6 Ways Somatic Movement Supports Chronic Pain Relief

Support beyond the clinic

Chronic pain can make life smaller.

Not only because it hurts—but because it changes how you move, how you sleep, how you plan your day, and how safe you feel inside your own body.

If you’re already in physical therapy, you may be learning how pain works, how to rebuild strength and coordination, and how to respond to flare-ups in a way that helps your system settle. That matters. Physical therapy can be a turning point.

And for many people, the next layer of healing is learning how to stay connected to your body outside the clinic—in daily life, under stress, in the moments when symptoms rise and you don’t want to lose yourself to them.

That’s where Aurras Transformation comes in.

Aurras is not physical therapy. It’s somatic movement and bodywork support that helps you rebuild safety, agency, and choice—so your PT gains land more deeply, and your body becomes a place you can return to again.

Below are six ways somatic movement can support chronic pain relief—especially when you’re ready for support beyond the clinic.

1) It teaches your nervous system “I’m safe enough”

Chronic pain often comes with a nervous system that’s on high alert. Somatic movement works with signals of safety: orientation, breath, contact with the ground, slow pacing, and choices you can feel.

This isn’t about forcing relaxation. It’s about giving your system small, believable evidence that it can come out of protection mode—one moment at a time.

2) It reduces bracing without asking you to “let go”

Many pain patterns involve bracing: jaw, shoulders, ribs, belly, pelvic floor, hips. The problem is, “relax” rarely works when your body is guarding.

Somatic movement approaches bracing differently: we build support first (through contact, alignment, and pacing), and then the holding starts to shift on its own.

3) It helps you track sensation without spiraling

With chronic pain, sensation can feel like danger. Somatic practice builds a skill that changes everything:

tracking sensation without escalating it.

You learn to notice:

• what’s neutral

• what’s workable

• what’s too much
  …and how to respond before you hit a flare.

That skill alone can restore a sense of control.

4) It expands your movement options (so pain has less power)

Pain often narrows the way you move. The body repeats what it knows: one posture, one strategy, one “safe” pattern.

Somatic movement expands your “movement vocabulary”—small shifts, spirals, weight transfer, yielding and pressing, micro-movements you can trust.

More options = more freedom.

5) It bridges the gap between PT sessions and real life

Physical therapy is powerful—and then life happens.

Stress. Work. Sitting. Parenting. Sleep disruption. Overdoing it on a “good day.” Under-moving on a “bad day.”

Somatic work gives you short, repeatable practices that fit into real moments:

• before you get out of the car

• when your jaw is clenched at your desk

• when you wake up stiff

• when you feel yourself bracing before movement

This is where change becomes consistent.

6) It brings you back to rhythm (and sometimes, back to pleasure)

Chronic pain can steal your relationship to pleasure, rhythm, and confidence in movement.

Somatic movement doesn’t demand intensity. It invites rhythm—small enough to be doable, steady enough to re-train the system.

This is one reason Aurras Waves can be so supportive: you practice moving with choice, pacing, and permission—inside music, inside community, inside a space that doesn’t ask you to perform.

How Physical Therapy and Aurras Work Together

Physical therapy helps restore function: calm tissues, rebuild strength, retrain coordination, and create a clear plan.

Aurras extends that plan into lived experience.
It supports how you relate to sensation, how you respond to flare-ups, and how you keep practicing when you’re not in the clinic.

Think of it as:
PT builds the map. Somatic work helps you live it.

Two Ways to Work With Aurras

1) 1:1 Somatic Sessions (Aurras Transformation)

Private sessions are slow enough to be precise and practical enough to use immediately.

We start with what’s true in your body today—pain, fear of movement, shutdown, tension, overwhelm—and build:

• nervous system resourcing tools

• somatic movement you can repeat at home

• bodywork-informed support (depending on the session container)

• a short, realistic home practice

2) Aurras Waves (weekly movement practice)

Aurras Waves is a weekly 5Rhythms®-informed movement space: no choreography, no performance—just music and choice.

You can pause, rest, modify, or step out at any time. The practice is learning how to stay in relationship with your body.

A 2-Minute Practice for Pain Days

Before you stretch, brace, or power through:

1. Look around and name three neutral objects.

2. Feel your feet (or the support under you). Shift slightly until you find “more supported.”

3. Ask: What movement is 5% easier right now?
   Do that for three breaths. Then stop.

This is support beyond the clinic—small actions that teach your body: I have options.

Ready for the Next Layer?

If chronic pain has been running your life, you’re not alone—and you don’t have to do it by willpower.

If you’re in PT, Aurras can help you integrate and deepen the work.
If you’re not in PT right now, Aurras can be a starting place to rebuild trust and capacity.

→ Book a 1:1 Somatic Session
→ Join Aurras Waves