps us to adapt to life’s constant changes and challenges, it is only harmful when it stays switched on for too long without a return to rest.
For now lets break each system down:
Parasympathetic supports recovery and repair. Our bodies slow down, heart rate lowers, digestion improves, breathing softens, immune function stabilises. Here we literally rest and digest, but it is much more than that. It is here that our bodies are ripe for healing, learning and connection. Somatic practices that involve slow movement, breath awareness, grounding and guided sensing help to activate this branch, giving the body the clear signal that is is safe to settle.
Sympathetic prepares us for action. Our hearts beat faster, our muscles tighten in preparation for action, our breath becomes shallow. Our awareness narrows so we can focus on what is necessary, urgent or a threat. Long term activation affects our sleep, how we digest food, our mood and how we relate to others. Short, appropriate activation helps the body build resilience, training us to rise to challenges, building flexibility rather than fragility.
The autonomic nervous system is fluid. We do not stay in one state all day and it responds to both external events and internal sensation. Polyvagal research adds another layer to this by showing us how the nervous system tracks cues of safety and danger. This includes facial expression, tone of voice, posture, and the environment around us and these cues influence how quickly we return to regulation after stress.
A note on Brain Waves and Healing
Kamini Desai writes on the relationship between brain states and healing. She describes theta and delta as states that allow deep restoration and emotional release. She writes that entering these states opens a doorway to the body’s own healing intelligence and these ideas aligns with much of what we see in somatic and nervous system work.
“REST IS NOT PASSIVE BUT ACTIVE RECOVERY”
This is why somatic work matters in yoga. When we bring gentle attention to sensation, the nervous system shifts towards ease. It grows through contact with our breath, grounding and awareness of our body in the present moment.
Somatic practices offer a direct, bottom up approach to physical regulation by focusing on sensation first, thought second. Over time, this helps the body learn new patterns and respond to stress with more steadiness.
This is the foundation of the Nervous System and Yoga Foundations 50-hour CPD training I am offering online. We will explore regulation, embodiment and the deeper layers of internal sensing through the lens of yoga.
You can access my free resource library for mediation and yoga nidra practices as well as somatic yoga practices to help allow deep rest and recovery.
Warmest, Gem x
