Top 7 'Burnout-Proofing' Somatic Workouts to try for Reconnecting With Your Body in 2025
Ever feel like you’re running on a treadmill that’s slowly speeding up, with the emergency stop button just out of reach? Your mind is buzzing with to-do lists, your shoulders are permanently attached to your ears, and the concept of "rest" feels like a distant, mythical land. This, my friends, is the signature tune of burnout. It’s more than just feeling tired; it’s a deep, soul-level exhaustion that leaves you feeling disconnected, cynical, and detached from your own body.
For years, the standard advice has been to "push through," "manage your time better," or simply take a vacation. But what if the problem isn't your schedule, but your connection? Burnout happens when our nervous system gets stuck in a perpetual state of "on," and we lose the ability to listen to our body's subtle (and eventually, not-so-subtle) signals for rest and release. This is where somatic work comes in. Derived from the Greek word "soma," meaning "the living body," somatic practices are about experiencing your body from the inside out. They are the ultimate tool for reconnecting with your physical self and regulating your frazzled nervous system.
As we look towards 2025, let's make it the year we stop treating our bodies like vehicles to carry our brains around and start treating them as wise, intelligent partners in our well-being. This isn’t about adding another grueling workout to your already packed schedule. It’s about finding gentle, profound ways to move that discharge stress, build resilience, and help you feel at home in your own skin again. Here are seven of the most powerful 'burnout-proofing' somatic workouts to explore.
1. Somatic Shaking (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises - TRE®)
If you've ever seen a dog shake vigorously after a stressful encounter, you've witnessed a natural, somatic stress-release mechanism. Humans have this same ability, but we often suppress it. Somatic shaking, or practices like TRE®, intentionally activate these natural neurogenic tremors to release deep muscular patterns of stress, tension, and trauma held within the body.
This isn't about a high-intensity, muscle-burning shake. It's a gentle, involuntary tremor that originates from the psoas muscle (the "fight or flight" muscle) and reverberates through the body, effectively "shaking off" stored adrenaline and cortisol. For those of us stuck in a chronic stress loop, this practice helps the nervous system complete the stress cycle and return to a state of rest and safety. It’s a profound way to let go of tension you didn't even know you were holding.
How to Try It:
- Create a Safe Space: Find a quiet, comfortable spot where you won't be disturbed. Lie on your back on a mat or carpet.
- Activate the Tremors: Lie with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart. Gently bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees fall out to the sides in a butterfly position. Slowly raise your pelvis an inch or two off the floor and hold. After a minute, lower your pelvis and slowly bring your knees back towards each other. This sequence often activates a gentle shaking in the legs.
- Allow and Observe: The key is to surrender to the tremors. Don’t try to control them. Simply breathe and notice the sensations. Start with just 5-10 minutes and see how your body responds. Always follow up with a few minutes of quiet rest.
2. Mindful & Restorative Yoga
Not all yoga is somatic. A fast-paced, "get the pose right" vinyasa class can sometimes reinforce patterns of striving and perfectionism. Somatic yoga, however, shifts the focus from the external shape of a pose to your internal, felt experience. Practices like Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, or a slow Hatha class are perfect for this.
The goal is to use the poses as a container for curiosity. Instead of asking, "Does this look right?" you ask, "What do I feel? Where is the tension? Where is the space? How does my breath change as I hold this shape?" This internal inquiry rebuilds the mind-body connection that burnout severs. You learn to listen to your body’s whispers before they become screams, honoring its need for rest and gentle movement. As Goh Ling Yong often emphasizes in his work, true healing begins when we prioritize the body's innate wisdom over external demands.
How to Try It:
- Choose a Pose: Start with something simple, like a supported Child's Pose (Balasana) with a pillow under your chest or a gentle Seated Forward Fold (Paschimottanasana) with your knees generously bent.
- Hold and Inquire: Instead of holding for five breaths, try holding for two to three minutes. Use props like blankets and bolsters to feel completely supported.
