What is Somatics?
Somatic studies have been referred to as body therapies, bodywork, bond-mind integration, body-mind disciplines, movement awareness and movement re-education.
Thomas Helen, defined Somatics as ‘the art and science of the inter-relational process between awareness, biological function and the environment, with these three factors understood as a synergistic whole’ (Fitt 1996:303). Helen is a philosopher and trained Feldenkrais practitioner.
In other words, Somatics is a constant bodily relational process between awareness, biological functions of the body within that individual and the environment, creating a wholesome person.
Definition of Somatics
The term somatic refers to the body, as distinct from some other entity such as the mind. The word comes from the Greek word, Somatikòs, meaning, ‘of the body’. Somatics is the field of study dealing with the somatic phenomena. It is about the human being as experienced by that person internally.
Somatic is the field, which studies the soma, namely the body as perceived from the first-person perception. When a human being is observed from a third-person point of view, the phenomenon of the human body is perceived. When the same human being is observed from the first-person viewpoint of his proprioceptive senses, this is a different phenomenon perceived: the human soma.
The soma, being internally perceived is categorically distinct from a body, not because the subject is different but because the mode of viewpoint is different. Reciprocity between sensing and moving is at the heart of the somatic process. (Hanna 1986)
A first person’s perceptive can only observe one’s own human soma while a third-person perspective can only observe another human body. Here, Hanna states that the soma is categories differently from the body because the mode of viewpoint is different: it is immediate proprioception -a sensory mode providing unique data. The two distinct viewpoints for observing a human being are inbuilt into the very nature of human observation that makes them capable of being internally self-aware and externally aware.
The data derived from Somatics does not need to be interpreted by universal laws. First-person observations are considered factual and third-person observations are only considered factual if mediated through a set of principles. Neither of the observations is considered less factual; they are coequal.
Self-awareness is one of the distinctions of the human soma. The human is not just a self-aware soma, passively observing itself, but it is based on action upon itself simultaneously and being engaged in the process of self-regulation. Sensing and moving are at the heart of the somatic process. This process constitutes its unity and continues by constant self-regulation. The soma’s internal process and functions maintain the bodily structure, allowing the existence of the external body structure.
The self-sensing and self-moving of the soma functions are at the core somatic self-organization and adaptation. The soma has a dual talent for sensing its individual function via first-person perception and sensing external structure and objective situation via third-person perception. Hence, the soma possesses two modes of perception.
A brief history of Somatics
The origin of Western somatic education is rooted in a philosophical revolt against Cartesian dualism. Somatic pioneers Francoiss Delsarte, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and Bess Mensendieck sought to replace the reigning ideology of rigor in physical training with a more “natural” approach. This natural approach entails listening to bodily cues arising from breath, touch and movement.
Helen obtained the term “somatics” from the Greek word “soma,” which means the body in its wholeness. During the 1970s, advocates valued the unity of the mind, body and spirit as a fundamental to the human organism. One’s inner personal narrative and experience became a guide to living.
The period moving out from the nineteenth and into the twentieth century was ripe for a quantum change in our relationship with our bodies. There was a need to embrace the optimism of the Victorian era and break free of Victorian structures. The new ways of experiencing the body were associated with diverse movement like ‘free love’ and ‘gymnastik’.
During the twentieth century, rationalism was influenced by existentialism and phenomenology. There was a gradual shift towards theoretical support for experiential learning and sensory research in the academic and scholarly field. These shifts were stimulated by theories of Dewy, Merleau-Ponty and Whithead.
Somatic inquiry was sustained by the growth of existentialism and phenomenology with the growth through dance and expressionism. The groundbreaking works that help further developments in Somatics include:
· Freud, Jung and Reich in psychology
· Laban and Dalcroze in cultural studies (art, dance and music)
· Heinrich Jacoby and John Dewey in education
· Edmond Jacobson in medical research
From these unique discoveries, these cause an emergence of fresh approaches to bodily care and education. Fifty years later, this phenomenon became the single field of somatic education.
Somatic pioneers discovered that by engaging in attentive dialogue with one’s body, humans can learn newly, move more easily, be pain free, work more efficiently and perform with greater vitality and expressiveness. Since the nineteenth century, there has been a steady growth of practices that invite the individual to participate in the processes involved in the improvement of one’s body conditions.
