Somatics
Encyclopedia
The field of somatics encompasses holistic body-centered approaches that help people reconnect with self and transform through movement practices that promote psycho-physical awareness and well-being. The field contains distinct disciplines each with its own educational and/or therapeutic emphasis, principles, methods, psychology and techniques.

Basics

The term is derived from the word "Somatic" (Greek "somatikos", soma: “living, aware, bodily person”) which means, pertaining to the body, experienced and regulated from within. The concept of soma posits that neither body nor mind is separate from the other; both are part of a living process. Many of the approaches in the field of somatics address the body-mind split endemic in Western culture and body-mind integration is a common goal. Freedom from restrictions in body and mind is another goal, so that the individual functions and thrives with full potential with self-regulation and independence within the environment in which he or she lives. A fundamental principle is that growth, change, and transformation are always possible at any age.

History

Thomas Hanna applied the term in the 1970’s to describe various approaches to body-mind integration which he and others were developing. He also founded Somatics Magazine: Journal of the Mind-Body Arts and Sciences and The Somatics Society for those interested in this new field. His method, Hanna Somatic Education & Training® is the procedure for teaching voluntary conscious control of the neuromuscular system to persons suffering muscular disorders of an involuntary, unconscious nature and is a method for reawakening the mind's control of movement, flexibility, and health. Hanna describes the field of somatics as “The art and science of the inter-relational process between awareness, biological function and environment, all three factors being understood as a synergistic whole.” It is “the study of the soma, soma being the biological body of functions by which and through which awareness and environment are mediated.” http://www.somaticsed.com

Approach

Subsequent use of the term Somatics is used mainly for Hanna’s work and its offshoots and is used in lower-case form, somatics, to describe other approaches and the field at large. Somatics involves the detailed study and understanding of anatomy and physiological processes in movement, including the processes of mind. The experiential nature of the work is key. The various approaches often emphasize one or more aspects of human bio-life processes, but the subjective experience of the individual is primary. The act of exploring and experiencing one’s inner world through sensory awareness and integration is a means toward understanding and engaging the impulse toward health.

The experience of “conscious embodiment” – a key term and central to somatics work – can be developed through a process of movement exercises, direct touch from a skilled teacher or therapist (a “bodyworker”), and the study of the body itself through the life cycle. Touch and movement exercises are often designed to mirror and influence the natural processes of the body and mind, providing a fluid interconnection between movement, sensation and thought. Habitual or unhealthy patterns of being and experiencing oneself in the body can be released, facilitating trust in one’s inherent body wisdom. As perceptual, postural, and movement interaction with one’s environment is improved, more advanced motor function and neo-cortex facility are revealed, which supports structural, functional and expressive integration. Those experiences serve as a form of self-education and self-development, with the intention of developing a healthier, more integrated state of being.

Most working methods in somatics identify new capacities for movement potential and offer bio-creative resolutions to functional and developmental issues. Many approaches utilize neuro-muscular repatterning and tissue re-organization, as well as directed intention and touch, to facilitate changes at the deepest levels of experience, even utilizing cellular and embryological information to achieve change in the “mind of the tissue” – another concept central to somatics work. A skillful somatic practitioner can facilitate improvement and change in infants and others whose mental understanding is not accessible through verbal direction. Individuals working alone and exploring their “edge” of kinesthetic knowledge can also achieve significant new understandings through close attention to internal and external experience.

Somatic theories are applied in somatic psychology, somatic movement (International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association), somatic body work, and somatic dance.

  • Alexander Technique
    Alexander Technique
    The Alexander Technique teaches the ability to improve physical postural habits, particularly those that have become ingrained and conditioned responses...

  • Feldenkrais Method
    Feldenkrais method
    The Feldenkrais Method is a somatic educational system designed by Moshé Feldenkrais . The Feldenkrais method aims to improve movement repertoire, aiming to expand and refine the use of the self through awareness, in order to reduce pain or limitations in movement, and promote general well-being...

  • Rosen Method Bodywork
    Rosen Method Bodywork
    Rosen Method Bodywork is a type of Complementary and alternative medicine. The psycho-somatic approach of this bodywork is intended to help to integrate one's bodily and the emotional/mental experience, helping to identify unconscious patters of muscular holding, feeling, and behavior...

