Regulating Emotions Through the Body: Simple Somatic Tools for Grounding and Healing

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.

Here is an illustrative video to provide some instruction.

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.

For Teens: Learning to Regulate Big Feelings Through the Body

As a teen, your emotions can feel like waves that come out of nowhere—one moment you’re calm, and the next you’re flooded with sadness, anger, or anxiety. When you’ve experienced trauma or ongoing stress, those waves can hit even harder. Your body reacts first—your heart races, your stomach tightens, or you suddenly feel like you can’t breathe.

That’s your nervous system trying to protect you. It’s not wrong; it’s doing its job. But when it’s been over-activated for too long, even small things can start to feel overwhelming.

The good news is: your body also holds the tools to calm itself. Grounding through your feet, slowing your breath, stretching, or even naming what you see around you can help your system realize it’s safe again. These small, steady practices help your brain and body work together rather than against each other.

At Counseling and Nature Therapy Center in Frisco, Texas, we help teens learn how to use their body as an anchor instead of an enemy. Trauma therapy and counseling for teens often include somatic tools—simple body-based exercises that bring you back into balance when things feel out of control. Over time, you begin to recognize what calm feels like and how to find your way back there when life feels heavy.

Healing doesn’t mean never feeling big emotions again. It means knowing how to listen to your body, breathe through the moment, and trust that the wave will pass.

For Parents: Helping Your Teen Find Safety in Their Body

Parenting a teen who struggles to regulate emotions can be confusing and painful. You might see your child shut down, lash out, or seem “fine” one minute and withdrawn the next. It’s easy to wonder, What did I do wrong? or Why can’t they just calm down?

But for teens who’ve experienced trauma or ongoing stress, emotional reactions aren’t simply mood swings—they’re nervous system responses. Their bodies are reacting as if danger is still present. Understanding this can shift how you respond. Instead of trying to talk them out of their feelings, you can help them ground back into safety.

Try slowing things down—invite your teen to take a few breaths with you, go for a short walk, or notice something simple in the room like a sound or color. These moments of co-regulation (you calming together) teach your teen that safety can be restored in the body, not just in words.

In trauma therapy and counseling for teens in Frisco, Texas, we work with both teens and parents to rebuild these regulation skills. When parents model calm presence and curiosity instead of control, teens learn to trust their own bodies again. Over time, families move from reactivity to connection. Your presence matters more than perfection. You don’t have to have the right words—you just need to offer a body that says, It’s okay to breathe again.

Here is a HANDOUT with steps and a video demonstration to help you get the hang of it.

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, consider therapy. At Counseling and Nature Therapy Center, we are trained in trauma therapy. Located in Frisco, TX, we can help you reconnect with your body to find deeper peace. Both Jaime Hornsby and Deborah Silva are trained in EMDR, and all therapists in the practice are trauma-informed. Ready to book or want more information? Contact Us and we will get you scheduled in less than 24 hours.