Natural Health
Somatic Movement: Living In Our Bodies
By Carol Wiley, LMP
Jul 5, 2008

Why movement? The Tao Te Ching says it best: "That which is static and unchanging is dead. That which moves and changes is alive." Life is continual movement; even as we sleep, the movement of our internal organs perform essential life functions. But how aware are we of our bodies and their movements?

Like James Joyce's Mr. Duffy, who "lived a short distance from his body," many of us live away from our bodies in this age of technology and stress. Yet technology and stress make living in our bodies even more essential to our health and well-being.

Each stress, each trauma, each abuse takes it toll on our bodies. We abuse our bodies with drugs, alcohol, diet, too little sleep, and too little or too much exercise. We abuse our bodies by ignoring them or trying to force them to change in drastic ways. We abuse our bodies by disliking them, by thinking we are too short, too tall, too thin, too fat, or somehow shaped wrong.

We judge our bodies as seen from the outside, as if we were viewing a statue or wax dummy. But we can also view the body from the inside. The body as seen and experienced from within is the soma, from the Greek meaning "living body." Viewing the body from inside brings awareness to feelings, movements, and intentions, and is quite distinct from our society's emphasis on the body as perceived from the outside.

Working with the soma is the basis of somatic practices. These practices are not about the development of muscle or some specified body shape. They are about internal awareness, the flow of breath in the body, the release of muscular tension, and developing our own natural movement.

Somatic practices comprise a field generally referred to as somatics. This field includes both hands-on bodywork and somatic movement practices.

Changing Habits with Somatic Therapy

As we grow up, our experiences cause us to develop many unconscious patterns (habits) that rule our lives. Some habits are useful because they free us from consciously thinking about everything we do. Other habits are not efficient or productive and are detrimental to our well being. What worked for a seven-year-old fearful of an abusive situation or a ten-year-old whose only desire was to please (or harass) parents or teachers is most often not functional for a thirty-year-old trying to get on with his or her life.

Injury or illness often leads to unconscious body compensations, necessary during recovery, but detrimental in the long run.

Habits usually represent only a fraction of which we are capable. We aren't using our full potential, and often our habits are not in our best interest. To change these patterns, we must first become conscious of them. Becoming conscious means recognizing and breaking old patterns and building new ones that work for us now. Until we become conscious, we have no choice; once we become conscious, we have a choice. Somatic practices help bring about this consciousness or awareness.

When we become conscious that certain ways of using our bodies are causing pain, we can learn ways to use our bodies to reduce or eliminate the pain. Somatic practices teach better use of the body. Structure can change only within limited bounds; what can change greatly is how we use that structure.

Somatic movement practices also help retain and develop movement potential as we age. We generally consider aging to bring with it physical deterioration, yet it isn't necessarily so, according to the founders of many somatic practices. As we age, we think we should "slow down," but slowing down often causes the effects that we associate with aging. We lose function because we don't use it. Human beings are designed to function best when they move, as seen by how quickly muscles atrophy with disuse.

Some of the many somatic practices include

• Alexander Technique is an educational process that teaches you how to change the habits you want to change, and how to use your body with more freedom and ease.



• Body-Mind Centering® is somatic education based in experiential anatomy, using movement, voice, breath, perceptions, and touch.



• Continuum Movement uses sensation, breath, sound, and movement for both subtle and dynamic explorations.



• 
  Eutony is a Western way of experiencing unity of the whole person.



• Feldenkrais Method® is an educational system that helps you develop a functional awareness of yourself in the environment.



• Hanna Somatic Education® releases chronic pain patterns.



• Kinetic Awareness is a somatic therapy that calls attention to the simplest components of movement and explores emotional attitudes toward the body.



• Sensory Awareness is interested in the total functioning person and the development of a person’s responsiveness toward life.



• The Trager® Approach helps you learn to move effortlessly and freely, relieving pain and creating deep relaxation.