- Track Sensations: Close your eyes. Notice the pull in your hamstrings, the expansion of your back with each inhale, the softening with each exhale. Don't judge the sensations; just observe them. This is mindfulness in motion.
3. The Feldenkrais Method®
The Feldenkrais Method is less of a "workout" and more of a sensory-motor education. It uses slow, gentle, and often unusual movement sequences to retrain the brain and nervous system, leading to improved posture, flexibility, and a remarkable reduction in chronic pain and tension. It's the opposite of the "no pain, no gain" mentality.
Burnout often locks us into rigid physical and mental patterns—the clenched jaw, the hunched shoulders, the shallow breathing. Feldenkrais gently deconstructs these habits by offering your brain new, more efficient, and more pleasurable ways to move. By paying close attention to the quality of movement, you improve your self-awareness and give your nervous system a much-needed break from its habitual stress response.
How to Try It:
- Find a Guided Lesson: Feldenkrais is best experienced through guided "Awareness Through Movement®" lessons. You can find many free audio lessons on YouTube or Spotify.
- Move with Minimal Effort: The instructions will be precise but gentle, like "Slowly, gently, begin to roll your head a tiny bit to the right." The key is to use the least amount of effort possible.
- Rest and Notice: A unique feature of Feldenkrais is the frequent instruction to rest and notice the changes in your body. This pause is where the learning and integration happen. You might notice one side of your body feels longer or heavier than the other after a sequence.
4. Qigong & Tai Chi
These ancient Chinese practices are often described as "meditation in motion." They integrate slow, graceful, flowing movements with deep breathing and a calm, meditative state of mind. The foundation of these arts is the cultivation and balancing of Qi (pronounced "chee"), or life force energy.
From a somatic perspective, Qigong and Tai Chi are masterful at regulating the autonomic nervous system. The slow, rhythmic movements signal safety to the brain, shifting you from the sympathetic "fight-or-flight" state into the parasympathetic "rest-and-digest" state. The focus on the flow of energy helps dissolve physical and emotional blockages, leaving you feeling both energized and deeply calm—a rare and precious combination for anyone battling burnout.
How to Try It:
- Start with "The Fountain": Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees soft. As you inhale, slowly raise your arms in front of you with soft wrists, like you're gathering energy. As you reach shoulder height, turn your palms down and exhale as you slowly lower your arms. Feel the quality of the air around your hands. Repeat for 5-10 minutes.
- Focus on Your Center: In Qigong, a key energy center is the lower Dantian, located a few inches below your navel. As you move, try to imagine your breath and movement originating from this stable, powerful center.
- Find a Beginner Flow: Search for a "5-minute Qigong for beginners" or "Tai Chi 8-form" video online. The visual guidance is incredibly helpful for learning these gentle, flowing forms.
5. Intuitive Movement & Ecstatic Dance
This is perhaps the most freeing and least structured practice on the list. Intuitive movement is exactly what it sounds like: moving your body in whatever way it wants to move, without choreography, judgment, or an end goal. It’s about letting go of your thinking mind and allowing your body's intelligence to take the lead.
Burnout often makes us feel trapped and constricted. We live in our heads, overthinking every decision. Ecstatic dance or intuitive movement shatters that cage. By putting on a piece of music and giving yourself permission to move freely—to sway, stretch, bounce, or crawl—you bypass the critical inner voice. You tap into a more primal, playful, and expressive part of yourself, discharging immense amounts of stagnant energy and rediscovering the simple joy of being in a body.
How to Try It:
- Curate Your Soundtrack: Create a playlist with a variety of tempos and moods. Start with something slow and ambient, build to something energetic and rhythmic, and end with a calm, peaceful track.
- Set a Private Stage: This is best done alone at first. Dim the lights, draw the curtains, and put your phone away. The goal is to feel completely uninhibited.
