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We reside 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. Yet once we lastly collapse on the sofa on the finish of the day, the issues we name “relaxing”—scrolling, streaming, sipping—not often depart us feeling restored. They’re distractions, not renewal. In reality, even the speeding itself is usually a distraction, conserving us from noticing what lies beneath.
What if slowing down may truly refill your tank in a manner that lasts? What if relaxation wasn’t one thing you needed to earn, however one thing you might select—intentionally, unapologetically, and with the identical intention you convey to your exercises or your workday?
Why Slowing Down Feels So Hard
Just a heads up: slowing down can really feel uncomfortable at first. I see this on a regular basis with new college students and retreat members. Many of us are so used to transferring on the tempo of the world round us that pausing feels unnatural—and even incorrect.
I do know this firsthand. As a Division 1 volleyball participant in school, I used to be skilled to push by means of damaged fingers, sprained ankles, and again ache. I grew to become an professional at ignoring my physique—and for years, that mindset stored me from noticing once 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 sort. It’s a observe of listening, of tuning in, of reclaiming vitality as an alternative of leaking it. That’s the center of somatic yoga: a mild but highly effective solution to reconnect with your self, soothe your nervous system, and uncover what true relaxation and renewal can really feel like.
What Is Somatic Yoga?
Think of somatic yoga as a observe that shifts the main target from how a pose appears to be like to the way it feels. Instead of striving for “perfect” alignment, it invitations you to decelerate and see the subtler messages your physique is sending.
Movements are mild, intentional, and infrequently smaller than in a conventional class—however don’t let that idiot you. These conscious explorations can create huge shifts: releasing pressure, enhancing mobility, calming the nervous system, and bringing you again into steadiness.
At its core, somatic yoga is about transferring from inside. It’s much less about reaching an exterior objective and extra about creating notion—what you are feeling inside (interoception), the place your physique is in house (proprioception), and the way you hook up with the world round you (exteroception). In 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 Brain Needs Slow Movement
Slowing down is required if you wish to transfer with deliberate intention and centered consideration. Fast actions start and finish earlier than you’ve had an opportunity to note something. But sluggish motion provides your mind time to assemble data, interpret it, and reply—creating a transparent, detailed “map” of your physique in movement.
Think of it like this: zipping down the freeway provides 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 Pain
This is why slowing down can change the way in which we expertise ache. At full velocity, you may conclude, “My shoulder hurts whenever I lift my arm.” But if you transfer slowly, it’s possible you’ll discover the ache solely reveals up if you raise rapidly, at a sure angle, or past a sure top. That consciousness provides you a manner in—an opportunity to discover new choices as an alternative of avoiding motion altogether. And if you notice your “bad” shoulder doesn’t all the time damage, the story you inform your self about your physique begins to alter.
The Neuroscience of Slow
Somatic yoga additionally takes benefit of the Weber–Fechner Law, which explains that when the depth of a stimulus is low (like transferring gently and slowly), our mind turns into a lot better at detecting variations. It’s why you possibly can simply catch the distinction between one candle and two, however not between 100 candles and 101. In motion, slowing down reveals pointless pressure and energy that might in any other case go unnoticed.
According to Henneman’s Size Principle, the physique recruits small, exact motor models first, earlier than calling on the larger, much less refined ones. In observe, which means sluggish, low-force motion depends on the finer, extra managed muscle fibers—serving to us construct coordination and steadiness.
And once we decelerate, we break away from behavior. Quick actions are inclined to fall into our previous, acquainted patterns, whereas sluggish actions create house for novelty. That novelty—attempting one thing in a brand new manner—is what sparks neuroplasticity, the mind’s capacity to rewire itself and study.
Perhaps most significantly, transferring slowly tells your nervous system that you simply’re protected. Reduced mechanical forces decrease the sense of risk, creating a relaxed setting the place your physique feels free to discover actions that after precipitated ache or had been lengthy uncared for. Safety is the muse for progress and therapeutic, and somatic yoga offers precisely that.
Coming Back to Yourself
Somatic yoga is an energetic type of relaxation—one which helps you reset and restore whereas strengthening your connection to your self. Where different types of train push you to your edge, somatic yoga pulls you inward, asking: What do I discover? Where do I really feel ease? Where do I really feel caught?
Each time you come back to a motion, it’s by no means fairly the identical—that’s the somatic precept of “repetition without repetition.” Every breath, each shift of consideration creates a brand new expertise. Over time, these explorations construct better self-trust, company, and resilience.
Somatic yoga doesn’t simply change the way in which you progress on the mat—it modifications the way in which you progress by means of life.
Try Somatic Yoga for Yourself
If 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 should you really feel referred to as to go deeper, I provide weekly somatic yoga courses reside 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 perform. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
- Kattenstroth, J. C., et al. (2013). Dance improves steadiness, coordination, and cognition in older adults. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
- Doidge, N. (2025). Slowness of motion boosts consciousness and studying. Psychology Today.
- Hartley, L.Wisdom of the Body Moving: An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering.
- Hargrove, T. A Guide to Better Movement: The Science and Practice of Moving with More Skill and Less Pain.
- Cohen, B. B. Sensing, Feeling, and Action: The Experiential Anatomy of Body-Mind Centering.
- Hanna, T. Somatics: Reawakening the Mind’s Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health.