Somatic Therapy for Anxiety: With a special focus on ADHD and Anxiety
Holidays - Hallowe'en, Christmas, even Birthday Parties - are often filled with excitement but for many children, especially those with sensitivities, it can also be overwhelming. The combination of new environments, loud noises, social expectations, and big imaginations can stir up anxiety.
For parents, this can create anxiety for us... and confusion. Are they excited, anxious, or overstimulated? And how do we support them without pushing too hard or holding them back?
This is where somatic therapy for anxiety, somatic movement, and somatic exercises for anxiety can become life-changing tools. By teaching children to recognize and respond to their body’s signals, we can help them manage social challenges, navigate overwhelming situations, and build confidence in themselves. But first, as adults, we need to learn the subtle difference.
What You’ll Learn About Somatic Therapy & Somatic Exercises for Anxiety:
How you can draw upon Somatic therapy techniques to help children tune into their bodies
Somatic movement strategies that ease overwhelm in social or sensory-heavy environments
Somatic exercises for anxiety that reduce stress, before it builds up into overwhelm
The overlap between Autism, ADHD and anxiety, and why these often show up together
How to support children with sensory processing & anxiety, from friendships to bedtime
Scroll down if you prefer to explore with me on YouTube!
What is Somatic Therapy for Anxiety?
Somatic therapy is a body-centered approach that can be highly beneficial for adults and children who experience anxiety. Instead of focusing only on thoughts and feelings, it helps us notice physiological sensations through interoception — like a racing heart, sweaty palms, or butterflies in the stomach—and respond with tools that calm the nervous system.
For Neurodiverse and sensitive souls, this approach is essential. Sensitive nervous systems can be either under- or over-responsive to interoceptive cues in the body - meaning they might feel a LOT or be completely oblivious to them. Either way as parents, we tend to see big reactions... and usually we feel it first in our bodies (like a threat or impending doom), especially if we too are sensitive. Traditional advice like “just calm down” doesn’t work... and really, who does it work for? Somatic therapy approaches help us understand that anxiety isn’t a sign of weakness - it’s a signal from the body asking for support.
Differentiating Excitement from Anxiety
Anxiety and excitement often feel the same—fast heartbeat, butterflies, sweaty palms. For children and adults, it’s easy to confuse the two.
With somatic exercises for anxiety, children learn to tell the difference:
Excitement: Energy generally feels expansive, upwards, or lighter, with smiles and laughter
Anxiety: Energy pulls inward, with tense muscles or shrinking back
Through somatic exercises, children can develop somatic awareness and can reframe sensations, if that's appropriate. A racing heart might not mean danger—it could mean excitement about something joyful. We can call this an excited system or activated, either way we tend to move into a sympathetic response - getting ready to mobilize. This can show up as sensory seeking, fidgeting, jumpy legs etc.
How Somatic Exercises Can Help Children
Helping our children to understand what their bodies are experiencing is a powerful life skill. This skill-set can help them navigate situations that feel overwhelming, unsafe, and they can learn to navigate self-regulation... or as I prefer to call it 'self-awareness (I'm not a fan of the term 'regulation').
While full self-regulation doesn't actually kick in until we're in our late 20s (yes!!), this is a skill we can build, however; it can be challenging for those who are Neurodiverse. Many don't have this skill-set or learn it much later, because we live in an over-stimulating world where we are almost always stimulated, due to trauma, so the body doesn't feel safe, and because we aren't taught it.
Our Neurodiverse children typically experience Sensory Processing Differences (not disorder) and tend to experience greater anxiety. This results in the primitive reflexes that were not integrated to show up, like easy to startle, stimming practices, and more.
So this is your opportunity to help your child from a young age... and they can learn young. I work on this regularly with my girls, but they had some impressive basics down from the age of one, telling me they were off for a breath and to relax in their room - mimicry, but that's how we all begin!
Example:
A child feels their legs bouncing before a birthday party. Instead of asking them to suppress this nervous energy, we can use this as an opportunity to lean into the natural release the body is seeking - jumping jacks, a quick run, exploring what's showing up for them.
In doing so we are better able to return to a parasympathetic state (rest, digest, connect), where we can start to explore what we were experiencing and support our child.
"What did it feel like in your body when your legs were shaking? Did you notice any other sensations in your body - was your heart racing, hard to breathe, butterflies in your tummy?"
If we don't allow our children's bodies (and our own) to lean into these very natural responses, it tends to amplify - think about a fire going out of control as you add more fuel to it... and then meltdown.
Sometimes I also use this as an opportunity to share what I do when I'm feeling similar situations and how I help myself, normalizing the experience. This validation of the whole body experience also helps your child to feel fully seen and heard, further reducing overwhelm.
Major learning moment! This is a powerful life skill we are teaching, to tune into our bodies for our sense of safety and confidence in being able to return to a restful state.
