Patriot Health Digest
Your emails are overflowing, your notifications are going nuts, and deadlines are approaching. Work can be a big stress on our brains, but also on our bodies.
If you can relate to this, take one moment to do a full-body scan. The results could surprise you—are you subconsciously clenching your muscles? Are your shoulders feeling loose or tight, pushed up close to your ears?
If you said yes, then try a quick somatic release exercise. Shared on instagram, the infographic below gives step-by-step instructions on how to tune your body, and encourage stress and tension to go away in only 60 seconds.
This version is one of many somatic exercises that can release your tension and stress kept in your body. Just like other somatic exercises—a term created by Thomas Hanna, PhD, that means gentle and slow movements that make us more calm and limber—these simple routines force us to listen to our body and breath to create relaxation.
How to remove stress using a somatic release
1. Start by relaxing your jaw. Unclench your teeth. Your jaw is normally the first place where you tense up. Unclench your teeth and then relax. Breathe. Relax again. Then breathe again.
2. Then, go down to your shoulders, letting them fall down and back while tilting your neck from side-to-side to let go of any stiffness.
3. After that, wiggle your hands, stretching your fingers out and opening your hands then shutting them. Let all that excess energy go!
4. Then, move to your eyes, rolling them side to side and blinking every now and then. When you focus or get “into the zone”, you might get tunnel vision. So move your eyes. First side to side then up and down. This will help stop migraines and headaches.
5. Now stick out your tongue, which helps un-clench your jaw more easily while relaxing your other muscles on your face.
6. Finally, take three deep stomach breaths, inhaling fully then exhaling fully. This is the best and most efficient way to reconnect with your body.
Author: Steven Sinclaire
