Somatic Yoga Workshop Ideas for Teachers

Somatic yoga is having a major moment — and honestly, it’s about time.

Across the yoga world, students are waking up to the truth that true healing doesn’t just happen in the mind. It happens through the body.

Practices that emphasize and enhance body awareness, emotional release, and nervous system regulation are no longer niche. They’re the future.

And as a teacher, this creates such a beautiful opportunity. Right now, you can be at the forefront — offering your students the deeper connection they’re already craving but might not even know how to ask for.

The catch?

A lot of students still aren’t sure what this new style of yoga is all about. Somatic yoga doesn’t always look “yoga-y” — there’s less striving, more spiraling…less perfecting, more feeling.
And for many students, diving straight into a somatic yoga class can feel a little intimidating.

This is where teaching a somatic yoga workshop becomes pure magic.
A workshop gives your students a safe, welcoming space to try somatic practices without feeling overwhelmed — while giving you the chance to plant seeds that could change their lives.

Why Lead a Somatic Yoga Workshop

Hosting a somatic yoga workshop isn’t just a fun new offering (although it is really fun — you’ll love it).
It’s a way to expand your impact, deepen your students’ healing, and build a soulful, sustainable business.

Here’s why it’s so powerful:

• You’ll help students meet themselves in a whole new way. Somatic yoga invites students to experience physical sensations and emotions they might usually bypass — leading to profound moments of healing and self-discovery. Studies show that somatic movement therapies can significantly reduce symptoms of trauma, anxiety, and depression.
• You’ll grow a community of students who stay. Workshops that prioritize body awareness and authentic connection naturally build trust — the kind of trust that keeps students coming back for your classes, programs, and retreats.
• You’ll stand out in a saturated yoga market. Let’s be real: there are a million vinyasa classes out there. Offering somatic yoga workshops sets you apart in the best possible way — as someone who can guide inner transformation, not just physical poses.
• You’ll teach students skills they’ll carry off the mat. Gentle somatic exercises aren’t just good for the studio. They help students manage chronic pain, stress, and emotional overwhelm in daily life — making your teachings truly life-changing.
• You’ll expand your income in an aligned, soulful way. Leading somatic workshops gives you a way to earn more doing less — with fewer weekly classes and more deep, transformational experiences.
• You’ll deepen your own embodiment and confidence. Every time you teach somatic yoga, you’re practicing it yourself. You’ll continue to build your own inner listening, resilience, and magnetism — which naturally radiates out to your students.

Bottom line:
When you offer somatic yoga workshops, you’re not just teaching movement.

You’re opening a door — one that leads your students (and yourself) into a deeper, freer, more connected way of living.

Somatic Yoga Poses & Exercises

If you’re thinking about leading a somatic yoga workshop, you might be wondering — what exactly do I teach?

Good news: you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The beauty of somatic yoga is that it’s about how you move, how you breathe, and how you feel — not about flashy poses or complex choreography.

In a somatic yoga workshop, you’ll guide students through simple, nourishing practices that emphasize internal sensation, nervous system regulation, and emotional release.

Think slow, mindful, and deeply felt movements — often combined with somatic release techniques to help students let go of old tension patterns.

Here’s a sample structure you can follow (and customize based on your theme or student group):

Intro to Somatic Yoga

Start by introducing what somatic yoga is — and more importantly, what it’s not.

Let students know this isn’t about achieving a perfect pose. It’s about somatic awareness — feeling the subtle language of their bodies, honoring it, and moving with it.

You might open with a short grounding meditation or journaling prompt like:

“What sensation is most alive in your body right now?”

Introduce Somatic Principles

Before diving into movement, take a few moments to introduce some key somatic principles to your students.

Understanding the “why” behind somatic practices helps students stay connected to their internal experience throughout the workshop.

Here are a few foundational concepts you can share:

• Interoception – Interoception is the ability to sense what’s happening inside your body — like your heartbeat, your breathing, or your gut instincts. Somatic yoga strengthens this “inner listening,” helping students tune into their internal sensations with kindness and curiosity.
• Exteroception – Exteroception is awareness of the environment through your senses — touch, sound, sight, etc. In somatic yoga, we might use props, music, or the feeling of the floor beneath us to deepen the sensory experience.
• Proprioception – Proprioception is knowing where your body is in space without looking.
  Gentle movements that explore balance, shifting weight, or subtle posture changes help refine this embodied awareness.
• Self-Agency and Choice – One of the core somatic principles is honoring that the student is the ultimate authority on their own body. Always offer choices. Always celebrate when a student chooses to modify, pause, or explore something different.

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Simple Somatic Exercises You Can Introduce:

These can be practiced during the warm-up or as mini-explorations to let students know what to expect.