  • Continuum
    Continuum (theory)
    Continuum theories or models explain variation as involving a gradual quantitative transition without abrupt changes or discontinuities. It can be contrasted with 'categorical' models which propose qualitatively different states.-In physics:...

  • Rolfing
    Rolfing
    Rolfing is a therapy system created by The Rolf Institute of Structural Integration and is a system whereby the alleged manipulation of the fasciae by specific methods is theorized to yield therapeutic benefit....

     (Structural Integration)
  • Authentic Movement
    Authentic Movement
    Authentic Movement is an expressive improvisational movement practice that allows a group of participants a type of free association of the body...

  • Trager Approach
    Trager Approach
    The Trager Approach is a mind-body approach to movement education. It is a system of gentle, rhythmic movement and touch aimed at facilitating deep relaxation, increased physical mobility, and promoting the body's optimal performance....

  • Progressive Relaxation
  • Yoga
    Yoga
    Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

  • Qigong
    Qigong
    Qigong or chi kung is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation...

  • Pilates
    Pilates
    Pilates is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates in Germany, the UK and the USA. As of 2005, there were 11 million people practicing the discipline regularly and 14,000 instructors in the United States....

  • Gyrotonic Expansion System/Gyrokinesis
  • Applied Kinesiology
    Applied kinesiology
    Applied kinesiology is an alternative medicine method used for diagnosis and determination of therapy. According to practitioners using Applied Kinesiology techniques, it provides feedback on the functional status of the body. AK is a practice within the realm of alternative medicine and is...

     and Touch for Health Goodhardt Therapy
  • Ideokinesis
    Ideokinesis
    Ideokinesis is an approach to the improvement of human posture and body movement, in which visual and tactile-kinesthetic imagery guide the student toward healthier form....

  • Laban Movement Analysis
    Laban Movement Analysis
    Laban is a way and language for interpreting, describing, visualizing and notating all ways of human movement. Created by Rudolf Laban, LMA draws on his theories of effort and shape to describe, interpret and document human movement...

  • Bartenieff Fundamentals
    Bartenieff Fundamentals
    Bartenieff Fundamentals are an extension of Laban Movement Analysis developed by Irmgard Bartenieff, who trained with Laban before becoming a physiotherapist...

  • Postural Integration (PI)
    Postural Integration (PI)
    Postural Integration is an alternative process-oriented, body based therapy originally developed in the late 1960s by in California, USA, after many years of self-exploration in the fields of humanistic psychology and the human potential movement...

  • Craniosacral therapy
    Craniosacral therapy
    Craniosacral therapy is an alternative medicine therapy used by osteopaths, massage therapists, naturopaths, and chiropractors. A craniosacral therapy session involves the therapist placing their hands on the patient, which allows them to "tune into the craniosacral rhythm"...


External Links


Resources

  • Somatics: Reawakening The Mind's Control Of Movement, Flexibility, And Health by Thomas Hanna
  • Movement of the Body of Life: Creating New Pathways for Sensory Awareness and Fluid by Thomas Hanna
  • Natural Intelligence by Susan Aposhyan
  • Sensing, Feeling and Action, 2nd Edition by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen
  • Life on Land, The Story of Continuum by Emilie Conrad
  • The Wisdom of the Body Moving by Linda Hartley
  • Bone, Breath, Gesture: Practices of Embodiment by Don Hanlon Johnson
  • Bodystories: A Guide to Experiential Anatomy by Andrea Olsen and Caryn McHose
  • Dance Kinesiology by Sally Sevey Fitt
  • Bone, Breath, Gesture: Practices of Embodiment by Don Hanlon Johnson
  • Full Body Presence: Explorations, Connections, and More to Experience Present Moment Awareness by Suzanne Scurlock Durana
  • Engaging the Movement of Life: Exploring Health and Embodiment Through Osteopathy and Continuum by Bonnie Gintis and Emilie Conrad
  • Body Movement: Coping with the Environment by Irmgard Bartenieff
  • 'Brief History of Somatic Practices and Dance: historic development of the field of somatic education and its relationship to dance,’ by Martha Eddy, Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, 2009

See also

  • Bodywork
  • Phenomenology
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