Returning to the Body in Winter: How Somatic Body Work Supports Mental Health During the Darker Months
Winter has a way of slowing everything down. The days shorten, temperatures drop, routines shift, and the external world seems to contract. For many people, this seasonal change brings relief and rest. For others, it can trigger low mood, fatigue, anxiety, dissociation, or a sense of emotional heaviness that feels difficult to explain. While traditional talk therapy and cognitive strategies remain valuable, winter can be an especially powerful time to turn toward somatic body work as a form of mental health support.
Somatic body work focuses on the connection between the mind and body, recognizing that our emotional experiences are not just cognitive—they live in the nervous system, muscles, breath, posture, and internal sensations. During winter, when both nature and our nervous systems shift into a slower rhythm, somatic approaches can help us regulate stress, process stored emotions, and reconnect with ourselves in gentle, embodied ways.
This article explores why winter can be particularly challenging for mental health, how somatic body work helps address those challenges, and practical ways to integrate somatic practices into your winter self-care routine.
Understanding Winter’s Impact on Mental Health
Winter affects mental health on multiple levels: biological, psychological, and social. Reduced daylight can disrupt circadian rhythms and lower serotonin levels, contributing to depression and fatigue. Cold temperatures often limit movement and social interaction, increasing isolation. Holiday stress, grief, financial pressure, and family dynamics can compound emotional strain.
From a somatic perspective, winter often coincides with:
Increased nervous system shutdown or hypoarousal (feeling numb, disconnected, or lethargic)
Heightened muscle tension due to cold and stress
Shallow breathing patterns
Reduced interoceptive awareness (the ability to sense internal bodily signals)
A tendency to “live in the head” rather than the body
For individuals with trauma histories, winter can also intensify symptoms such as dissociation, freeze responses, or chronic fatigue. The body may interpret darkness, cold, and stillness as cues for danger or withdrawal, even when no immediate threat is present.
Somatic body work offers a way to work with these patterns directly—by listening to the body rather than pushing against it.
What Is Somatic Body Work?
Somatic body work is an umbrella term for therapeutic approaches that emphasize bodily awareness as a pathway to emotional regulation and healing. Rather than focusing solely on thoughts or narratives, somatic practices attend to sensations, movement, breath, and the nervous system’s responses to stress and safety.
Common forms of somatic body work include:
Somatic Experiencing
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Body-based mindfulness practices
Gentle movement therapies
Breathwork
Grounding and orienting exercises
Touch-based therapies (when appropriate and consented)
Trauma-informed yoga or movement
Expressive and creative somatic practices
These approaches are rooted in the understanding that the body holds implicit memory—experiences that may not be accessible through words alone. Somatic work supports the nervous system in completing stress responses, restoring a sense of agency, and building resilience.
Why Somatic Work Is Especially Helpful in Winter
1. Honoring the Body’s Natural Rhythm
Winter is not meant to feel like summer. Many people struggle because they try to maintain the same productivity, energy, and pace year-round. Somatic body work encourages attunement to the body’s natural cycles rather than overriding them.
Instead of asking, “What should I be doing?” somatic practices ask, “What does my body need right now?”
In winter, the answer is often rest, warmth, containment, and slower movement. Somatic work validates these needs rather than pathologizing them, helping individuals shift from self-criticism to self-compassion.
2. Supporting Nervous System Regulation
The nervous system responds to seasonal changes. Reduced sunlight and colder temperatures can tilt the system toward either hyperarousal (anxiety, restlessness, irritability) or hypoarousal (fatigue, numbness, depression).
Somatic body work helps regulate the autonomic nervous system by:
Increasing awareness of stress responses
Expanding capacity for safety and calm
Supporting transitions between activation and rest
Reducing chronic muscle tension
Encouraging fuller breathing patterns
Winter-appropriate somatic practices tend to be grounding, slow, and rhythmic—qualities that help stabilize the nervous system rather than overstimulate it.
3. Addressing Seasonal Depression and Low Mood
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and subclinical seasonal depression often involve both physical and emotional symptoms: heaviness in the body, slowed movement, disrupted sleep, and difficulty concentrating.
