Using Somatic Practices to Support Children and Families

Using Somatic Practices to Support Children and Families

Posted on by admin@qsla

August 2025
Written by Cristina Espinoza, Family Education Coordinator

Did you know our bodies are constantly talking to us? From butterflies in our stomach to lumps in our throat, our bodies talk to us in sensations and signals. Once we notice and pay attention to the sensations in our bodies, we can use them as signals to guide supportive, positive responses in our daily lives.” This extends past us – we can help children deal with big feelings, support families to be fully present for a workshop, and mitigate our own stressors during challenges. For example, that lump in our throat is likely telling us we have a strong emotion to express and the heat we feel in our stomach is anger telling us to advocate and push back! When we understand what these bodily communications mean, we can meet ourselves where we are and make more informed choices about how to respond.

This family engagement tip focuses on supporting the well-being of children, families, and providers by recognizing and responding to bodily cues through somatic based practices. 

What are Somatic Practices?

Have you ever felt so moved by a movie or song and felt goosebumps? What about the relaxing sensation of feeling air across your skin and grass beneath your feet? These are all examples of somatic sensations our bodies communicate to us!

More specifically, somatic means “of the body” and refers to the body-mind connection, where our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations are connected. Somatic practices are body-based exercises that help us tune in and support our bodies, especially noting the current state our nervous system may be in.

Let’s lay out some context around the states of our nervous system before digging deeper into somatic practices. As shared below, Charissa Lopez, a licensed professional counselor, illustrates that our nervous system can fluctuate between three (3) key states:

  • Hyperarousal – also known as “fight or flight” where we are more mobilized, lean toward rage, panic or fear, and yet can’t register the consequences of our behavior in the moment.
    ➡️In this state, we are in survival mode with too much energy.
  • Window of tolerance – also known as when we feel safe and can both connect and communicate with others. Essentially, we feel “regulated” and can tune into love, joy, peace, kindness, etc., while being more aware of relationships and are able to use our executive functioning.
    ➡️In this state, we feel safe and have an optimal amount of energy.
  • Hypoarousal – also known as “freeze” where we may be more shutdown or dissociated. Here we are more likely to feel apathy and numbness, more aligned with an “I give up” framing. We are likely to blank out and feel far away from our current experience of life.
    ➡️In this state, we are in survival mode with a lack of energy.

Click here for source!

Our bodies move through these states throughout the days, months, years. We are always shifting based on what will help our nervous system feels is best. Sometimes shutting down feels like a safer choice than leaving or pushing back.  Living in a Western society focused on productivity and busy schedules makes it harder for us and the families we work with to notice and listen to our bodies.

Think of the mom that’s rushing to drop off her children so she’s not late to work.

What about the dad that dropping off donations and seemingly can’t pause for a quick conversation?

Consider a child in your program who recently lost their pet and is now seemingly indifferent to their favorite toy.

What about your coworker who can’t seem to catch a break after a rent increase, their child having a medical emergency, and now dealing with the recent fire in her community?

While we can’t control some of the situations that we experience, we definitely have the opportunity to listen and learn from our bodies so we can better respond. Given this context around the different states of our nervous system, we can use our understanding and our body’s signals to decide how to nourish our bodies towards safety once more. This is where somatic practices come into play!

In fact, here are some examples of how our body already unconsciously shifts us towards feeling safer and more regulated – essentially innate somatic practices:

  • Taking deep breaths to recenter or clear our minds,
  • Shaking out tension and stress after a tough experience,
  • Tapping our fingers or jittery jumping legs to release energy,
  • Yawning to help our brains become more alert

As we can see, some somatic practices help us release energy and “wind down” a bit while others help us “activate” ourselves by getting us into a more energetic state! This is how we can help our nervous systems shift from more disconnected (aka “hypoarousal”) to more present (aka safe and regulated), or from more frantic energy (aka “hyperarousal”) to more present!

When we understand our bodies’ cues, we can better understand what we’re experiencing, what we need, and how to support ourselves. In particular, we can support ourselves to feel more regulated, comfortable, and safe.

Benefits of Somatic Practices for Ourselves & Others

Adults, children, early educators, or families – we can all tune in to our mind-body connection and sense what signals come forward for ourselves. This table below highlights the benefits of using somatic practices for our children, our program staff, and our families!

Of course, all these benefits above also support our program goals, too!

Focusing more on children: a child’s nervous system is just starting to develop in their early years of life. In fact, they actually borrow their adult caregiver’s nervous system to soothe and regulate themselves. This is known as attunement.

