The Benefits of Somatic Movement

If you are a regular reader of my blogs and also a member of The Total Somatics online program , you will know that I often refer to movement as medicine. In this week’s blog we will discover the benefits of somatic movement and why it is so important to include it into your daily activities.

Movement and Mood

Many people recognise that our emotional health can influence our movement, however, many may not realise that movement can also have a profound effect on our emotional health. Have you noticed that when you feel sad, apathetic or apprehensive, your movements become slower and your body becomes more rigid? Likewise if you are anxious or stressed, your response may either become rapid and hypervigilant or you may completely freeze with terror and be unable to move.

However if you are a regular reader of my blogs, you will also know how I have often use the expression, ‘soma.’ Within the health field of Somatics, we refer to ourselves as ‘somas.’ A soma is a giant sensory organism which absorbs all emotions, beliefs, cultures, movements, experiences, injuries, habits and life events which have moulded us to the unique person we are today. We all have a different history, personal battles, triumphs, health conditions, jobs and hobbies. So all these areas of our life have shaped the person we are today and that is why it is unhealthy to compare ourselves to others, because we are all very different and special. So as a soma, we also know that our mind and body cannot be separated, the one easily influences the other. So due to this, we know that movement is very important to create changes for our brain.

Somatic Movement

Somatic Movement is very powerful because the mindful practice deliberately wakes areas of your brain which communicate to certain body systems and organs. Somatic Movement allows you to become fully aware of how your soma is moving or not, in some cases. Slowly and mindfully moving with the 3 step process taught within somatic movement, allows you to notice how your habits have been changing the tension in your muscles. Within a short amount of time, you realise that this powerful yet subtle movement practice actually changes the plasticity or ‘wiring’ of your brain. By actually sensing and feeling what your nervous system is quietly doing in the background when you are ‘busy with life,’ allows you to gain greater insight into your habits, behaviour, mindset and so much more. This insight creates a learning environment for you, allowing you to become acquainted with what your soma actually needs in order to reduce pain, improve posture, move freely and develop a deeper understanding of mindfulness.

Somatic movement helps to release chronically tight muscles and this used with mindfulness techniques. The mindfulness techniques taught with the Total Somatics online program are specific to the 3 step process used within somatic movement to reduce pain, improve posture and increase mobility. Using the techniques I guide you through online will heighten your awareness and allow you to truly sense and feel what is happening, rather than being told by someone what is going on with your health and wellbeing. I am sure you would agree, there is nothing more empowering than understanding how your soma truly ‘ticks’ and knowing what you can do to recalibrate or re-centre yourself after an intense or stressful day, week, month or period of time.

Somatic movement helps to alleviate feelings of anxiety and stress. This movement practise allows you to pay close attention to your soma, your sensations, your position in space, the subtle changes occurring with your digestive system, breathing and heart rate. By practising specific techniques which I guide you through within the online program, you are able to dial down the stress response. Only then can your central nervous system switch over from self preservation and survival mode to slowing down, learning and absorbing new information.

Within my blogs and online program, you know that I often refer to your brain as the control centre for all movement and yet movement also has a profound effect on your brain. The amount of movement and the way you move has a huge effect on the way you think and feel. That’s the amazing part about Total Somatic movement, when somatic movement is combined with mindfulness, Total Somatic movement takes on another more important role in the area of our emotional, mental and physical health. By practising Mindful Total Somatic Movement, you can gain a back door access, as it were, to creating positive change to your mental and emotional health because movement begins to release repressed emotion, allows endorphins to flow, increases oxygenated blood to your tissues and slows down your stress response so you can start to repair and recuperate.

Would you like Movement to be your medicine? Allow me to teach you how to develop The Total Somatics Approach to Health & Wellness with my online program. I will teach you skills, techniques and knowledge to empower and educate you in the area of your own health and wellbeing.

To learn more, download my FREE ebook by clicking HERE.

Would you like a taste of what Total Somatics can offer you? If so, click HERE to sample The Total Somatics FREE Challenge.

I look forward to teaching you these amazing skills.

Take care,

Heidi Hadley xx
www.TotalSomatics.com

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