Somatic Movement Practices for Dissociation: Gentle Ways Back Into Your Body
When people talk, they move. A hand opens and closes. A foot taps under the table. Shoulders rise toward the ears. Most of the time we aren’t aware we’re doing it, but those small movements usually mirror what’s going on inside us emotionally and spiritually, or what was happening in the event we’re describing. The body is always telling the story.
If you live with dissociation, maybe floating a little outside yourself, feeling foggy, or feeling nothing at all when you try to tune in, you may have been told to sit still and scan your body. And maybe that made it worse. You’re not doing it wrong. For many people, stillness isn’t the way back in. Movement is.
Somatic movement practices for dissociation are slow, mindful movements, like shifting your weight between your feet or gently lifting your heels, that help you feel your body and come back into the present moment without overwhelming your nervous system.
What Is Somatic Movement Practice?
Somatic movement practice is moving your body very intentionally, with your mind deeply connected to the movement as it happens. Unlike exercise, where the goal is usually strength, calories or getting through the reps, somatic movement is about feeling the movement from the inside. A movement can be an expression of an emotion, or it can activate, unearth or bring awareness to something you’ve been holding.
You’ll also see this called somatic movement therapy or somatic movement exercises. The names vary, but the heart of it is the same: slow, conscious, embodied movement where you notice what you feel while you move.
What is an example of a somatic practice?
A simple example of a somatic practice is standing with your feet on the ground and slowly shifting your weight from your left foot to your right foot, feeling each foot receive the weight. It looks almost like nothing from the outside. On the inside, it can be the first moment in a long time that you’ve really felt your feet.
Why Movement Helps When Stillness Feels Like Too Much
When someone is dissociated and they move in a mindful way, it helps them become more embodied and more present to the moment. A body scan asks you to find sensation while sitting still, and when you’re dissociated, sometimes there’s nothing to find. You can’t access your body, or you don’t feel anything at all. For some people, that empty search actually makes them feel more dissociated.
Movement is a sneaky back door into becoming more present and connected to your body. When it’s done slowly and mindfully, and especially with a practitioner who is grounded and present with you, the body has something to do and something to feel. Sensation starts to come back on its own.
There’s often something else going on, too. Underneath dissociation there are usually high levels of activation, the same energy that shows up as anxiety, fear or anger. Dissociation is protection: at some point, what was happening was too intense, so you left. If you’ve felt that freeze or collapse for a long time, you may relate to being stuck in a freeze response for years. And if you know the feeling of watching yourself from somewhere else, Why Do I Feel Out of Body? explores where that comes from.
Somatic Exercises for Dissociation You Can Try at Home
These somatic exercises for dissociation are the ones I use with clients, and they’re gentle enough to be at home somatic exercises. Go slowly, and pause whenever you want to.
Seated heel lifts (start here)
Seated heel lifts are the gentlest place to begin, because they bring you into the present moment and are regulating for anxiety at the same time. This is the one I’d have you try first at home.
Sit down with your feet flat on the ground, ideally without shoes.
Mimic walking, one foot at a time. Slowly raise one heel, pressing the ball of your foot into the ground, then lower it.
Feel the articulation. Notice your ankle moving, your knee lifting, and maybe even the back of your thigh lifting off the couch or chair.
Let it become smooth. Movement is often a little jumpy at first. See if it can become a very slow, smooth movement.
Notice what feels best. Is it the pressing into the ground, the lift of the knee, the soft landing of the heel? Let that part be your resource, something you can return to.
The contact with the ground gently engages your muscles while you slowly feel your whole leg come alive. That’s why it works twofold: it supports presence and it settles anxiety.
Weight shifting and finding your center line
Weight shifting is standing with your feet on the ground and slowly moving your weight back and forth between each foot, then noticing the point where your weight is even.
Stand and feel your feet on the ground.
Shift your weight slowly into your left foot, then into your right foot.
Stay with the feet. The feet are far away from where activation usually lives, which is in the core, so focusing downward feels safer for many people.
Find the middle. After some time, notice the moment when your weight is evenly distributed between both feet. You may begin to sense a center line: the center line of your whole body and your whole being.
Slow joint circles
Slow joint circles are very, very slow circles of your ankles or wrists, moving while you feel the articulation of the joint. Let the circle be slower than feels normal. Feel the small bones and the way the joint turns. Slowness is what makes this somatic instead of just a stretch.
Quick Grounding Exercises for Dissociation in the Moment
When you notice yourself starting to drift, the best grounding exercises for dissociation are small movements you can do anywhere, without anyone noticing.
A few seated heel lifts under your desk or the dinner table.
Slow wrist circles while your hands rest in your lap.
A gentle weight shift from foot to foot while standing in line.
One small movement is enough. You don’t have to finish a routine for it to count. If you’d also like stillness-based tools, Feeling Dissociated? Here’s What To Do has more.
Can Movement Make Dissociation Worse?
Yes, movement can make dissociation worse when it’s too fast or too big, which is why slow, small, mindful movement matters so much. Move slowly, stay connected to the feeling of the movement, and stay connected to your emotional state.
Here’s what I see happen. Once people begin to move out of dissociation and become more present, they make contact with the intensity they’ve been holding. They know there are deep things inside them, and they think they need to just express it and then the anger will go away. So they jump straight into yelling or screaming. When they do that, they often leave their body. They end up spacey or buzzy, and then they can move into a collapse afterward.
That makes sense when you remember why dissociation started. Whatever was happening right before the pattern began was too intense, so the body left. Pushing all of that intensity out at once recreates the overwhelm.
Less is more. Do a little bit, then pause. Maybe do a little bit more, then pause. Stay connected to yourself and check in: How did that little movement make me feel?
