“To listen to the world through the body, profoundly affects how we feel - details come into focus, we notice more of what delights, strengthens, or weakens the rhyhmn of our breath and heart ”
Somatic Movement is a non-invasive, exploratory process of awakening and deepening the awareness of an individual towards his or her experience of the body in motion
In understanding how our bodies are communicating with us, we can begin to release muscular and mental tension and organise ourselves slightly differently in a way that can offer new movement possibilities and emotional responses. In somatic movement practice, we take time to settle and slow our attention to begin to notice our movement responses, range of motion, inner sensations, images, the postures that we hold in our lives, and how we are perceiving our thoughts, emotions and feelings. We notice the places where we feel well in ourselves and the places where we feel stuck, both in our body and in the wider fabric of our lives. In doing so, we can begin to build resilience and inner resources to deal with life’s challenges, move with greater ease and feel more at home in our self.
Sessions
In sessions we may explore how a particular body system works, such as the skeletal system, and how we can support it to find a more easeful state of balance within ourselves. At other times a more open ended movement enquiry may take places that invites noticing movement patterns - breath, gravity, posture, gesture, tone, imaginal and emotional responses.Through this process orientated way of working, we begin to explore the stories of our bodies in a safe, non judgemental space that invites change, growth and resilience. What we sense, feel and think becomes the material of that which we are exploring.
In sessions I use guided movement exploartions, hands on touch, voice, movement re-patterning, experiential anatomy, tracking of inner sensation, and mark making through drawing, writing, creative play and dialogue. Working with embodied imagination is integral to my practice. I have witnessed many times that when we allow space for the imagination to grow we are given wider access to feeling states and can begin to re-imagine a place of health within us. When we notice what we are sensing as an image unfolds, we can invite a little of that quality into our bodies and into our lives - be it softness, a sense of flow, or joy.
Why practice Somatic Movement?
To develop awareness of sensation so that it becomes a supporting presence in
the body.
To develop movement awareness and creativity.
To develop the capacity to self-care, recognising what restores and resources us.
To build resilience in order to adapt and respond to life’s challenges.
To find more ease and fluidity of movement and release habitual holding patterns.
To support one to re-gain balance, increase vitality and regulate the nervous system.
To support a re-discovery of the things that matter in our lives.
To support a re-discovery of the things that matter to us.