On Building Somatic Awareness

How can you get back into your body during your busy day?

Life is busy and overwhelming at times. Responsibilities around work, family, community, and social commitments. Concerns for people in our lives and around the world. Internal thoughts and chatter that move from positive to negative. In all this, we may come to feel distracted, fatigued, stressed, and burnout.

In Western culture, there also tends to be a focus on living from our head up; to be less connected to the rest of our body– our hearts, spirit, feelings, sensations, and emotions.

Building somatic (body) awareness is a process of tuning in and noticing what you’re feeling and sensing. For those of us who are used to minimizing our needs, or not even knowing what they are, this is a way to reconnect.

The first step to shifting a behavior and/or mindset, is even noticing what is arising within you. Not to change anything, but to witness and allow for what’s here in the moment. So often we’re wanting to change things, without allowing for and understanding whats already here.

The more you practice building awareness of your body’s cues, needs and impulses over time, the more choice you have in how you respond. 

build somatic awareness by starting to notice:

  • What are you feeling?

  • What are you sensing?

  • What desires are present?

  • What sensations are present?

  • What is the temperature of your body?

  • How quickly is your breath moving and where does it get stuck?

  • What bodily cues can you notice?

This isn’t an overnight process. It takes time, practice, and care to cultivate somatic awareness, just as it is to build any new skillset or lens for perceiving and interacting with the world around and within us. Pay attention to what you can pick up within yourself and others. Be curious. Be gentle with the process.

On a related note, here’s a centering practice to support you in coming back into your body more intentionally and inviting in choice around how you respond. Click here. The intention is to become more open, connected, and at choice, and of course, to build somatic awareness. I invite you to practice this multiple times a day.

With care, Sarah


Slow Integration Coaching is about supporting spaces that allow for us to really embody the changes, the freedom, and the transformation we dream of individually and in our organizations. Please reach out to learn more about somatic based coaching and group work for your team. Learn more: https://linktr.ee/SarahRimmel

Sarah Rimmel