Somatic Movement - a (very!) brief summary

Somatic Movement (also often referred to as just ‘Somatics’) is a practice which teaches you to release muscle tension at the level of the nervous system. In other words, you learn to re-teach your brain how to let go of muscle contraction when you don’t need it. If you ever get general aches & pains in your body, feel stiff when you get up from sitting/lying down, live with chronic pain, have experienced injury or trauma, or can’t move as freely and flexibly as you maybe once could, Somatic Movement can help. It is a gentle practice, that you take at your own pace, and within your own capacity and comfort levels. It is accessible to anyone who wants to try it.

Somatic Movement helps with many things, including:

• Reducing stress and tension
• Reducing chronic pain
• General relaxation
• Reducing reactivity
• Improving comfortable posture
• Improving comfort in sitting/standing/moving
• Understanding your own patterns of where you hold muscle tension
• Becoming more aware of your body sensations
• Recovery after injury
• Becoming more flexible in your movement

Somatic Movement benefits you in your day-to-day life in areas such as:

• Physical activities - e.g. gardening, rock climbing, going to the gym
• Activities where you might be seated or in one position for a while - e.g. crochet, sewing, drawing
• Work where you spend time sitting at a computer, or driving
• Practices where you need to move into different positions - e.g. yoga, tai chi, qigong, dance
• Activities where your form matters in terms of avoiding injury - e.g. running, hiking
• Everyday activities - e.g. washing up, making the bed, putting on shoes, getting into different positions such as sitting/lying down

If you want to get started on Somatic Movement, these are the offerings that will help you:

• Free, short trial class - pre-recorded, around 20m, free
• Introduction to Somatics - pre-recorded class, around 60m, £7
• Beginner’s course - 4 pre-recorded sessions (approximately 1 hour each), plus extra resources to support your understanding and practice, £30 (live versions also available)

For all of these offerings, you will need to be able to get down to/back up from the floor - or be able to try the movements out in bed.

If you need more targeted support, or other ways to access the work, you can get in touch to discuss options.

To find out more detail about how the practice of Somatic Movement works and how it can help you, you can read this blog post.

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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