Combining Your Clinical Somatics and Yoga Practices One of the questions that students ask me most often is whether or not they should continue their yoga practice while doing Clinical Somatics exercises, and if so, how to go about combining the two practices. I love yoga, and I practice it regularly. Everything I've learned and [...]
How to Relieve Carpal Tunnel Syndrome with Clinical Somatics If you have carpal tunnel syndrome, you might feel shooting pain, burning, tingling, numbness, and weakness in your hand and wrist. You may have developed carpal tunnel syndrome from doing repetitive tasks with your arms and hands, like computer work, massage therapy, playing a [...]
How to Relieve Mechanical Back Pain with Clinical Somatics What is mechanical back pain? If you're suffering from back pain, you're not alone--between 50% and 80% of Americans will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives.1 It's estimated that 97% of cases of back pain are mechanical in nature,2 meaning that [...]
How to get optimal strength, stability, and flexibility in your core What does core strength really mean, and why is it so important? The most common misconception about core strength is that it means simply having strong abdominals—like the enviable washboard stomach achieved by developing your rectus abdominis muscle. In truth, optimal core strength [...]
In this short Somatics class, you'll learn gentle movements that release chronic muscular tension in the lower back, abdomen, shoulders, chest, face and jaw. Did you know that chronic muscular tension is directly linked to psychological stress? Human beings are naturally well equipped to recover from short-term, life-threatening stress. Unfortunately, long-term, psychological stress stays with [...]
Chronic Muscle Soreness: The Cause and Cure Chronic muscle soreness is, quite literally, a pain to live with. Often, no amount of stretching, massage, heat, ice, or ibuprofen can provide much lasting relief. To understand the cause of chronic muscle soreness, we need to start by examining what's happening inside our muscles when they're actively [...]
How Personality Affects Posture We like to blame our posture on our genetics, on job stress, or on long hours spent at the computer-but did you know that our posture can be largely determined by our personality? Our posture, facial expressions, and movement communicate the way we feel inside, whether we like it or not. [...]
Relieve Your TMJ Pain with Clinical SomaticsWhat is TMJ pain?The temporomandibular joints connect the jawbone to the skull, and they are two of the most complicated joints in the human body. They can open and close the jaw like a hinge, and allow the jaw to slide from side to side and forward and backward.Temporomandibular [...]
Why We're in Pain It's not an understatement to say that we have a health epidemic in our country: an epidemic of lifestyle-related conditions that includes heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and chronic pain. By and large, these conditions can be prevented, alleviated, and often completely eliminated with proper self-care. So why aren't we taking care [...]
The Flexor Reflex and One-Sided Pain The Flexor Reflex and Injury Recovery Imagine that you've slipped on your icy front steps and sprained your ankle. On top of the fact that you don't have an exciting mountain climbing story to tell, you have to wear an ankle brace and use crutches for at least a [...]
You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: How the Withdrawal Response Leads to Rounded Posture What is the Withdrawal Response? You're walking down the street and hear gunshots behind you. Within just fourteen milliseconds, your jaw muscles begin to contract. At twenty-five milliseconds, your upper trapezius muscles contract, raising your [...]
"The human body is not an instrument to be used, but a realm of one's being to be experienced, explored, enriched and, thereby, educated." -Thomas Hanna, founder of Clinical Somatic Education
Click here to start at the beginning and learn the basics of Clinical Somatic Education. To better understand how Somatics is different from other methods of movement and pain relief, click here.
How the Action Response Leads to Back Pain How and Why We Develop the Natural Curves in Our Spine In the first few months of life we are entirely helpless, unable to crawl or even sit up by ourselves. We have spent nine months curled up in the fetal position and have yet to gain [...]
You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: Sensorimotor Amnesia and Muscle Memory Most people are familiar with the concept of muscle memory. When we repeat a movement like swinging a golf club over and over, the neurons involved in controlling that movement develop increasingly stronger connections. Existing synapses begin to fire more [...]
This Somatics infographic shows the common musculoskeletal conditions that can be prevented, alleviated and eliminated with Clinical Somatic Education. To start at the beginning and learn the basics of Clinical Somatic Education, click here. Click here to learn how you can get the most out of practicing Somatic Exercises. Ready to download classes and start [...]
You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: What is Clinical Somatic Education? Scroll down to watch Sarah's video "What is Somatic Movement?" Many people have heard the term somatic, as it's becoming a bit of a buzzword in the health and wellness industry. The word somatic means “of or relating to [...]
How to Get the Most out of Clinical Somatics Exercises What are Clinical Somatics exercises? Clinical Somatics exercises work directly with the nervous system to release chronic muscular tension, relieve chronic pain, and improve posture and movement. The exercises are extremely slow and gentle, and are appropriate for all ages and fitness levels. The exercises [...]
You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: What is Somatic Movement?Scroll down to watch Sarah's video "What is Somatic Movement?"Let's start with what "somatic" means. The term somatic means “of or relating to the living body,” and it's used in medical terminology; for example, somatic cell, somatic nervous system, somatic disorder, and [...]
