Somatic Workout: Inside the Buzzy Fitness Trend

PiPhysical exercise usually focuses on…. well, the physical. Your form, strength, and how many reps you can do before you feel like you’re going to die are usually the name of the game with workouts. But with physical training, what about you? touch (emotionally and physically) while moving in the main feature.

“A body practice will be one where the intention is to focus on the body, but not necessarily just on the outer part of the body or the performance of it, but on the experience and inner workings of the body,” she says. Jaycee Gossettfounding teacher and vice president of education and development at The classroom. Class—beloved by celebrities and everyday wellness fans alike—is a type of physical workout that uses music, movement and breathing “to create sensation in the body and notice our thoughts,” according to the company’s website.

Despite—or perhaps because of—this difference from other types of exercise, physical training has been the subject of curiosity for many over the past year. “Physical training” was a top fitness term on Google in 2023, which means that the search interest for it increased significantly compared to the previous year. (“Somatic workout” was second only to “Wall Pilates” and “Tom Platz leg workout” according Men’s magazine.) In the US, fitness searches started to increase in August and continued to surge to an all-time high in December.

Physical fitness practitioners are excited about this growing interest — with some caveats. “I love that the term physical is being used more and that more people are learning about the concept of physical movement,” she says. Sarah Warrenowner and author of Somatic Movement Center The secret to pain relief. On the other hand, Warren warns that fitness has become a “buzzword” in health and wellness. “As the term becomes more widely used, prospective students should be more knowledgeable about what they are actually learning. There are many types of physical movement training and therapy, and it’s easy to get confused about which method you’re actually learning.”

“It’s exciting for me to know that’s what’s being sought,” says Gossett. “To me it’s like, yes, people are excited about their bodies, but the inner workings of their bodies, not just the number on the scale or how it looks in the mirror.” She believes the rise in interest makes sense as people are looking for more ways to heal and connect with their mental health in the wake of the pandemic.

However, without a predetermined set of movements to follow, how does one actually do a physical workout? Here’s what you need to know.

What is physical training?

“Physical” in or relating to the body, say both Gossett and Warren. (The word has roots in ancient Greek.) So with this etymology, physical training means training that focuses on awareness or focus on the body.

“A bodily movement is a movement that is consciously practiced with the intention of focusing on the inner experience of the movement rather than on the outward appearance or end result of the movement,” Warren she wrote on her website. “Technically any movement can be physical if you focus your attention on what you feel in your body as you move.” (Think of it as the fitness version of “listen to your body.”)

There are many different ways to exercise. “Shaking” exercises that release stress and trauma, for example, are an example of what physical training could look like. Yoga and breathing can also be physical exercises, depending on how they are approached and practiced.

Our modern understanding of physical exercises was reportedly formulated by Thomas Hanna, PhDa philosopher and educator, who wrote a book entitled Bodies in Revolt: A Primer in Somatic Thinking in the late 1960s. The idea of ​​body movement is to slow down exercise to focus on how certain movements or actions make you feel, with the goal of releasing repressed or difficult emotions that you may be physically embodying.

Warren says it relieves pain, releases tension, improves posture and movement and “releases[ing] emotions and traumas held in their bodies’ are possible benefits of a physical training (although the previous pain-related categories require the achievement of some physical motor training). He also points out 2022 study who found that Hanna Somatic Education exercises (HSE, a specific type of physical exercise) helped relieve chronic low back and neck pain.

Gossett says it’s possible to both physically train and do mental or spiritual work during a physical movement session like The Class. The overall benefit, as he sees it, is a deepening of our awareness and holistic self-care.

How do you do a physical workout?

The cornerstone of a physical workout is not the movements themselves, but harnessing how they make you feel physically and emotionally. The sounds simple, but learning to pay attention to your body is something that doesn’t necessarily come easily or naturally, says Gossett.

“We’re learning information about our body’s signals, which we all have, we just might not have had the language or the practice to notice or pay attention to,” says Gossett. She says she learned to tune in over the years as she realized how dancing helped her relieve stress. But there are some techniques you can follow.

Warren says people shouldn’t focus on how they look during the movement or the “end result” of that movement (squatting to a certain depth, for example). Instead, he says that closing your eyes and moving very slowly can help you tune into the sensations of what you’re feeling. She also says that approaching exercise with an “exploratory” mindset—understanding that different days will feel different—can help remove feelings of self-righteousness.

Gossett says having a professional and a space that allows you to explore and tune into that body language of yours can also help you connect. “What we do in The Class is the teachers guide you with very specific cues in your body, safely through the breath, to notice how you feel, where you feel it, asking questions that provoke curiosity, but The student’s hand is on dials for where they want to go, how much they want to do,” says Gossett. “Then there’s opportunity in The Class through breathing and releasing sound and shaking, and some of the self-regulation tools we do hands-on to help people learn how to process that.”

The bottom line: This unique exercise method might be just the ticket to get your movement routine back on track in 2024 (and beyond). “The more we understand [the body], the more we know about ourselves, the closer we are to ourselves, and then the more we can help ourselves, support ourselves,” says Gossett. “There’s this awareness that exercise is good for you, so if you can get that thing that’s going to be good for our hearts and our brains and our bones as we get older and all that stuff, and then combine that with more emotional intelligence and energy awareness together, you get so much more.”