“This is a true story. Woke early in London with terrible shoulder, collarbone pain. Struggled on until I got back home, feeling quite wretched. By 2.30pm I was on my back trying to decide which video to try... Opted for wash rag, never done before, trusting instinct. One and a half hours later I was without pain, and the whole of my rib cage and chest feel mobile and free, ready to go to Lincoln Cathedral to sing the beautiful Duruffle Requiem. In Paradisum indeed. And to think I was contemplating saying I had to pull out tonight, unable to sing. Life-saving Somatics”
Last week I received the above in an email. Marilyn, had used my online video library to help herself out of pain. Demonstrating how to live Somatically.
But what does that mean, what does Somatics, being a Soma mean? Well, we are all Soma’s because we are living, breathing sensory beings, our nervous system literally responding to everything we feel see, do and hear. Thomas Hanna, who coined the term Somatics and developed the practice explained that the Greek word Somatics means to sense oneself from within.
To live Somatically essentially means to:-
Be Self Sensing
Self Monitoring
Self correcting
Self Healing
Self Actualising
In a nutshell, if you have pain, tension, feel stressed or anxious, you have the know how to deal with it. It’s pretty empowering stuff.
Somatics has many benefits, one of the top benefits (though they are all rank high in terms of improving the quality of your life), is learning the skills to relieve your own pain. That is, without the need for medication or being stuck in a cycle of visits to a Physiotherapist, Chiropractor, Osteopath, massage therapist etc, etc. Whilst all the above therapies offer the help so often needed, once you are familiar with the key movements and techniques in Somatics, you too can become your own practitioner and be able to help yourself.
I remind myself regularly of this quote by Thomas Hanna, it inspires me to live Somatically and inspire others to believe in their abilities to self heal.
““Somatic exercises can change how we live our lives, how we believe that our minds and bodies interrelate, how powerful we think we are in controlling our lives and how responsible we should be in taking care of our total being” ”
What’s In Class This Week
We’ll be exploring gentle movements of the pelvis and sensing the connection to head and hands and improving our ability to reach with ease.
Last week’s class - Soothing Somatics for frayed nerves
Is now available on-demand and is now in the Zoom collection, you can rent it or join my on-demand membership for unlimited streaming for just £25 per month
Thank you for reading, I’d love to hear your thoughts, insights and comments and look forward to seeing your Soma soon.
Liz x