"Somatic Expression is best understood through personal experience. In a Somatic Expression session, you explore a range of possibilities with the five somatic languages and bring habitual patterns of moving, feeling and thinking to the surface where they can be unraveled and transformed."

Somatics

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“Somatics" (from the Greek, soma, body) is an approach to the human body that emphasizes the interrelatedness of your body, mind and spirit. You focus on your body from the inside out, giving attention to your inner experience of sensation, emotion and thinking. You combine this inner awareness with functional knowledge of the body and universal principles of human movement. Somatics is a path for becoming more awake to your life through conscious awareness and mindful action of your body. This differentiates Somatics from other body disciplines, like dance or fitness training, that focus more on a performance outcome or a particular look.

Somatics is the art and craft of conscious relationship with your own body.

Even though it is a relatively new field, the roots of Somatics can be seen in Yoga, T’ai Chi, Asian martial arts, as well as the Western contributions from the early 1900’s of Rudolph Steiner’s Eurythmy, Charlotte Selver’s Sensory Awareness, Mabel Todd’s Structural Hygiene, etc. The field of Somatics today includes a wide range of disciplines from movement to body-centered psychotherapy. The Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, Bioenergetics, Rolfing, Continuum, Body-Mind Centering, Rosen, and Hakomi are just a few of these many approaches.

Somatic Expression

I am a part of this somatic lineage, building upon recognized disciplines while also adding new dimensions to address the evolving needs of the modern human being. I call my particular approach Somatic Expression as it is a synthesis of objective somatic tools with subjective personal expression. Movement, breath, vocalization, contact and stillness are the five original preverbal languages given to your body by nature. You use these languages unconsciously when you spontaneously stretch, yawn, pace or hum. In Somatic Expression, we are making conscious what nature has given us, and building on these foundations.

These five languages are often separated out and taught in different contexts. For example, stillness is part of meditation classes; vocalization is for singing; breath and movement are for yoga or dance; and contact is for bodywork. Yet all five used in tandem are essential underpinnings for any physical discipline. These are the basics.

And expression is nothing fancy or complicated - it is simply how we bring ourselves out as living, breathing, moving beings. The way you smile, the rhythm and tone of your speech, your gestures and movement, how you touch or hug – these are all “somatic expressions”.

This work is best understood through personal experience. In a Somatic Expression session, you explore a range of possibilities with the five somatic languages to bring habitual patterns of moving, feeling and thinking to the surface where they can be unraveled and transformed.

See the articles Somatic Expression and The Five Languages of Somatic Expression for more background information.