Unlocking your body’s wisdom. A 2026 guide to somatic trauma release.

A breakdown of Somatic Experiencing, TRE, breathwork, and polyvagal-informed practices, and why the letting go technique developed by Dr David Hawkins offers the most direct route to releasing stored trauma from the body, no sequence, equipment, or practitioner required.

Your body remembers what your mind has already moved past. That's the starting point for every somatic approach to trauma and stress, and it's the reason so many people who've done years of talking still carry the same tightness in their chest, the same tension in their shoulders, the same feeling they can't quite name.

This guide walks through the main somatic release practices people are turning to in 2026, how they work, and where each one fits. Then I'll show you where releasing, the method I teach at OUTSIDE help, sits inside that landscape, and why it's the entry point I recommend to almost everyone who asks me where to start.

What "somatic" actually means

Somatic simply means "of the body." A somatic practice works with physical sensation rather than with thought, memory, or narrative. Instead of asking "why do I feel this way," a somatic approach asks "what am I feeling, right now, in my body."

The idea driving all of these practices is the same. A difficult experience that couldn't be processed in the moment doesn't just disappear. It gets held, physically, as tension, bracing, shallow breath, or a nervous system stuck on high alert. Somatic work gives that held experience a way to finish what it started.

The main somatic releasing practices

Somatic Experiencing. Developed by Peter Levine, this approach guides you to track physical sensation in small, manageable amounts, always staying within a window you can tolerate. The idea is that the body can complete a stress response it didn't get to finish, a bit at a time, without needing to relive the story behind it.

Trauma Release Exercises (TRE). Developed by Dr. David Berceli, TRE uses a sequence of exercises that fatigue the legs and core until the body starts to tremor naturally. The tremor itself is the release, similar to the shaking you'll see in an animal after it escapes a threat. It's usually learned with a practitioner first, then practiced independently.

Breathwork. Extended or patterned breathing, particularly slow exhalation, is one of the most direct ways to signal safety to your nervous system. It's simple, it's accessible, and it's often the first thing people notice calms them when nothing else has.

Polyvagal-informed practices. Drawing on Stephen Porges' work on the vagus nerve, these practices (humming, gentle movement, co-regulating with another calm person) are aimed at helping your nervous system move out of fight-or-flight or shutdown and back into a state where you feel safe and present.

Releasing. This is the method I teach, built on Dr. David Hawkins' letting go technique. Where the other approaches above tend to be structured, sequenced, and practitioner-led, releasing is the simplest of the group: notice the sensation, allow it to be there without trying to change it, and let it run its course.

Every one of these practices shares the same core belief. The body holds what talking alone can't reach, and it needs a physical process, not just a cognitive one, to let it go.

Where they differ

The practices above differ mainly in structure and who's driving the session.

Somatic Experiencing and TRE are both practitioner-guided, at least at the start, and both work through a defined sequence. Breathwork and polyvagal practices are more flexible but still involve techniques you're applying to yourself, from the outside in.

Releasing works the other way around. There's no exercise sequence, no physical technique to master, and no requirement for a practitioner to be present once you know the method. You are the one leading the process. Think of it like a comet: in most therapeutic and somatic work, the practitioner is the head and you are the tail. In releasing, you are the head. The coach is there to support you, not to run the session for you.

This matters because it changes what's being asked of you. Somatic Experiencing and TRE ask you to trust a technique. Releasing asks you to trust yourself, with support while you build the confidence to do it alone.

Why I teach releasing first

I've spent thirteen years practicing the Hawkins method personally, and building my own approach to releasing on top of it, folding in the physical, somatic side of the work along the way. Here's what I've found.

Every somatic practice above eventually arrives at the same instruction: stop resisting, and let the body do what it already knows how to do. Releasing starts there instead of building up to it. There's no sequence to learn before you can begin. No exercises to fatigue your muscles into a tremor response. No practitioner required to hold the container. You can start noticing and allowing a sensation today, in this moment, with nothing but your attention.

That doesn't mean the other approaches aren't valuable. Somatic Experiencing and TRE both work with the same physiological truth releasing works with: that a feeling not allowed to complete gets stored, and needs a physical, present-moment process to move. If you're someone who needs more structure at the start, or who wants a practitioner actively guiding a physical exercise, those approaches may be the right entry point for you.

But for most people I work with, releasing is the most direct route in. You don't need to name what you're feeling. You don't need a sequence of stretches. You don't need to relive anything. You need to notice the sensation, allow it, and stop resisting it.

What releasing looks like

The method is simple: notice the feeling, allow it to be there without trying to change it, and let it run its course.

Most of us only know three ways to handle a difficult feeling. We push it down and suppress it. We act it out and express it. Or we try to think our way out of it. None of these let the feeling complete. Releasing is the alternative. You stop resisting the feeling, and with willingness and acceptance, it begins to dissolve. Not because you forced it out, but because you finally stopped fighting it.

This is Dr David Hawkins' letting go technique. Hawkins recognised decades ago that emotions are energy, and energy that isn't allowed to move gets stored in the body. Releasing gives that energy somewhere to go.

In practice: sit somewhere quiet. Bring your attention to the sensation, wherever it is in your body. Don't reach for a story about why it's there. Don't try to fix it or push it away. Just notice it, and let it be. If it intensifies, that's not a sign something's gone wrong. A feeling held down for years can surface intensely at first, like a shaken bottle when the cap comes off. Stay with it. Keep allowing. Within minutes, most sensations shift on their own.

Releasing vs traditional therapy

Releasing is led by you, not by a practitioner. It's a here-and-now process, focused on what's arising today, not an excavation of your past. There's no diagnosis, no requirement to talk unless it helps, and no need to relive an event to deal with what it left behind.

This isn't a substitute for medical or psychiatric treatment, and I'm always upfront about that. Releasing is a spiritual and emotional process, not a clinical one. If you're currently in therapy, I recommend finishing that process first so you can stay clear about what's actually creating your progress.

Who this is for

People come to releasing after they've hit an emotional rock bottom, or after they feel stuck, blocked, or on the sidelines of their own life. Often they've tried therapy and other somatic approaches already, and still feel at the mercy of their emotions.

What they usually discover is that the understanding they'd already built wasn't wasted, but understanding was never going to be what set them free. The body was waiting for permission to let go, not another technique to apply to it.

If you're the person who understands your patterns intellectually but still can't sleep. Who knows exactly where the tension came from but can't get it to release. Who has done the work, tried the practices, and still feels the weight. This is what releasing addresses.

You are not your thoughts or your emotions. You are the one witnessing them. That awareness is what makes letting go possible, and it grows every time you practice.

Are you ready to begin your releasing journey?

If you’re ready to release emotions instead of suppressing, expressing, or analysing them, then you’re ready for OUTSIDE help. I teach you how to release in the moment, as life happens, so you can live life on life’s terms. Read my answers to the most frequently asked questions.

If you’re interested in working with me, check out my releasing coaching services.

If you’re ready to talk about how releasing can benefit your recovery and explore working with me, book a discovery call today to begin the journey towards emotional sobriety.

If you’re reading this but feel you’re at the stage where you are back in the grip of alcoholism or drug addiction, get in touch with Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. There is a solution.