• Quadrant Pat-Down: Gently pat different areas of the body (arms, chest, legs) and pause to notice how each side feels.
• Rocking in Constructive Rest: Lying on your back, let the knees rock slightly side to side — noticing the weight shift in the pelvis.
• Spiral Movements: Invite tiny spiral motions in the wrists, shoulders, hips, or ankles — feeling how movement can ripple through the whole body.
• Grounding with Props: Press the hands or feet firmly into a yoga block or the wall, noticing the rebound sensation in the body.
• Breath and Touch: Place one hand on the heart, one on the belly. Breathe slowly and feel how the hands move with each inhale and exhale.

Make the somatic principles super relatable.

Instead of getting too clinical, explain them like you’re handing your students the “secret language” of their body.

You can even say something playful like:

“Today, we’re becoming body whisperers — learning to listen to the small, important ways your body speaks to you all the time.”

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Warm-Up and Grounding

Ease your students into their bodies with gentle, rhythmic movements close to the ground.

Focus on safety, breath, and softening.

Some ideas:

• Child’s pose with side-to-side rocking
• Seated hip circles (think super slow sufi grind)
• Cat/cow with extra spirals and figure-eights
• Somatic stretching like these gentle poses

Keep inviting students to notice internal sensations rather than thinking about alignment.

Somatic Breathing Exercises

Breath is your best friend in somatic work.

Guide students through slow, mindful somatic breathing that encourages nervous system down-regulation.

Simple practices to include:

• Belly breathing with hands on the abdominal muscles noticing how they slowly lift
• Diaphragmatic breathing in constructive rest
• Somatic breath exploration — letting the breath move the spine, pelvis, and limbs naturally

Reclined Poses

Once grounded in breath and sensation, explore easy reclined movements that help students track subtle shifts.

Examples:

• Windshield wiper knees side-to-side
• Pelvic tilts (tiny subtle movements!)
• Reclined hip spirals
• Reclined spinal twists with gentle rocking

This is where you can begin layering in optional micro-movements, somatic self-touch, or permission for intuitive micro-adjustments.

Seated Poses

Bring students upright with low-intensity seated work that continues building awareness.

Options:

• Seated cat/cow (spinal rippling)
• Seated figure-eights with the chest or pelvis
• Seated somatic shaking (tiny jiggles from the upper body)
• Neck and shoulder spirals with breath

Remind students often:

“There’s no wrong way to move here — just listen inward.”

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Standing Poses

If it feels right, gently transition into standing postures where students explore grounding and expansion through the feet and spine.

Great choices:

• Standing sway (side to side, front to back)
• Grounded mountain pose with internal pulsation
• Mini “wild warrior” dance (exploring standing strong in warrior stance with fluid arms)
• Bounce lightly in standing forward fold to loosen the spine and hamstrings

Keep the invitation open: move slowly, move honestly, move with feeling.

This is a good place to incorporate some somatic workout style movements.

Cool-Down and Relaxation

Bring students back down to earth with soothing, inward-focused poses.

Ideas:

• Reclined constructive rest (feet wide, knees together)
• Side-lying fetal pose, breathing into the back ribs
• Gentle spinal twist with rocking
• Savasana with permission to sigh, yawn, or move slightly as needed

You might close the practice with a group reflection, gratitude journaling, or simply sitting in the deep, delicious stillness you’ve co-created.

Somatic Yoga Workshop Ideas

Once you’ve explored some somatic poses and exercises, it’s time to get creative with your workshops.
The truth is, not all yoga classes are the same and there’s no one “right way” to teach a somatic yoga workshop — that’s the beauty of it.

You can theme your offering around an emotion, a chakra, a healing intention, or even a specific physical or energetic goal.

Pro Tip:
Workshops work best when they feel like a journey. Start with a clear theme, weave in journaling or breathwork at the beginning, and move students through a gradual embodied arc — from grounding to expansion, and back to rest.

Here are some inspiring workshop ideas to get you started:

Somatic Yoga Exercises for Chronic Pain

Chronic pain can feel isolating and overwhelming — but through gentle, somatic release techniques and mindful movement, students can start to reclaim their bodies.

In this workshop, you might focus on:

• Breath-led micro-movements to re-pattern tension
• Self-massage and gentle stretching (like somatic stretching)
• Movements that nourish the nervous system rather than aggravate it
• Slowing down to build trust between body and mind

Tip: Use lots of invitational language (“If it feels good to you, try…”) and emphasize “less is more.”

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Somatic Yoga Sequences for Deeper Connection

In our fast-paced world, students are hungry for real connection — with themselves and others.

This workshop could focus on cultivating deep inner listening and authentic presence.

Ideas to weave in:

• Breath and heart-centered somatic awareness practices
• Partner exercises (if your group is comfortable) like mirroring movements
• Group circles and optional sharing
• Gentle somatic workouts that prioritize feeling over form

Tip: Remind students that connection starts within — through mindful movements and tuning into their own body’s rhythms first.

