Mindful Yoga and Somatics is a gentle practice, that takes elements from neuromuscular re-education to undo patterns of held tension in our bodies and habitual movement patterns. Teaching the brain and nervous system to release muscle holding patterns that cause pain and tension
“we work with the body as it is experienced from within, rather than the body as it is looked at from the outside. In this way, the body and mind are not separated but are experienced as a whole.” – Aki Omori
Somatics teaches us how to move well and helps to build the mind-body connection, this improves our awareness of:-
- Interoception (how you feel in your body),
- Proprioception (how your body feels in space and in relation to other people and objects)
- and Enteroception (your gut feelings).
There is a saying that, “yoga begins when you get off the mat”. By building our awareness of these three key areas, we have the opportunity to see how our internal worlds manifest in our movement patterns. Perhaps we hunch when we are stressed, or experiencing a tightening of the diaphragm when we drive, perhaps we feel a sensation of heaviness in our lower backs when we go for walks. Perhaps, we feel nothing.
Feeling nothing can be a sign of what is termed “sensorimotor amnesia”. Click here to learn about Sensorimotor amnesia.
Somatics is focused on body-mind integration. We can develop tension or stress patterns as a result of our physical development, habitual patterns, emotional stress, injuries, trauma and many other reasons. In a mindful yoga and somatics class we use gentle movements to help to re-educate the brain and integrate the body and mind so that we can increase.
Small, slow and gentle movements are used to re-educate the brain so that it can relax and move these muscles more functionally.
Who is it for?
Somatics is useful for creating greater body awareness, pain management, survivors of trauma, mental agility, and all curious movement adventurers who want to learn about their movement patterns and regulate their nervous systems.
I am not flexible, is this class for me?
Absolutely. We aren’t focused on turning ourselves into pretzels or pushing or forcing the body into uncomfortable positions, instead we sense into our edges and meet our sense of “enough”.