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Health & Wellness — Hormone Health

Calming Somatic Exercises To Reduce Your Cortisol

Molly Moore / 17 May 2025

Somatic exercises are one of the simplest and most powerful ways to help your body feel safe again and bring those cortisol levels back down.

These gentle movements reconnect you with your body, calm your nervous system, and create real shifts in how you feel.

Here’s a cortisol-calming sequence you can do at home in under 20 minutes. No equipment needed. Just a quiet space and your breath.

While these moves work great in a sequence, you can also choose to just do one or two at moments in the day when you feel you really need to come back into your body. 

It's a great habit to incorporate them into a daily ritual whether that's first thing in the morning or as a midday reset

Somatic Exercises To Reduce Cortisol

2. Body Scan in Corpse Pose (Savasana)

Lie flat on your back, legs extended, arms relaxed at your sides.


Close your eyes and slowly scan your body from head to toe.


Notice areas of tension and give them permission to soften.


Stay here for 2–5 minutes, breathing slowly.

This classic somatic exercise teaches your body to shift out of fight-or-flight and into deep rest.

1. Staff Pose (Dandasana) – Touch Your Toes, Gently

Sit tall with your legs extended in front of you. Flex your feet.

On an exhale, gently fold forward, reaching for your toes or shins.

Let your neck relax. Stay here for 5–8 deep breaths.

This helps calm the mind and stretches the back body - great for when your system feels tight and tense.

5. Cat-Cow Flow (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana)

Come onto hands and knees.

Inhale, arch your spine, lift your head and tailbone (cow).

Exhale, round your spine and tuck your chin (cat).

Flow with your breath for 1–2 minutes.

This gentle spinal movement calms the vagus nerve and resets the stress response.

3. Standing Forward Fold (Uttanasana)

From standing, fold forward at the hips with soft knees.


Let your head and arms hang heavy. Breathe into your back.


Hold for 6–8 deep breaths.

Inversions like this gently regulate the nervous system and support blood flow to the brain.

4. Supine Spinal Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)

Lie on your back. Hug your right knee in and guide it across your body to the left.

Extend your right arm out and look right. Breathe into your belly.

Hold for 30 seconds, then switch sides.

Twists help wring out physical and emotional tension — both key to lowering cortisol.

7. Child’s Pose (Balasana)

Kneel and fold forward, resting your chest on your thighs.

Stretch your arms forward or let them rest by your sides.

Let your forehead touch the ground. Hold for 1–2 minutes.

One of the most restorative poses for instantly calming the nervous system.

8. Reclining Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana)

Lie on your back. Bring the soles of your feet together, knees open wide.

Place hands on belly or heart. Stay for 2–3 minutes, breathing gently.

Opens the hips and supports deep parasympathetic relaxation - ideal for cortisol recovery.

6. Accomplished Pose (Siddhasana) – Meditate for 2 Minutes

Sit cross-legged with a tall spine. Rest your hands on your knees.

Close your eyes and focus on slow, even breathing.

Inhale for 4 counts, exhale for 6. Repeat for 2–3 minutes.
 

Even just two minutes of breath awareness can drop cortisol significantly.

9. Bonus Somatic Add-Ons: Try These Anytime

Self-holding: Gently place your hands over your heart and belly. Feel the rise and fall of your breath.

Shaking it out: Stand and shake your arms, legs, and hips for 30 seconds. This mimics a natural somatic release.

Humming: Soft humming stimulates the vagus nerve and signals safety to your body.

Simple Cortisol Reset You Can Do Daily

You don’t need to do every pose each day. Pick 3–5 that feel good and breathe through them with intention. Over time, these movements retrain your nervous system to respond to life with more ease.

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