Moving Towards Regulation: The Power of Movement in Play Therapy
When you move (whether that’s going for a walk, stretching after sitting at the computer, going for a swim, heading to the gym, or joining an exercise class) how do you honestly feel afterwards?
A number of years ago, I led a workshop at a conference all about movement. The session was scheduled after lunch on a cold, dreary day in a hotel conference room with the air conditioning running. My audience were feeling exactly as you might expect: sluggish after lunch and slightly shivery.
Halfway through the workshop, I took the group outside. (They had been warned to bring their trainers!) As I’m also a personal trainer, I led them through a 30-minute workout. Needless to say, when we returned for the second half of the workshop, the atmosphere had completely changed. The group felt warmer, more connected, more alert, and much more engaged.
Movement is incredibly powerful.
As a fairly sedentary society, many of us find it difficult to get up and move, particularly when we're tired, stressed, or overwhelmed. Yet the benefits of movement, both physically and emotionally, can be profound.
Children who have experienced developmental trauma are often hypervigilant. They may be constantly scanning for danger and can spend more time in states of fight, flight, or freeze than they do feeling relaxed and regulated. In these instances, movement can be especially helpful. Not only does it provide an outlet for the excess energy associated with survival responses, but movement can also be rhythmic, predictable, and regulating.
This week, two children I work with independently discovered the joy of skipping during therapy sessions. While their caring adults and I swung the “rope”, they jumped rhythmically over it. The movement, the repetition, and the shared experience seemed to provide exactly what their nervous systems needed in that moment.
Children are often remarkably good at knowing when they need to move. The challenge is that many environments place restrictions on movement, making it difficult for them to respond to those needs when they need it most.
In therapy, we do not expect children to sit still.
It is important to acknowledge that not all children express dysregulation in the same way. I work with one little girl who tends to internalise everything. When she becomes dysregulated, it looks very different from a child in fight or flight. Instead, she moves towards freeze; becoming quieter, more withdrawn, and less connected.
Whatever form dysregulation takes, our role is to notice it and support the child back towards regulation. Sometimes we may have been talking about something particularly difficult or emotionally charged, and the child begins to feel triggered. In those moments, co-regulation is essential. The child needs to experience that they are not alone with their feelings; that a caring adult is alongside them, helping them make sense of what is happening and reminding them, through both words and presence, that they are safe right now.
Movement often becomes a valuable part of that process.
Over time, countless movement-based games have emerged to meet children's sensory and regulatory needs. Some children enjoy rolling on a peanut ball into the waiting arms of their caring adult. Others like playing catch, often inventing increasingly creative rules as they go. Some prefer bouncing on a trampoline while following different instructions – five star jumps, five tuck jumps, and so on. Others enjoy football, dodgeball, or even "dodge sack", a variation using bean bags.
These activities are fun, but they are also doing something important. They help regulate the nervous system, support connection, and allow the thinking part of the brain to come back online when emotions are beginning to overwhelm.
So, the next time you feel the urge to move, try being intentional about it. Pause and notice how you feel before you begin – physically, emotionally, and mentally. Then notice how you feel afterwards.
We often think of movement as something we do for fitness, but perhaps its greatest value lies elsewhere. Movement can help us reconnect with ourselves, regulate our nervous systems, and restore a sense of balance. For children who have experienced trauma, it can provide a pathway back to safety, connection, and regulation. And for the rest of us, it can be a gentle reminder that sometimes the body knows what we need before the mind catches up.
Download PDF here