Somatic Breathwork for Calm: How to Reset Your Nervous System & Find Inner Peace

So, how can Somatic breathwork help to reset your nervous system and find inner peace? I always say- breathwork finds you. Most women don’t find themselves in a breathwork session because everything is feeling aligned- most women find themselves there because they are desperate for relief and desperate to feel better.

My journey to finding Somatic Breathwork is no different. 3 years ago, I was numbed out and a shell of myself. I went from being a passionate, driven, confident person to a shell of a person. I was experiencing overwhelming anxiety and purposelessness. To the point, I would sit and watch Netflix shows on rerun to pass the days by.

I was going to dinner and drinks (on drinks on drinks), hosting girls’ nights, trying every motivational video/podcast, and sitting in prayer, wondering when I’d feel like myself again. What’s worse is I felt deep-rooted shame and guilt, because, despite all the tools and support I was being given, I felt no motivation to use them.

No numbing solution worked, but my prayers were answered the day that breathwork found me via short 5 minute YouTube video.

I did this daily Somatic Breathwork meditation I saw on YouTube for over 100 days in a row. My intention was simply 1 day, but the sense of empowerment and connection I felt was exhilarating. Little by little, my anxiety and purposelessness began to fade. I was creating, motivated, and excited to use all the support I’d been given to spark a newfound passion in my life. It felt FREEING again. I felt like myself. 

I’m now on a mission to share this freeing practice with others! I have guided countless individuals through transformative Somatic Breathwork sessions that help quiet the mind, fostering self-awareness, calming the nervous system, and alleviating the stress and anxiety that can build up in our daily lives as women.

Here are 3 simple ways that somatic breathwork can reset your nervous system and find inner peace, as a woman moving through change and uncertainty.

But before I continue, if you haven’t tried a daily Somatic Breathwork practice yet, try my FREE 10-Minute Somatic Breathwork Class + Journal Prompts to embrace change with calm & clarity.

1. Activates Both Your Parasympathetic and Sympathetic Nervous System in Somatic Breathwork

The word “Soma” is Greek for the meaning of body and mind. They are extremely connected in the intention of this word. Somatic sensation is our birthright. It’s how we are born into this world.

To tap deeper into our sensitivity is to become more alive. When we have long-term, chronic, instinctual nervous system defenses, it deadens our ability to feel the full spectrum of being alive. This becomes like a “living death”.

Soma and Psyche Connection

Humans are body-centered first, psyche-centered second. We are instinct first, feel second, and only lastly, think. If the Soma is wounded, the Psyche will be compelled to create stories about the world that justify the wound, and the defense systems that were chosen to protect itself.

When the Soma is wounded, the stories about ourselves and the world skew towards darkness. To liberate the Psyche, so that it’s free to create beautiful stories, we first must heal the Soma.

Activating Your Sympathetic Nervous System

In a Somatic Breathwork (Soma+IQ Method) session, the experience is split into two halves, each with a unique intention. The first half temporarily activates the Sympathetic Nervous System. The round is called the “clearing breath” round. This acts to prepare the body for “fight-or-flight” by increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration to prepare for action.

This process acts to complete the behaviors that were instinctively demanded in the presence of the stressor or trauma is the indicator to the nervous system that it can relax again.

The absence of these “discharges” or unique expressions is a signal to our being that the threat has not been solved, and the instinctual (primal) defense response stays activated. These defense responses can stay activated for weeks, months, or even years.

Energy in a Somatic Breathwork session is expressed through movement, laughter, shaking, screaming, crying, etc. The release of these expressions is a signal to the body that it can release the defenses.

Somatic Breathwork creates a psychological state where feeling and releasing (via expressions) is accessible. These expressions free your nervous system of its defenses that hold it in a contracted, i.e “fight or flight” state.

Think of this half of a Somatic Breathwork session like the “workout” portion of the breathwork session.

Activating Your Parasympathetic Nervous System

The second half of a Somatic Breathwork (Soma+IQ Method) activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System. “Re-patterning breath” is another name for this particular breathing.

Parasympathetic breathing, or deep, slow breathing, benefits the body by activating the “rest and digest” nervous system, which lowers stress by decreasing heart rate and blood pressure. This breathing can lead to improved mental health by reducing anxiety and promoting calm. You can gain better sleep quality and digestive health from this breathing, as well. Other benefits include reduced chronic pain, lower cortisol levels, and improved core muscle stability. 

This portion of a Somatic Breathwork session is extremely invaluable. Now that you have created more space again in your Soma, this portion of the breathwork session is when you “breathe back in” how you want to show up moving forward. Through the clearing breath, we become clear and have more capacity and clarity to embrace our God-given potential.

Through both these breathing styles (Sympathetic and Parasympathetic), we have the opportunity to journey through both a workout and a cooldown-like breath. The Parasympathetic breathing acts as the “cooldown” portion of the Somatic Breathwork session.

Breath holds also appear in these breathwork sessions. These breath holds prompt awareness and deeper reflection in your body. They also offer an opportunity for more space and reflection.

Breath holds these Somatic Breathwork sessions can enhance respiratory strength and lung function, calm the nervous system, improve mental clarity, and even help manage stress and anxiety.

Physical benefits include developing stronger respiratory muscles and potentially increasing lung capacity, while mental benefits come from activating the parasympathetic nervous system, leading to greater emotional regulation and focus.

2. Create a Stronger Sense of Community Connection in Somatic Breathwork

We are wounded in community, but we are also healed in community.

Whether you receive a Somatic Breathwork session in a group or one-on-one, you will develop a deeper sense of community. Within our society, we often believe we must “hold it all together” or pretend everything is going well. These breathwork sessions permit us to take up space and be our fullest expression.

Also, in a group session, we experience “peer permission”. When one participant permits themself to be vulnerable and express, that permits other participants to do the same.

After a session ends, the opportunity to share, as a form of integration, brings the community together. The need for vulnerability and freedom to express are key characteristics of being human.

3. Restores Balance and Clarity in Somatic Breathwork

A human being has three primary parts: our psyche (mind), our soma (body), and our spirit (soul). In the therapy space, so often people are working with our minds. They are saying all the positive affirmations. They are trying to make all the right moves to fix themselves, fix each other, etc. While working with the mind is incredibly important, in the saga of healing, it’s self evident that there is a somatic piece beneath all of it.

The body carries stress, trauma, and experiences. Over time, these components build up more and more. For clarity, one can think of our body (soma) like a balloon. What happens when a balloon fills up with more and more and more air? Eventually, that balloon is going to burst. For a human that looks like for humans is having a nervous system breakdown, or snapping at friends and family. A person might not want to do these things, but it keeps happening. There is too much import and not enough export happening, somatically.

The challenges and stressors are going to keep coming. It’s up to each person to find a space to express that built-up pressure. In a Somatic Breathwork session, it will look like expressions, moving the body, etc. By doing so, this practice creates more space in the body, and thus more capacity to live life from a state of balance and clarity. God beautifully and intricately designed the human body to operate from a place of peace and regulation.

At the end of the day, the body is pretty simple. Giving oneself grace and space to process is a gift. Humans don’t have to always hold it all together. We can move through life from a state of calm and peace, yes, but part of getting to that point is admitting when you’re struggling. If you are a woman moving through a season of change and uncertainty, I invite you to join in my 7 Day Reset. This reset is for women who want to reclaim their focus and peace during seasons of change and uncertainty.