Lets Work on our Mental health via Somatics

 

Today, Mental Health is the biggest challenge all over the world. Mental Health Awareness has gained a lot of momentum thereby, making it easily accessible to the majority of the masses today. 

Seeking professional Help from a Mental health Professional, or a Pyscho therapist or Psychiatrist has become easier, and important as well. Today working on your mental health is not just an alternative or only for the rich, but it's the need of the hour for everyone. 

We are fortunate to be in the generation of Self-awareness, where therapy has become affordable and flexible with online platforms. Companies like Amaha Healthcare, Rocket Health and Mindtribe have a team of mental health professionals who provide you the option to seek counselling and therapy offline as well as online as per your convenience.

Talk therapy does help a lot, but it only works on your conscious mind, but trauma and stress is something which also gets stored in your body as well as subconscious mind. Hence, to work on a holistic approach of maintaining the balance of your mind and body, there is something called as SOMATICS, which not only works on your conscious mind but also helps you to function better on a daily basis. 

SOMATIC EXERCISES

So, let's start by understanding what is somatics. It is a technique that involves body oriented exercises that approaches your understanding of pain, discomfort and imbalances in the body.

These exercises are also made a part of therapy and mental health counselling sessions which helps one release and manage trauma on a daily basis and also have the potential to reduce recurrent episodes of mental health related problems. These exercises use the techniques of mind-body connection and address those parts of your body that store the trauma.

These somatic exercises, if practiced daily, could help you with controlling panic attacks, trauma responses, anger rages and even intimacy issues. Somatic exercises not only help in relieving pain, but also in relieving stress, enhances emotional awareness, aligns your posture properly and also balances holistically. 

Lets Understand different somatic exercises 

1. Grounding exercises -  

• Move your body - Being constantly sitting or sleeping at one place and not changing your environment, be it workplace, bedroom or your drawing room, it is important to move your body as much as possible after every 45 minutes. 

• Walking everyday- Usually your mental health issues become a bigger problem when you do not allow your body to move. Walking is considered to release dopamine and endorphins which maintain the levels of happy hormones and proper functioning of your brain.

• Taking Sunlight - Sunlight is the richest source of Vitamin D3 and has been found to have an important role in regulating mental health, brain functioning, Calcium metabolism, and even your immune system. Remember to consult a doctor if you are having pain anywhere in your body or feeling that you have a dysregulated mental state, as you could be deficient in D3 and might require supplementation by doctor's prescription.

2. Breathwork 

• Dysregulated or irregular breathing patterns are developed due to extreme stress in the body. It is the signal of the sympathetic nervous system to cope with the levels of adrenaline released in our body. Working on regulating your breathing patterns prevents your body from undergoing stress and reduces anger rages too.

• Being aware of your breathing patterns is an important step towards mental health. 

• Taking deep breaths and also practicing meditation helps regulate your emotions.

3. Posture exercises 

• even though through talk therapy, you might feel lighter, our nervous system never forgets the wounds and trauma we go through 

• Unhealed trauma or childhood wounds get registered by your limbic system which is a part of your nervous system. Your nervous system registers everything and as a coping mechanism stores trauma in different parts of your body.

           1. Shoulder Pain- Stored burden 

           2. Upper back and Lower Back- Anxiety and Lack of Financial independence

           3. Digestive issues- Anxiety 

           4. Pain in the hips- Stored Anxiety and Depression 

           5. Cervical Pain- Fear and Anxiety

           

To release this stored trauma there are various physical exercises that can help you restore normal functioning.

            1. Pelvic lifts - Help you release stored anxiety

            2.  Cat-Camel - releases stored trauma 

            3. Back bending exercises - releases stress and tension

            4. Rotating shoulders- release stress 

            5. Some yoga poses- for balance of mind and body

            

and many more... 

To understand more about Somatics and Somatic exercises You can contact Ms. Priyansha Shankar, who is the CEO & Founder of the Healing tree. She is a holistic healer and expert at somatic therapy.

You can contact her via Whatsapp- 9833929624

You can also follow her page on instagram - https://instagram.com/_the_healing_tree?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==

You can also write to her on Priyanshashankar28@gmail.com ...

You can also write to us on envisagecontent94@gmail.com, if you wish to connect with a mental health professional, we will connect you to them... 

Please let me know in the comments, which topic I shall cover on mental health .....