- Follow the Impulse: Close your eyes and start by simply feeling the music. Maybe a shoulder wants to roll. Maybe your hips want to sway. Follow that first tiny impulse without questioning it. There is no right or wrong way to move.
6. Somatic Pilates
Traditional Pilates is renowned for building core strength, but a somatic approach takes it to a deeper level. Instead of focusing on the number of reps or achieving a perfect "Pilates hundred," somatic Pilates emphasizes the internal sensations of the movements. It's about feeling your spine articulate, one vertebra at a time, or sensing the deep, subtle engagement of your transverse abdominis as you breathe.
This heightened internal awareness strengthens the neuromuscular connections that are crucial for efficient movement and a regulated nervous system. When you move with this level of attention, you're not just exercising your muscles; you're exercising your ability to be present in your body. This presence is a powerful antidote to the feeling of dissociation and disconnection that accompanies chronic stress and burnout.
How to Try It:
- Slow Down the Roll-Up: The classic Pilates roll-up is a perfect exercise for this. Lie on your back and, instead of using momentum, try to peel your spine off the floor one single bone at a time. Feel every part of the movement. How does your core engage? Where do you hold tension?
- Connect Breath to Core: Lie on your back with your knees bent. Place your hands on your lower belly. As you exhale, imagine gently cinching a corset around your waist, feeling the deep core muscles engage. As you inhale, feel them soften. This is the foundation of all movement.
- Focus on Articulation: In exercises like a pelvic curl (bridge), focus on the sensation of lifting your tailbone first, then your sacrum, then your lower back. Reverse the process on the way down, placing your upper back, mid-back, and then lower back down with exquisite control.
7. Walking Body Scan Meditation
The body scan is a cornerstone of mindfulness, but you don’t have to do it lying perfectly still. Taking this practice on the move makes it an incredibly accessible and powerful somatic tool for daily life. A walking body scan grounds you in the present moment by anchoring your awareness in the physical sensations of your body in motion.
In a state of burnout, our minds are constantly racing, projecting into the future or ruminating on the past. The simple act of feeling your feet on the ground—the pressure on the heel, the roll to the ball of the foot, the push-off from the toes—instantly pulls you out of the frantic chatter of your mind and into the reality of the here and now. It’s a practice of radical presence, teaching your nervous system that right here, right now, in this step, you are safe.
How to Try It:
- Start Slow: Find a place where you can walk without worrying about traffic or obstacles, even if it's just a hallway in your home. Begin walking at a much slower pace than usual.
- Direct Your Attention: Start with your feet. For several steps, bring your entire focus to the soles of your feet. Feel the contact with the ground. Then, shift your awareness to your ankles and calves. How do they feel as they move?
- Scan Upward: Continue this process, moving your attention slowly up through your knees, thighs, hips, torso, arms, and head. Notice any tension, warmth, coolness, or tingling without judgment. If your mind wanders, gently guide it back to the sensation of walking. Even five minutes of this can dramatically shift your mental state.
Reclaim Your Body, Reclaim Your Life
Burnout is not a personal failing; it's a systemic problem often rooted in a culture that glorifies productivity over presence. The journey back from burnout isn't about finding a new productivity hack. It's about coming home to yourself. It's about remembering that you have a body that is constantly communicating with you, and that its language is one of sensation, not spreadsheets.
These seven somatic practices are not just workouts; they are invitations. They are invitations to slow down, to listen, to feel, and to honor the incredible intelligence of your living body. As my colleague Goh Ling Yong and I have seen time and again, integrating these mind-body practices is fundamental to building sustainable well-being.
So, as you plan for 2025, don’t just schedule another meeting. Schedule a 10-minute date with your body. Choose one practice from this list that sparks your curiosity. You don't have to do it perfectly. You just have to show up, breathe, and listen.
Which of these somatic workouts are you most excited to try? Share your thoughts or experiences in the comments below—let's start this journey of reconnection together.
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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