What is Somatics? | More information | Session costs | FAQs

Benefits

This work may benefit anybody who wants to develop an efficent, comfortable and increasingly mindful way of moving. The following is a list of some ways in which various groups may find this useful.

• Active sports/fitness practitioners will find their chosen activity well complemented by developing a deeper sense of movement awareness. This may help to prevent injury and the movements learnt are an excellent way to recover and release tension from strenuous activity.
• Less active people will be able to release tensions related to posture and immobility. Somatics is one way to learn to come to enjoy movement, which may lead to further physical activity if appropriate.
• Pilates/Yoga practitioners. Somatics is not intended to replace these practices but may be complementary to it. The focus being on functional movement and awareness will a deeper connection with the movements of Pilates and the Asanas of Yoga.
• Dancers and other artists.Somatics can be complementary, as many dancers and artists are aware already that fine tuning the sense of movement and awareness can only improve the facility for expression.

How Somatics works

All muscular activity except for purely reflexive movement is coded for within specific regions of the brain. The brain has a remarkable ability to change and adapt quickly according to the circumstances in which it is used, which allows us to learn and develop a vast range sophisticated motor skills. Fluency is developed by repetition, and over time complicated skills such as driving require little attention and thought to execute. The advantages of habituated movements are clear, but a number of drawbacks exist also.

Just as we develop habits which are useful (eg.walking, driving, speaking), we may also develop habits which are not, as the movements we make on a day to day basis become hardwired within the brain and become automatic. Sensory motor amnesia is a term coined by Thomas Hanna, the creator of Somatics, which refers to the ability we have to 'forget' how to move well. When we use our bodies with excessive tension and without range of motion, over time we may find that this becomes our set way of moving.

Chronic Tension

Injury, pain, postural compensations and emotional stress may cause us to lock our muscles in a protective stance which over time becomes habitual. In somatics we learn to release tension by gently and slowly taking the body through a full range of movement. By feeling exactly how the body is used during these movement the brain is given new information and can begin to develop a more efficient and comfortable way of using the body and a release of tension.

Muscular Inactivity

When the body is immobilised by chronic tension, the deep muscles of the body often become inactive due to underuse. Subtlety of movement may be lost and the larger muscles compensate by working even harder. Muscle inactivity should not be mistaken for weakness, and strengthening exercises often cause further tension within the wrong muscles. In somatics new movement patterns are practised leading to the restoration of useful muscle activation.

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