Attunement with children involves caregivers being deeply aware of and responsive to a child’s emotional and physiological needs. Since a child’s nervous system is still developing, especially in early years, they rely on their caregivers’ calm and regulated presence to feel safe and learn to soothe themselves. When parents and caregivers stay calm and connected, they help the child regulate their own emotions, fostering security and healthy development.

As their own nervous system isn’t yet capable of soothing themselves, young children rely on the adults in their lives to create this sense of safety. We’ve heard the phrase, “energy is contagious” – and that’s backed by science! This is particularly true for our little ones, as young children pick up on our moods as adults and respond or react accordingly. For instance:

If we’re stressed or angry, a child may quiet down or also get stressed and cry out.

If we’re sad or shut down, they may get scared or shutdown as well.

If we’re happy and/or calm, they are likely to feel happy and safe as well.

Opportunities for Somatic Practices: Let’s paint a picture of the very real experiences in ECE spaces where we could bring in a multitude of somatic practices!

I want to highlight that so many (if not most) of these situations are brought on by systems of oppression creating situations of intense prolonged stress – toxic stress even. This is when it’s helpful to focus on what we can control and what we can influence. We have the capability to soothe our nervous systems and influence those of the children and families in our lives. In the long run, this helps support our healing as a collective community and supports efforts in dismantling the harm of systemic oppression.

Considerations for Implementing Somatic Practices

Before we dive into using somatic practices, I invite you to take a moment and digest these next key points for mindfully incorporating these practices into your work.

QSLA Connections: Explore our related Family Engagement Tips on mindfulness and trauma-informed approaches to further support your learning and capacity around these matters!

“Creating More Mindful Family Engagement Practices”

“Welcoming Families with a Trauma-Informed Approach”

Resources

Now that we’ve covered all this information, research, and context within ECE, check out these resources to equip your toolbelt with more somatic practices to support children and adults!

Connecting with our bodies and paying attention to the roadmap that sensations create helps us honor our needs and better show up in our daily lives. Deepening our understanding of and capacity to honor our bodies helps us be in relationship with families, colleagues, and children! As part of each other’s village, we can support families through the hustle and bustle of life, inviting them to slow down, pause, and nourish themselves with accessible, sometimes even fun, body-based breaks. How will your early learning program bring in somatic practices in your next family event or family check-in?

References:

Bell, Dr. Rachel. “When the Body Speaks…. Listen! – Restoration Integrated Health.” Restoration Integrated Health, 9 Dec. 2020, restorationintegratedhealth.com/when-the-body-speaks-listen/. 

Gart, Frankie. “Polyvagal Theory Explained.” Medium, 3 Nov. 2023, medium.com/@frankie_gart/polyvagal-theory-explained-b4e826e7594e. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025. 

Herrando, C., & Constantinides, E. (2021). Emotional Contagion: A Brief Overview and Future Directions. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 712606. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712606 

Missimer, A. (2020, March 22). How to map your own nervous system: The polyvagal theory. The Movement Paradigm. https://themovementparadigm.com/how-to-map-your-own-nervous-sytem-the-polyvagal-theory/ 

Mitrousis, I., Bourdas, D. I., Kounalakis, S., Bekris, E., Mitrotasios, M., Kostopoulos, Ν., Ktistakis, I. E., & Zacharakis, E. (2023). The Effect of a Balance Training Program on the Balance and Technical Skills of Adolescent Soccer Players. Journal of sports science & medicine, 22(4), 645–657. https://doi.org/10.52082/jssm.2023.645 

N., Petra. “Somatic Expressions: How Your Mind Talks to Your Body – Red Pantz.” Red Pantz, 19 Sept. 2021, redpantz.com/somatic-expressions-how-your-mind-talks-to-your-body/. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025. 

Roșca, Andreea Maria, et al. “Physical Activity Design for Balance Rehabilitation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Children, vol. 9, no. 8, 30 July 2022, p. 1152, https://doi.org/10.3390/children9081152. 

Schlote, Sarah. “The Polyvagal Theory and Horses: An Introduction.” EQUUSOMA, 23 Feb. 2019, equusoma.com/the-polyvagal-theory-and-horses/. 

Schwenteck, Matthias. “Polyvagal Theory Dr Stephen Porges.” YouTube, 30 Nov. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=27FSiBqEDUs. 

Ucrós AMFT, Gabriela. “Somatic Awareness: How to Read Your Body’s Story | Trauma Recovery.” Woven Together Trauma Therapy, woventraumatherapy.com/blog/somatic-awareness-reading-bodys-story.