Somatic Yoga and the Chakras

Want to offer a workshop that’s both somatic and spiritual?

Lead students through a full-body exploration of their energy centers through movement, breath, and sensation.

Ideas:

• Grounding somatic exercises for the root chakra
• Gentle spirals and sways for the sacral chakra
• Empowered standing movements for the solar plexus
• Heart-opening undulations for the heart chakra
• Throat-clearing sound practices for the throat chakra

You can interweave the somatic yoga benefits with energetic practices in a really beautiful way.

Somatic Yoga to Awaken the Body

Sometimes students just need permission to feel fully alive again.

This workshop is about awakening dormant energy through playful, embodied movement.

You might explore:

• Breath-led spinal waves and spirals
• Shaking practices (inspired by somatic release techniques)
• Bouncing, swaying, and simple rhythmic patterns
• Vocalization (like sighing or humming) to wake up internal sensation

Tip: Keep it light, playful, and celebratory — joy is a somatic experience, too!

Somatic Yoga for Healing Trauma

Teaching somatic yoga as trauma support requires extra sensitivity — but it’s incredibly powerful when done right.

Research shows that somatic approaches are highly effective for trauma healing, especially when students are guided slowly, safely, and gently.

Workshop focus:

• Safety first: always give students agency and choice
• Breath-led grounding practices
• Tiny, optional movements (especially for the spine, pelvis, and breath)
• Deep rest and somatic exercises for grief or anger release

Tip: Offer lots of invitations rather than commands. Empower students to follow their body’s “yes” and “no” in every moment.

Somatic Yoga for Weight Loss

This isn’t about burning calories.

It’s about healing the nervous system, calming emotional eating patterns, and reconnecting with the body’s natural rhythms — which can lead to sustainable, intuitive weight shifts over time.

In this workshop, you could explore:

• Breath and movement practices that downshift stress (lower cortisol)
• Loving, body-positive somatic awareness techniques
• Movements that invite students to listen for fullness, hunger, and satiety cues in a deeper way

Check out this somatic yoga for weight loss blog for more tips! Or explore one of my most popular somatic workout classes for inspiration:

Somatic Yoga for Beginners

A lot of students are ready for somatic work — but have no idea where to start.

A beginner-friendly somatic yoga workshop can meet them exactly where they are.

Highlights:

• Clear explanation of what somatic yoga is
• Ultra-simple, low-to-the-ground sequences
• Lots of guidance about “feeling” vs. “performing”
• Reassurance that every body’s journey is different — and that’s beautiful

Tip: Frame it like an exploration, not a performance. Students will love you for it.

Tips For Instructors

Teaching a somatic yoga workshop isn’t about being perfect.

It’s about being present.

It’s about being a safe, grounded space where students feel permission to explore their own bodies — maybe for the first time in a long time.

Here are a few practical tips that will make your workshop even more powerful:

• Set the tone early. Start with breath, journaling, or a few moments of stillness to invite students inward right from the beginning.
• Dim the lights. A darker, softer space immediately signals that this practice is about internal sensation, not performance.
• Use invitational language. Swap “Do this” for “If it feels good, you might try…” or “Notice if your body wants to…” This helps students reclaim agency over their movement and healing.
• Layer somatic principles onto familiar shapes. You don’t have to invent new poses. Teach cat-cow, triangle pose, or forward fold — but layer in somatic awareness through spiraling, touch, bouncing, or micro-movements.
• Slow way, way down. Slower than you think. Then even slower than that. Slowness invites nervous system regulation and deeper presence.
• Leave room for silence. Resist the urge to over-cue. Let your students’ internal experience rise up in the stillness you hold.
• Sequence like a wave. Start grounded and low, gently rise to standing, and return to rest at the end — mimicking the natural arc of the nervous system.
• Trust your students’ power. You’re not here to fix or heal anyone. You’re here to hold space and remind them: their body knows exactly how to heal.
• Call yourself out if needed. If you’re nervous, acknowledge it. If something unexpected happens, stay open and real. Authenticity is magnetic.
• Keep your intention clear. Before you even start, ask yourself: How do I want my students to feel when they leave? Then teach from that intention.

Remember, your presence is more important than your sequence.

When you teach somatic yoga, who you are is part of the medicine you offer.

Closing Thoughts

Teaching a somatic yoga workshop isn’t just another thing to add to your offerings.

It’s an act of service.

It’s a way of whispering to your students, “You are safe. You are whole. Your body is wise. Let’s remember together.”

And the best part?

You don’t have to have it all figured out to start.

You just need to be willing to lead by example — to feel, to trust, to hold space for the magic that unfolds when students reconnect with their physical bodies.

If you’re a yoga teacher feeling the call to deepen your own practice and truly embody this work as a teacher, or a student ready to increase your mind body connection in order to truly heal; I invite you to join me inside the Uplifted™ Somatic Yoga Certification.