Somatic exercise has gone viral promising to lower cortisol levels, ease stress, and boost health - so, does it actually work?
Marie Claire UK
If you've scrolled TikTok recently, you'll likely have stumbled across videos about somatic exercise. A mind, body and spirit trend that promises to boost both your mental and physical wellbeing, Google searches for the term are up by 70%, too.
Wondering, what is somatic movement? Let us explain. "Somatic" is defined as "relating to the body, especially as distinct from the mind" in the Oxford English Dictionary. In that sense, the workout is all about how you move.
"Somatic exercise isn't really "exercise" at all," says Nahid de Belgeonne, somatic movement practitioner and founder of The Human Method. "It's more of an internal enquiry, moving according to how it feels rather than how it looks," she says.
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