Autism, ADHD, PDA, Sensory Processing & Anxiety: Why They Often Go Hand-in-Hand
It’s common for Autistic, ADHD, PDA, and individuals with Sensory Processing Differences to also to experience anxiety. They often overlap, creating a cycle of stress and overwhelm.
We'll take ADHD, for example:
Overstimulation: Children with ADHD often notice too many things at once, which creates stress
Fear of mistakes: Being corrected repeatedly can create performance anxiety
Social struggles: Impulsivity may lead to rejection or embarrassment, fuelling social anxiety
Sleep issues: ADHD often impacts sleep, which increases anxiety levels
Somatic therapy for anxiety provides these children with concrete strategies. Instead of telling them to “focus” or “stop worrying,” somatic awareness teaches them to recognize sensations—like tightness in the chest or jittery legs—and process them through somatic movement or breath.
Supporting Social Anxiety
Friendship challenges are often where social anxiety hits hardest. Parents sometimes encourage children to “just go ask if you can play,” but for shy or anxious children, that can feel terrifying.
Here are some practical alternatives:
Invite instead of ask: Saying “Let’s play tag!” feels more confident than asking permission
Play alongside your child: When adults join in, peers often follow naturally
Prepare with somatic exercises: Before school or a big event, take a peek below for supportive somatic exercises for both adults and children!
These strategies give children a sense of empowerment, helping them join in friendships without the paralyzing fear of rejection.
Nightmares, ADHD & Anxiety & Somatic Movement at Bedtime
Children often experience vivid dreams and nightmares, which fuel nighttime anxiety. Bedtime strategies that incorporate somatic movement include:
Body scan: Notice areas of tension and relax them with movement, breath, or visualization
Gentle rocking: Sway side to side, or if you have a hammock swing, this can really help!
Visualization: Imagine a safe, cozy place before sleep, and what you will dream of
Tapping: Remember the tapping from above? Give it a try for bedtime with breath
Drawing dreams: In the morning, draw or colour dreams to release fear
By pairing bedtime with somatic exercises for anxiety, children learn to calm their nervous system before and after dreams, creating a sense of safety at night.
Somatic Movement: Helping Children with Anxiety Regulate
Somatic movement means using intentional, mindful movement to help the nervous system reset. Unlike sports or structured exercise, somatic movement is playful, spontaneous, and really accessible to children! In fact, I would say that as socialized adults we often shy away from spontaneous, expressive movement... and wonder why we have so much trapped in our bodies!
Examples of somatic movement for children:
Shaking like a puppy: Pretend to shake water off after a bath
Tree stretch: Grow tall, then slowly fold forward like a drooping Willow tree
Dance breaks: Put on music and dance until the body feels lighter.
For children with anxiety, these movements help discharge extra energy and reduce stress hormones like cortisol. They also provide confidence-building strategies in moments of overwhelm.
Examples of somatic movement for adults:
Shake it out: Put on your favourite song and dance away!
Ha! I often combine this with the reaching up & folding down - an audible 'Ha' exhale is powerful!
Tune into Your Body: What do you notice? How can you move to release this?
3 of My Favourite Somatic Exercises for Anxiety
I often suggest parents practice these exercises for a few reasons:
We are modeling... ALL THE TIME
When we are nourished, we are in a better space to respond to challenges
When we are grounded and calm, that energy ripples out into the family's nervous system
When we do it... they are more likely to join in, especially PDAers (or maybe do it on their own)
Here are a few more of my favourites for all ages - many of which you'll find on my YouTube, Instagram, and of course in my courses:
Bilateral movement: Place one hand on each leg and slowly tap right, left, right, left. Continue even beyond your breath, slowing to this pace. You can also cross your arms on your chest and tap - like a butterfly. This is great to slow a racing heart or breath, because our body will try to match this input pacing. You can begin faster and slow...
Mindfulness: Working with the senses, we begin by naming 5 things you see, 4 you touch, 3 you hear, 2 you smell, 1 you taste. Take a deep breath. What do you notice in your heart?
Body mapping: This is about understanding where we hold different emotions in our bodies. To learn more about this, go here!
Building Resilience Through Somatic Awareness
When parents incorporate somatic exercises for anxiety, children gain more than calm—they gain resilience. They learn:
My body gives me signals I can trust
Anxiety and excitement can feel similar, and I can tell the difference
Somatic movement helps me release energy safely
Somatic exercises for anxiety are tools I can use anywhere
I don’t have to fit into one way of communicating or connecting
This foundation helps sensitive and neurodiverse children thrive—not by suppressing who they are, but by honoring their body’s wisdom.
Want to Learn More?
Go here to explore Heart Centred Parenting
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🌺 Katie
Please note that this information is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional for personalized guidance.