These bodily movements presented a whole new language of consciousness and body wisdom through self-guidance and self-awareness. Western somatic practitioners pioneered their work during the early parts of the 20th century by close observation of their movement behaviour and body signals. Practitioners include Elsa Gindler (Body psychotherapy) and Frederick Matthias Alexander (Alexander technique). Modern dance comes into the picture and forge an autonomous way of moving. Other movement educators include Mable Todd and Lulu Sweigard (Ideokinesis), Moshe Feldenkrais (The Feldenkrais Method) and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (Body-Mind Centering). Bainbridge had a background in dance.
The two main branches of physical practice evolved, a ‘receptive’ and an ‘active’ practice. Under the ‘receptive’ category include massage and somato-emotional release. ‘Active’ called for the conscious cooperation of the person through movement awareness or imagination for changing motor/movement behaviour. These include Ideokinesis, the Alexander Technique and the Feldenkrais Method.
The transmigration of people and ideas from the east to the west help shape the development of somatic practices, by fostering and adapting to the philosophies and practices of martial arts and yoga. For example, Joseph Pilates developed ‘Contrology’, a system of exercise that focuses on coordinating the breath that was derived from India. George Gurdjieff used Eastern philosophy to develop movement activities, aimed at greater spiritual development.
Some of these practices developed into therapeutic methods and re-education systems, other like Taiji Quan, yoga and Zen were imported from Asia and tailored to the contextual interests and needs in the late 1960s when the term somatics surfaced.
Movement awareness was the stimulus that caused an array of somatic practices with over hundred contemporary body-mind practices to appear today. This includes the ancient practices like yoga, tai chi and chi gong. By investigating into personal bodily experiences, there were new meanings about being human and potentials for health and life were codified into educational programmes in many parts of the world.
References
Batson.G (2009). Somatic Studies and Dance. International Association for Dance Medicine and Science. Available at: www.iasms.org [Accessed 14 January 2015].
Caldwell, K and Adams, M (2013) Pilates, mindfulness and Somatic Education. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 5 (2) 141-153. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=20&hid=4204 [Accessed 20 March 2015].
Eddy, M. (2009) A brief history of somatic practices and dance: historical development of the field of somatic education and its relationship to dance. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, 1 (1) 5-27. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=23&hid=4204 [Accessed 16 January 2015]
Kearns, W. (2010) Somatics in Action How I “feel three-dimensional and real” improves dance education and training. Journal of Dance Education, 10 (2) 35-49. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=14&hid=4204 [Accessed 15 January 2015]
Lobel, E. and Brodie, J. (2006) Somatics in Dance- Dance in Somatics. Journal of Dance Education, 6 (3) 69-71. Available at:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=17&hid=4204 [Accessed 12 January 2015].
Wozny, N. (2012) The Somatic Infusion. Dance Magazine, 86 (5) 36-39. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=4&hid=4204 [Accessed 28 January 2015].
Wozny, N. (2010) Taking Somatics off the Mat. Dance Teacher, 32 (3) 38-42. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=10&hid=4204 [Accessed 28 January 2015].
Somatic studies have been referred to as body therapies, bodywork, bond-mind integration, body-mind disciplines, movement awareness and movement re-education.
Thomas Helen, defined Somatics as ‘the art and science of the inter-relational process between awareness, biological function and the environment, with these three factors understood as a synergistic whole’ (Fitt 1996:303). Helen is a philosopher and trained Feldenkrais practitioner.
In other words, Somatics is a constant bodily relational process between awareness, biological functions of the body within that individual and the environment, creating a wholesome person.
Definition of Somatics
The term somatic refers to the body, as distinct from some other entity such as the mind. The word comes from the Greek word, Somatikòs, meaning, ‘of the body’. Somatics is the field of study dealing with the somatic phenomena. It is about the human being as experienced by that person internally.
Somatic is the field, which studies the soma, namely the body as perceived from the first-person perception. When a human being is observed from a third-person point of view, the phenomenon of the human body is perceived. When the same human being is observed from the first-person viewpoint of his proprioceptive senses, this is a different phenomenon perceived: the human soma.
The soma, being internally perceived is categorically distinct from a body, not because the subject is different but because the mode of viewpoint is different. Reciprocity between sensing and moving is at the heart of the somatic process. (Hanna 1986)
A first person’s perceptive can only observe one’s own human soma while a third-person perspective can only observe another human body. Here, Hanna states that the soma is categories differently from the body because the mode of viewpoint is different: it is immediate proprioception -a sensory mode providing unique data. The two distinct viewpoints for observing a human being are inbuilt into the very nature of human observation that makes them capable of being internally self-aware and externally aware.
