What is Somatics?
Humans have always embraced the body as a site for wellbeing, spirituality, and interconnectedness. Dance, Yoga, and Tai Chi are just a few examples of body-based practices that can be traced back to ancient indigenous peoples. These practices were birthed within our ancestral cultures, offered respite during hard times, and continue to help us feel connected to our bodies and to each other.
The actual word Somatics is derived from the Greek word ‘soma’ which means the living body. It is an umbrella term coined by educator Thomas Hanna in 1970 to unify a range of practices and methodologies that include working with the body. This includes the ancient lineage examples mentioned above, as well as contemporary methodologies such as Pilates, Centering, Focusing, Feldenkrais Method, Trauma Release Exercises, and more.
Most of us are less connected (to our bodies, cultures, communities) than our ancestors were. We live more isolated and intellectual lives. We have daily stress and personal traumas. We are also - whether direct or vicarious - burdened by the impact of colonization, white supremacy, and capitalism. Being in our bodies has been and continues to be a complex, even unsettling, experience for many of us.
It is not a personal failure to experience disembodiment. It is not a moral imperative to be embodied. But we do each deserve to feel safe, healthy, joyful, and connected. Somatics is a doorway back into the body.
In my work, we explore somatics and embodiment through breath, posture, movement, body sensation, nervous system education, creative expression, ancestral lineage healing, community building and more.
With the support of somatics we can:
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Expand our capacity to notice, rather than be drowned by, our experience as it’s happening.
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Process trauma retained in our body sensations, reflexes, and more.
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Determine the limitations of embodiment and liberation in the present day context of systemic oppression.
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Identify resources for feeling safe and secure and at home in your body.
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Learn to accurately assess our level of provided agency in a situation and discern our level of interest in demanding more.
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Hopefully feel more confident in how we will rest in or respond to our context.
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&& Identify the possibilities for resisting oppression, centering wellness as a human right, and cultivating relationships that support and empower.
Lineage Love
The following is a list of the lineages that are with me when I’m supporting clients.
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First and foremost, lived experience and practice-based evidence
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Yoga, in particular the influence of Shiva Rae, developer of Prana Vinyasa, through the teachings of my teacher, Ana Hough. Additional self-study in Iyengar and Mysore method Ashtanga.
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Black Liberation Theologies, Black Queer Feminisms, and scholars/writers including bell hooks, Paolo Freire, Audre Lorde, adrienne maree brown, Tricia Hersey of The Nap Ministry and more.
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Indigenous wisdom about the bodymind, colonization, and more from Native American teachings via scholars including Renee Linklater, Joseph Gone, Eduardo Duran and Cheryl Metoyer-Duran, and Maria Yellow Horse Braveheart.
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Buddhism & Mindfulness Meditation
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Dance in the styles of Cecchetti Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical/Contemporary, and West and Southern African
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Contemporary somatics practitioners, such as Jane Clapp, Amber McZeal, Resmaa Menekam, Beck Beverage of the Trans Embodiment Project, Marika Heinrichs of Wild Body Somatics (who encouraged me to write a lineage statement in the first place), Prentis Hemphill, and more.