Somatic approaches support mood by:
Encouraging gentle movement that increases circulation
Supporting vagal tone through breath and grounding
Increasing embodiment, which counters dissociation
Helping individuals notice subtle shifts in energy and emotion
Rather than forcing positivity or motivation, somatic work meets low mood where it lives—in the body—and gently invites change from the inside out.
4. Creating Warmth and Containment
Winter can feel emotionally and physically cold. Somatic body work emphasizes warmth, both literal and symbolic. Practices may include:
Wrapping the body in blankets
Using heat packs or warm baths
Placing hands on the chest or belly
Imagining warmth spreading through the body
Practicing slow, intentional movements
These forms of containment help individuals feel held and supported, which is especially important for those with attachment wounds or trauma histories.
Somatic Practices to Support Mental Health in Winter
Below are accessible, trauma-informed somatic practices that can be incorporated into daily life during winter. These practices are not meant to replace therapy, but to complement professional mental health care.
1. Grounding Through Sensory Awareness
Grounding helps anchor attention in the present moment and counter feelings of dissociation or overwhelm.
A simple winter grounding practice:
Sit or stand comfortably. Notice the weight of your body. Feel your feet on the floor or your back against a chair. Name five things you can see, four things you can feel, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. Move slowly and deliberately.
This practice helps reorient the nervous system toward safety and stability.
2. Somatic Breathing for Cold Weather
In winter, breathing often becomes shallow as the body conserves heat. Somatic breathing encourages fuller, slower breaths without forcing intensity.
Try this:
Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Inhale gently through your nose, allowing the belly to rise. Exhale slowly through the mouth, as if fogging a mirror. Let the exhale be slightly longer than the inhale.
This pattern supports parasympathetic activation and helps calm anxiety and agitation.
3. Gentle, Slow Movement
High-intensity exercise may feel inaccessible or dysregulating during winter. Somatic movement focuses on quality rather than quantity.
Examples include:
Slow stretching
Rocking or swaying motions
Seated or lying-down movements
Trauma-informed yoga
Walking with awareness rather than speed
The goal is not performance but sensation—feeling movement from the inside.
4. Body Scanning With Compassion
A body scan invites awareness without judgment.
Begin at the top of your head and slowly move your attention downward. Notice sensations such as warmth, tightness, numbness, or ease. There is no need to change anything. Simply notice.
If discomfort arises, offer gentle curiosity rather than criticism. This practice builds tolerance for internal experience and strengthens mind-body connection.
5. Containment and Self-Soothing
Containment practices help individuals feel safe when emotions feel heavy or diffuse.
Examples include:
Hugging a pillow or weighted blanket
Crossing arms gently over the chest
Placing hands on the heart or abdomen
Wrapping in layers of clothing or blankets
These gestures signal safety to the nervous system and can be especially supportive during moments of sadness or grief.
Somatic Work and Trauma During Winter
For trauma survivors, winter can intensify freeze responses or emotional shutdown. Shorter days and reduced activity may mirror earlier experiences of helplessness or isolation.
Somatic body work is particularly valuable because it:
Respects pacing and choice
Focuses on present-moment safety
Avoids retraumatization through forced processing
Builds capacity gradually
Restores a sense of agency in the body
Working with a trauma-informed therapist trained in somatic approaches can be especially beneficial during this season.
Integrating Somatic Practices Into Winter Routines
Consistency matters more than duration. Even five minutes a day can make a difference.
Consider:
Pairing somatic practices with daily rituals (morning coffee, bedtime routine)
Practicing near a window for natural light exposure
Creating a dedicated “warm corner” for rest and embodiment
Journaling after somatic practices to reflect on sensations and emotions
Rather than adding more to your to-do list, think of somatic work as a way to soften existing routines. Somatic therapy is not about pushing through discomfort—it is about learning how to listen, respond, and care for the body as an ally in mental health.
Winter invites us inward. In a culture that often prioritizes constant productivity, this inward turn can feel uncomfortable or even threatening. Somatic body work reframes winter not as a problem to solve, but as a season to inhabit.
By listening to the body, honoring its rhythms, and offering warmth and compassion, somatic practices help transform winter from a time of survival into a time of restoration.
Mental health does not require constant forward motion. Sometimes healing happens in stillness—when we slow down enough to feel what is already here.