Your practice in impractical places

This summer, we went for the first time to a family-friendly music festival called Camper Calling. It was absolutely brilliant, and I would highly recommend it for families who love live music - it was so friendly and accessible!

But it got me thinking - Somatic Movement when camping. How do we do that?

Because usually we have our yoga mat or a rug, and a bit of space around us, and we’re usually inside - because lying on your back (as we do a lot in Somatic Movement) with the sun shining down or the rain falling on us, doesn’t really contribute to paying attention to our internal sensations.

But camping doesn’t really give us much in the way of those options. Did we take a yoga mat with us in the hope we might get some ‘proper’ practice in? Yes, yes we did. Did we use it? Absolutely not!

There wasn’t really space anywhere that worked, it was hard to find a chunk of time, and there wasn’t a great deal of peace and quiet per se (we were mostly always out, or getting ready to go out, or eating!).

So when we’re doing something like camping, we might have to get a bit flexible with our practice. Here are some ideas of when and how you can do that.

Lack of time

I always think that on holidays I’ll have lots of time to do things like Somatic Movement. Every Single Time I am surprised that I don’t!

But I really really don’t want to stop doing my practice altogether whilst I’m away, as it keeps me moving freely, reduces stiffness, and makes sure I’m not falling back into the patterns of posture, movement and muscle tension that cause me problems like pain.

If I can grab a bit of time to do a good chunk of practice, even 15 minutes or so, then that’s what I’ll do - but sometimes even that isn’t available to us, right?

So I grab the moments I can, and do micro practices. Like when I first wake up in the morning and I’m still in bed, or when I finish eating and go to get up, or after a job like washing up or setting up the beds or putting up the awning - where I might have been hunched or bending a bit.

You can do a lot by bringing in pandiculations in those moments - you won’t peel back the deeper layers and address the nuance of your muscle holding, but you’ll definitely keep things at bay. Think of it like a maintenance practice, like you’re treading water with the work - which is enough to keep you going for a week or so, until you can bring back in a deeper level of the work.

If I feel a specific bit of tightness in an area of my soma*, I will aim to pandiculate that area once or twice in whatever position I happen to be in, and then just see if that feels less tight, then I’ll likely move that area through its range of motion, with awareness on my internal sensations, and see where else I might be able to pandiculate and release something. Quick and simple!

Lack of space

If you’re somewhere like camping, actually finding a space to lay out a yoga mat and do some practice might well be impossible. So our options now are: do our practice lying in bed, or do our practice in seated or in standing. Each has its uses!

Lying in bed is great because when you’ve finished a movement, you can fully let go and rest/integrate between repetitions. It also feels lovely to do a bit just before you go to sleep, and can help you sleep too. The downside is that if you’re in anything other than a firm bed (like a mat on the floor if you’re camping!!), it’s going to alter your resting position, and your position as you do the movements, which will affect which muscles you’re using and what you feel, and there are limits to the position you can release back to. That’s not a problem in and of itself, but it’s well worth being aware of this as you do your practice. But it might teach you something new, so give it a try! One great tip, is to alter your position to get the most out of the movements - for example, you might find it more helpful to do your Arch & Flatten lying on your side, rather than on your back.

A seated practice is a lovely addition to your repertoire, and maybe being pushed into it through circumstance will actually be helpful, as you might realise that it teaches you something new that you wouldn’t have learnt when lying on the mat. It’s convenient and easy to adapt many of the movements to a seated position - you just won’t get that full release in between that you would get if you were lying down. I’d recommend doing a seated practice on the edge of a bed if you have one available so that you can sit up fairly straight, rather than on a camping chair though - although if that’s all you’ve got available, see what you can do!

But if a seated practice is out, standing might be your remaining option. There are a few movements that are well suited to standing, like the Shelf Reach, but many you would just have to ponder - what is it that’s contracting when I do this, and can I find a way for that to happen so that I can release those muscles. Again, you won’t be able to release to full rest in standing like you would if you were lying down, but you’ll still get benefits from doing it this way. Think of getting out of bed in the morning and doing a morning ‘stretch’ (pandiculation) - this would often be in standing, it resets the resting level of tension of the muscles, and it feels really good. So definitely worth doing when you can.

And of course you can combine any of these positions by doing each one when it seems like it would work - one or another might work ‘better’, but all will give you some insights and muscle release. So why not vary it and give them all a try at different points in your day?

Being out of routine

When we’re out of our usual routine, a lot of things might fall by the wayside, and a regular Somatic Movement practice of course might be one of them. There’s lots of good evidence that tying one habit to another is a good way to help you remember to do it because it becomes just a bit of a ‘has to happen’ sort of thing.

But what I’ve found when I’m away, and particularly with something like camping, is that my whole usual routine is so thrown out, that almost nothing takes no thought (i.e. is a habit) - even doing my teeth might be shunted around a bit.

So if you can tie a little practice to your usual routine (e.g. add a few minutes of Somatics practice to the time when you do your teeth, boil the kettle or go to bed), then great.

But if not, you’re probably going to need to try to be more aware of when you feel you NEED your practice, and use that as your signal to do it. For example, you might go for a long walk, or (in our case at Camper Calling), go and dance to a band for an hour, and then you have a sit down and a rest. And then when you go to get up, maybe you feel a bit like you’ve stiffened up after the muscles have worked hard, right?

THAT’s the time to do a minute or even half a minute of practice. It can be as simple as standing up, noticing the feeling of stiffness in the muscles, and doing a full-body pandiculation or two there and then. Then bring your attention to how you feel different after doing that.

If you’ve got a little more time and capacity, you might think to yourself, now’s the time to do a bit more of this, and then you can maybe find that little space where you can do a few minutes of lying down or seated practice.

If you’re very very super organised, you might even plan in a fuller session - either listening back to a recording that you have access to, or just working from a starting point of ‘what do I sense, what do I need’ and figuring out your own practice as you go. This might entail a little planning, and coordinating with other members of your group, but is well worth doing if you get the chance. Unlikely, but possible!

If you need some support

Once you’re into your practice, it’s much easier to grab a few minutes here and there to do the work, and to generate your own ideas for your session. Until then, we have lots of resources available in our membership area - some longer, for when you’ve got a bit more time, and some super short for when you only have a few minutes. You can access all of the recorded materials via the on-demand membership option (option 1). Or start with our brand new Small Steps to Somatic Movement course, which gives you lifetime access to shorter practices to help you build your practice in your own way, at your own time. Have fun with it, and happy moving!

*Soma = your living body as you experience it from the inside.

Emilie Leeks

Author

Emilie is a heart-centred life mentor and space holder, supporting those on a healing path. This is not an easy journey, and often we can find ourselves losing our way. Emilie's work meets you where you're at, with beautiful, accepting support and connection, and weaves that support with practices and explorations in self-compassion, body connection, and a return to a deep trust in ourselves. Note: all blog post content which refers to them, has been read and agreed to by Emilie's children.

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