SOMA ® Awakening Otley

Come and explore these simple wellness techniques to awaken the SOMA® within. Take time to press pause on life and reset your week ahead. There’s a reason you feel calm, focused, or even euphoric after SOMA Breathwork. It’s not just in your mind — it’s in your brainwaves, your chemistry, and your nervous system. Stillness is not passive. It’s profoundly active. Shifting brainwaves into flow SOMA Breathwork guides you into slower, more rhythmic breathing patterns — often paired with music and movement. This combination shifts the brain from high-frequency beta waves (associated with stress and overthinking) into alpha and theta waves. Alpha waves bring calm alertness. Theta, linked to deep meditation and dreaming, opens the door to subconscious insights, creativity, and emotional release. In this state, the mind becomes quiet — and the inner landscape becomes accessible. The prefrontal cortex takes a break During breath retention phases in SOMA, something fascinating happens: activity in the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain responsible for critical thinking, time awareness, and self-judgment — temporarily decreases. This pause is powerful. It allows people to move beyond mental chatter, self-doubt, and over-analysis. It’s often in this stillness that people experience breakthroughs, a sense of unity, or deep emotional clarity. Parasympathetic activation = deep restoration Most of us live in sympathetic overdrive — fight or flight mode. SOMA activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the body’s “rest and digest” state. Heart rate slows. Cortisol drops. Feel-good neurochemicals like dopamine and serotonin begin to flow. Over time, this retrains the body to find safety in stillness. And from that place, transformation becomes possible not from effort, but from alignment. Stillness doesn’t mean nothing is happening. In breath, in rhythm, in silence — your brain is rewiring. Your body is healing and you are returning to your whole Self. Contraindications: Slow, rhythmic breathing techniques are generally safe for most people. Breath holds should NOT be practiced in any of the following cases: • Recent surgery • Epilepsy • Pregnancy in the third trimester; • Serious heart conditions (e.g. pacemaker, uncontrolled high blood pressure, or recent heart attack) In most other cases, the practice is considered safe. We invite you to listen to your body, reduce the intensity if needed, or skip breath holds at any time Safety: Always practice seated or lying down. Never in water, never while driving. Ever.