Practices that tend to backfire
Fast, forceful breathwork. It has a strong tendency to lead people into dissociation. Slower approaches are a different experience, which I talk about in Here Is What You Need To Know About Breathwork Therapy.
Cathartic emotional expression, like screaming or yelling to “get it out.” It can lead you right back out of your body.
Cold plunges, for some people. Cold plunges can be really good, but I wouldn’t recommend them for certain medical conditions or for people who tend to have a lot of freeze.
A Client Story: Seeing Out of Her Own Eyes Again
One client came in feeling like she was floating out of her body, as if her eyes were somewhere above her head. We didn’t do anything dramatic. We simply stood up and did the slow shifting of weight back and forth, for maybe two or three minutes.
Once she really started to feel her feet, I invited her to slowly move in whatever way felt good for her. She went into swaying and some very gentle unwinding of her body. When she finished, she said she felt like she was seeing out of her own eyes again.
That’s what this work often looks like. Not fireworks. Just a person, slowly, coming home.
What Somatic Movement Looks Like in a Session
In a session, I’m not just listening to your words or feeling the emotions and the essence of what you’re expressing. I’m also tracking the cues in how your body moves. When someone talks about something they’re afraid of, I sometimes see their feet move a little, almost as if they’re preparing to run out of the room. When clients get angry, they might close their fists. Or they’ll say, “I just want to shake them,” and their hands come up into that shaking movement.
When that happens, I’ll have them hold their hands in that same position and just notice what happens in their body. Usually they make contact with the anger. I’ll place my forearms where their hands can rest on them, and very slowly, as they feel the anger, they begin to squeeze, a little more and then a little more. An intensity naturally comes out of the body. Sometimes words come. Sometimes the body starts shaking. Sometimes there are tears. It’s a doorway into expressing anger and pain that’s been held for a long time, and it happens slowly enough that you stay present for it. (If tears and anger tend to arrive together for you, Is Crying When Angry a Trauma Response? may feel familiar.)
One client was very bright and very logical, living mostly in her head. She was angry at a family member but wasn’t really making contact with the anger. As she squeezed my wrists, the anger and the tears came, and she let herself stay present and cry. Her whole body got hot. She felt tightness in her chest, an upset stomach and buzzing in her head. As we stayed with it, those sensations passed. Afterward she was out of her head, much more present, and much more relaxed in her body.
Is trauma Holding you back?
Perhaps you experienced a specific event that left you feeling different, disconnected, or stuck. Or maybe you carry a sense of unease in your body, struggling with anxiety or a feeling that something isn’t quite right.
As a somatic experiencing practitioner I specialize in helping people process and release stored trauma through gentle yet effective methods.
Download my FREE guide “Get Unstuck! The Truth About Body Trauma and How to Break Free’ and learn how to create the future you deserve.
Dissociation and Sexual Trauma: Reclaiming Your Body
For many people with sexual trauma, dissociation shows up around intimacy and touch. Some clients leave their body during touch, or even right before it happens. They freeze, then go into fawn and simply go along with it. Many feel numb in their pelvis or genitals. When there is sensation, it can feel like rubbing a hand on your arm: basic touch, nothing pleasurable. Especially after freezing and fawning, it’s common to feel like your body doesn’t belong to you.
One movement I use with clients who have sexual trauma is standing and gently swaying the hips while moving the arms and saying words out loud. As they bring their hands toward themselves, they say, “I allow what comes into me.” As they push their hands away, they say, “I say no to what I don’t want.” It’s usually very powerful, and it often brings tears.
Choice is at the center of this work. You choose the pace. I’m always asking whether this is okay and inviting a pause to check how it feels. Often a client will say yes, and then I’ll ask, “How do you know it’s okay?” That’s when they realize, Oh, this isn’t okay. Those two questions help you sense where your yes is and where your no is, which is so important when your body’s boundaries were crossed. You can learn more on my Sexual Trauma page.
When to Work With a Somatic Therapist
If you’ve read this far, you’re likely ready for more than at-home practice, and working one-on-one with a somatic therapist can help you move out of dissociation safely and at your own pace. At-home movement is a beautiful start. Individual sessions give you a grounded, present person tracking your body with you, so that you don’t keep leaving it.
What Working With Me Looks Like
I’m a Certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, in private practice since 2009, and I offer sessions online and in person in San Juan Capistrano.
Our first session is more of a talk session. We get an understanding of what’s gone on for you, and we invite in a little somatic work between the talking. When I notice you getting activated, I’ll pause us and add some resourcing or settling so you don’t continue to leave your body.
I’ll ask you when you dissociate, what it feels like, and what happens in order. And I’ll ask a question most clients can’t answer at first: How do you come back? Whenever we leave, we generally come back, maybe not fully, but a little. How do you know you’re coming back? What’s happening around you that helps you return? That’s where we start: bringing awareness to your way back.
You can learn more about my Somatic Experiencing work, reach out with questions, or book a session when you’re ready.
Coming Home to Your Body, One Small Movement at a Time
Your body left to protect you, and it has been waiting for a way back that feels safe enough. That way doesn’t have to be big or loud. It can be one heel lifting slowly off the floor, one gentle shift of weight, one breath where you notice you’re here.
Do a little, then pause. Notice how it feels. That’s the next doable piece, and it’s enough.
Brianna Anderson, SEP
If you’re ready to begin your healing journey I’m here to help so you can begin to live the life of your dreams
My private practice specializes in helping people who have endured trauma, resolve the symptoms out of their body, mind & spirit so they can feel comfortable in their skin, find inner peace and live the desires of their heart.
I am based out of South Orange County, Ca and offer online therapy sessions. Whether you are just starting your healing journey or ready to try something new, I am here to help.