What are Somatics?
You’ve probably seen the word somatics floating around in the last few years.
On my about page I share that I’ve been a somatic practitioner for over 20 years. Interestingly, I wasn’t calling it somatics back then. I called it yoga, acupressure, massage, meditation and a variety of other things that I’ve trained in. I started using the word somatics as an umbrella term for my work in the last five years or so.
So, where did the term come from?
The term somatics was coined by Thomas Hanna in his 1969 book Bodies in Revolt: A Primer in Somatic Thinking. Hanna was a professor of philosophy and a movement theorist who believed many modern people experienced a sort of amnesia with respect to their own bodies and believed that health and wholeness came from increased body awareness.
These days somatics is used most often to describe body based practices such as tai chi or yoga or certain forms of dance, and modalities like Somatic Experiencing, Focusing or Feldenkrais.
When we explore what these modalities are trying to accomplish, we begin to see that somatics really aren’t one particular thing, but rather a range of ordinary and extraordinary things that mammals— human mammals in particular—do to regulate our nervous systems.
Often, the word is used in a way that implies awareness, times when we’re not simply moving or touching the body, but also paying attention to sensation, emotion, position, impulse and other responses that arise in the process. It’s often trying to get at a somewhat ineffable experience: Feeling ourselves, as a body, as a whole, from within.
OK, great. But where did the concept really originate?
Like many coined terms, somatics weren’t invented by a white, American man. Before the rampant colonisation of much of the indigenous world, many societies existed—and continue to exist, but not without struggle—within frameworks of somatic coherence.
Not to idealise, or to falsely suggest a utopian past… I said coherent, not perfect.
Our ancestors danced, ritualised and feasted seasonally. They prayed and created complex mythologies. They made art and sang. They laughed, rested, mourned and celebrated. They plaited each others’ hair. They knew that sharing music, food and touch was essential to both individual and collective well-being.
We still know this.
Most of us still engage in many of these behaviours, albeit in increasingly commodified and fragmented ways. Somatic practices, in many cases, have become something we supplement, worry about and pay for.
I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t supplement our modern lives. In many cases it’s needed. It’s also useful to notice and critique the trend of naming, researching, gate-keeping and charging for the communally shared wisdom and practices that have been freely available since mammals evolved towards social engagement as a survival strategy.
Yes, I’m happy about the attention and research that’s unfolding in the realm of body-based interventions and modalities. Much good will come from understanding and providing evidence and credibility for somatic approaches to human wellbeing.
And, much good will also come from acknowledging that long before we had a name for the way dancing, touching, eating and ritualizing helps us feel whole, it was simply what we did, in community, with curiosity and reverence.
We will circle back and deepen our understanding of this concept in the coming weeks.
For now, let’s hold it with curiosity and pay attention to how somatics show up in our lives as a collection of unconscious and conscious behaviours that help us stay connected with our bodies, our people, our ecosystem and with that something bigger which we are part of.
