Somatic Movement Therapy

An Introduction to Our Newest Offering at Movementality.

At the beginning of 2019, Ash decided she wanted actively progress her studies in movement therapy, undertaking a course called Advanced Clinical Training in Somatics and Dance Movement Therapy. Now, in 2020, on behalf of Movementality, Ash is pleased to now offer Somatic Movement Therapy (“SMT”) as a service. But what exactly is SMT? This is a question I hear frequently, so I’d like to take the time to break down the term SMT, what it means, and how my journey brought me into this incredible practice for embodied healing.

Somatics is derived from the Greek work “soma”, meaning “body”, and it relates to a field of bodywork that analyses the internal sensations and perceptions of the individual through movement. Yoga is thought to be one of the very first somatic movement practices. You may have heard of Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, Body Mind Centering, Structural Integration (Rolfing), and Bartenieff Fundamentals? These too, are all forms of somatic movement practice, distinguished by those who created them, but fundamentally aiming for the same outcome: an understanding of the body through movement and an integration of self through a mind, body, (and sometimes soul) connection.

So Somatics Is Kind Of Like A Form Of Mindfulness Or Meditation, But With Movement? 

Somatics is the process of looking inwardly, with the added idea that it is only through the movement that we really begin to experience any depth. We all have both conscious and unconscious thoughts and behaviours. Our conscious thoughts are those which we are aware of, we understand, we can make sense of, and usually, we are resolved with. Our unconscious thoughts tend to be harder to resolve and so we often bury them or perhaps we don’t even realise they are there to begin with. However, while our brain works hard to hide away unconscious thoughts, our body is unable to deceive us in the same way.   Thus, with SMT, we use movement processes as a tool to reveal our unconscious thoughts in order to see them clearly and resolve any issues to reach our full vitality. 

Emotion and Motion

Emotion, or energy in motion (E-motion), is a motivator for movement. For example,  “I felt the urge to do something.” If we experience an emotion and do not act (move) it is likely that our neuromuscular dynamic (driven by that emotion) will become stuck and rigid. This rigidness is not only present in the muscles, but can also occur in the mindset, having a huge impact on learning, memory, and overall life enjoyment. 

Think of a time where you have had to hold back your emotions, stay when you wanted to flee, or restrain yourself from acting out? In society we have to restrain and contain ourselves all the time, but this can lead to rigidness and even pain in the body. In SMT, we invite the body to move freely as a way to release any emotion that may be stagnating within the body and do away with any tension and pain associated with this “stuck-ness.”

The Power of Movement

Learning to move more freely is not just about releasing tension and pain. Movement is also about building a positive relationship with your own body so that you can trust in it. Trusting in your body means trusting your own perceptions, sensations, capabilities, balance, pain management, coordination, strength, flexibility, and every little facet of self. If you can trust your own body and rely on it to take you to new and challenging places in a movement context, then you can build an equally valuable trust in your own life choices, judgements, decisions, and self. So movement is about building trust, not only in your physical self, but also in your mental and emotional self. 

And the Therapy?

Therapy is always a really intimidating word. But the word therapy is derived from the Greek work “terapia”, meaning “to walk alongside.” It’s about having someone there to hold space for you as you have these realisations within yourself. Because emotions and sensations are so deeply intertwined, they are experienced holistically in a way that an individual cannot easily dissect or separate without conscious reflection and analysis. 

It can be easy to stay defined or restricted by your “pain story.” The therapist will look for opportunities to highlight the distinction between your physical sensations and the emotions they bring up. She will help you define the difference between “pain” or “panic” and other sensations that you experience. Together, you can begin to build a language for what you perceive and as you get more skilled at noticing and understanding what you feel, you will find it easier to move through and let go of it.

Why I Think We Need More SMT In Pilates

I believe people come to Pilates because intuitively they know they need to move and exercise. Pilates has become a very popular and palatable way of doing this; however, the framework and specificity of Pilates exercises doesn’t always allow for us to see what is missing in someone’s movement or what lies beneath the surface. Because both clients and instructors have a clear idea of what they want the exercise to look like, the exploration and curiosity for movement is not always valued in the same regard. 
Unfortunately, I think this can create too much dependence on the instructor as one seeks constant external validation as to whether something looks good over trusting the internal perception of if it feels good. To me, this reliance on the instructor’s perspective can be problematic.  My goal has always been to facilitate a person’s movement experience so that they can build their own trust in their body and self. Your instructor won’t always be by your side, so ultimately our goal is for you to develop into an autonomous mover, with the ability to perceive internal sensations and have agency to respond. I believe that SMT, with its deep focus on internal sensations and connections, is a perfect compliment to Pilates in trying to instil this autonomy and I look forward to sharing it with our community.