As a trauma-informed therapist, I often tell my clients: You can’t think your way out of an overwhelmed nervous system. Our emotions live in the body. They don’t just happen in our minds—they show up in our chest, our breath, our gut, our muscles. And if we want to regulate them, we have to include the body in that process.
When you’re feeling anxious, shut down, angry, or flooded, it’s not just about what’s happening around you—it’s about what’s happening inside you. Learning to regulate your nervous system is one of the most compassionate and empowering things you can do for yourself.
Here are a few simple, somatic tools that can help you (or your clients) come back into balance.
1. Orienting: Looking Around to Feel Safe
When we’re overwhelmed, we often lose touch with the present moment. Our eyes go inward or dart around anxiously. Orienting brings us back.
How to do it:
Slowly turn your head and neck, gently letting your eyes land on things around you. Name them out loud:
“That’s a green chair. There’s a painting. I see a plant.”
Notice what draws your attention. Is there anything your body enjoys looking at? Stay with that.
Why it works:
This tells your nervous system, I’m not in danger. I can look around. I’m safe. It gently shifts you from fight-or-flight into a more regulated, connected state.
2. Grounding Through the Feet
Emotions can pull us into our heads or out of our bodies. Grounding helps us come back down.
How to do it:
Sit or stand and bring your awareness to your feet. Press them into the floor. Wiggle your toes. Imagine roots growing down into the earth.
Say to yourself: I am here. I am supported.
Try this variation:
Rock slowly forward and back, or side to side. Feel the shift in pressure. This brings in movement that supports regulation.
3. Hand on Heart, Hand on Belly
This is one of the simplest tools—and it works.
How to do it:
Place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly. Feel the warmth and pressure of your hands. Breathe into the space beneath them. Let your breath be kind.
You might say to yourself:
This is hard right now. I’m doing the best I can. I am here for me.
Why it works:
Touch is regulating. Breath is regulating. Self-compassion is regulating. This combines all three.
4. Sighing or Humming to Settle the System
When we’re activated, our breath becomes shallow or we hold it without realizing. Humming or sighing helps release tension and activate the vagus nerve, which supports calm.
How to do it:
Take a breath in, and then sigh it out with sound: Ahhhhhh.
Or hum a low tone, like mmmmmmm. Feel the vibration.
Repeat a few times. Let the sound be a soothing one.
5. Butterfly Hug (Bilateral Tapping)
A gentle self-soothing tool that helps bring calm during distress.
How to do it:
Cross your arms across your chest like a butterfly. Place your hands on your upper arms or shoulders. Gently tap—left, right, left, right.
Go slow. Let your body set the pace. Breathe.
Why it works:
This bilateral stimulation can calm the nervous system and help the brain integrate emotional experiences. It’s often used in EMDR and other trauma therapies.
Final Thoughts: You Deserve Safety in Your Body
Many of us weren’t taught how to be with our emotions, especially in the body. We were taught to think, to solve, to push through. But regulation begins with presence. With kindness. With sensation.
These tools aren’t about avoiding feelings—they’re about staying connected while you feel them. Your body isn’t the enemy. It’s the way back home.
Whether you’re a therapist or someone trying to find a little more peace in your daily life, I invite you to try one of these practices today. Not all of them will resonate—and that’s okay. Start with the one that feels most doable.
You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be present. If you need help supporting your body to safety, sonisder therapy. We can help you find deeper peace.
