PDF of somatic exercises: Free worksheet for clients

Help clients reconnect with their bodies with our free guide to somatic grounding exercises. Clients often search online for a somatic workout free of charge, so this PDF of somatic exercises gives them a structured, therapist-shared option instead. 

This article provides an overview of somatic exercises and different regulating activities to suggest to clients. 

We’ve included a free downloadable somatic therapy exercises PDF to save to your electronic health record (EHR) and share with clients in your practice.

What is somatic therapy?

Soma is the Greek word for “body,” and “psyche” means “mind.” Somatic therapy is based on the idea that trauma, stress, and unresolved emotions can show up in the body and contribute to a dysregulated nervous system. Somatic approaches aim to help people process trauma and regulate the nervous system by reconnecting the mind and body. 

There are two terms used when referring to somatic practices: 

• Somatic therapy: This is an umbrella term that describes integrating body awareness with the mind. This practice might involve a combination of therapy and body-based techniques such as breathing exercises, self-massage, dancing, singing, guided imagery, and other movement exercises.

• Somatic experiencing: This is a trauma-focused approach created by Peter Levine, PhD, that uses attention to body sensations to help the nervous system settle and orient to safety.

Somatic therapy may help with anxiety, stress, grief and loss, and chronic pain, and may support emotional regulation. Somatic experiencing has been studied as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

What are somatic therapy exercises?

There are various types of somatic therapy exercises, including:

• Grounding techniques: These grounding exercises help clients connect to the present moment and calm the mind and body. Clients can ground through sensory activities, like the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise, which involves focusing on five things they can see, four things they can feel or touch, three things they can hear, two things they can smell, and one thing they can taste. Or, they could simply notice the sensation of pressing their feet into the floor or onto the ground outside. 

• Visualization practices: These exercises use guided imagery to evoke feelings of safety and regulation, such as imagining a safe or calm place.

• Body awareness practices: These activities increase attention to different sensations in the body, and may involve breath awareness, body scans, progressive muscle relaxation (included in our PDF somatic exercises worksheet), and checking in with body cues like hunger or thirst. A simple box breathing exercise involves breathing in for four seconds, holding for four seconds, exhaling for four seconds, and pausing for four seconds.

• Movement discharge exercises: These activities help clients release stuck energy in the body through gentle movements, like shaking their arms and legs, stomping their feet, yawning, or sighing to reset the body.

• Body regulation exercises: These practices, such as making a long “voo” sound, humming, or chanting, are thought to engage the vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system. 

• Touch and self-soothing activities: These activities may include self-hugs, using a weighted blanket, placing hands on the cheeks, and noticing the warmth and comfort of touch. 

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How can therapists use the somatic exercises PDF?

You can use the free somatic experiencing exercises PDF in several ways:

• Use the worksheet to provide psychoeducation about somatic grounding exercises.

• Give the client a copy of the somatic exercises for anxiety PDF to take home.

• Ask the client to reflect on the worksheet, complete the free somatic workouts and exercises between sessions, and report their findings at their next therapy appointment. 

• Use the PDF of somatic exercises in group therapy sessions to ground clients at the beginning of workshops. 

• Combine this worksheet with other positive psychology worksheets and trauma-related resources, such as how to deal with trauma triggers, CBT for PTSD, and EMDR therapy.

• Share the PDF somatic exercises worksheet with coworkers or leave copies in your office.

• Use this worksheet to provide training to interns or supervisees.

Sources

• Mischke-Reeds, M. (2018). Somatic psychotherapy toolbox: 125 worksheets and exercises to treat trauma & stress. PESI Publishing.

• Payne, P., Levine, P. A., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2015). Somatic experiencing: Using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy. Frontiers in Psychology.

• Salamon, M. (2023). What is somatic therapy? Harvard Health Publishing.

• Somatic Experiencing International. (n.d.). SE 101. 

• Veillon, S. (2025). 10 somatic exercises and techniques for anxiety: Expert-approved. Rick Hanson, PhD. 

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