The data derived from Somatics does not need to be interpreted by universal laws. First-person observations are considered factual and third-person observations are only considered factual if mediated through a set of principles. Neither of the observations is considered less factual; they are coequal.
Self-awareness is one of the distinctions of the human soma. The human is not just a self-aware soma, passively observing itself, but it is based on action upon itself simultaneously and being engaged in the process of self-regulation. Sensing and moving are at the heart of the somatic process. This process constitutes its unity and continues by constant self-regulation. The soma’s internal process and functions maintain the bodily structure, allowing the existence of the external body structure.
The self-sensing and self-moving of the soma functions are at the core somatic self-organization and adaptation. The soma has a dual talent for sensing its individual function via first-person perception and sensing external structure and objective situation via third-person perception. Hence, the soma possesses two modes of perception.
A brief history of Somatics
The origin of Western somatic education is rooted in a philosophical revolt against Cartesian dualism. Somatic pioneers Francoiss Delsarte, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and Bess Mensendieck sought to replace the reigning ideology of rigor in physical training with a more “natural” approach. This natural approach entails listening to bodily cues arising from breath, touch and movement.
Helen obtained the term “somatics” from the Greek word “soma,” which means the body in its wholeness. During the 1970s, advocates valued the unity of the mind, body and spirit as a fundamental to the human organism. One’s inner personal narrative and experience became a guide to living.
The period moving out from the nineteenth and into the twentieth century was ripe for a quantum change in our relationship with our bodies. There was a need to embrace the optimism of the Victorian era and break free of Victorian structures. The new ways of experiencing the body were associated with diverse movement like ‘free love’ and ‘gymnastik’.
During the twentieth century, rationalism was influenced by existentialism and phenomenology. There was a gradual shift towards theoretical support for experiential learning and sensory research in the academic and scholarly field. These shifts were stimulated by theories of Dewy, Merleau-Ponty and Whithead.
Somatic inquiry was sustained by the growth of existentialism and phenomenology with the growth through dance and expressionism. The groundbreaking works that help further developments in Somatics include:
· Freud, Jung and Reich in psychology
· Laban and Dalcroze in cultural studies (art, dance and music)
· Heinrich Jacoby and John Dewey in education
· Edmond Jacobson in medical research
From these unique discoveries, these cause an emergence of fresh approaches to bodily care and education. Fifty years later, this phenomenon became the single field of somatic education.
Somatic pioneers discovered that by engaging in attentive dialogue with one’s body, humans can learn newly, move more easily, be pain free, work more efficiently and perform with greater vitality and expressiveness. Since the nineteenth century, there has been a steady growth of practices that invite the individual to participate in the processes involved in the improvement of one’s body conditions.
These bodily movements presented a whole new language of consciousness and body wisdom through self-guidance and self-awareness. Western somatic practitioners pioneered their work during the early parts of the 20th century by close observation of their movement behaviour and body signals. Practitioners include Elsa Gindler (Body psychotherapy) and Frederick Matthias Alexander (Alexander technique). Modern dance comes into the picture and forge an autonomous way of moving. Other movement educators include Mable Todd and Lulu Sweigard (Ideokinesis), Moshe Feldenkrais (The Feldenkrais Method) and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (Body-Mind Centering). Bainbridge had a background in dance.
The two main branches of physical practice evolved, a ‘receptive’ and an ‘active’ practice. Under the ‘receptive’ category include massage and somato-emotional release. ‘Active’ called for the conscious cooperation of the person through movement awareness or imagination for changing motor/movement behaviour. These include Ideokinesis, the Alexander Technique and the Feldenkrais Method.
The transmigration of people and ideas from the east to the west help shape the development of somatic practices, by fostering and adapting to the philosophies and practices of martial arts and yoga. For example, Joseph Pilates developed ‘Contrology’, a system of exercise that focuses on coordinating the breath that was derived from India. George Gurdjieff used Eastern philosophy to develop movement activities, aimed at greater spiritual development.
Some of these practices developed into therapeutic methods and re-education systems, other like Taiji Quan, yoga and Zen were imported from Asia and tailored to the contextual interests and needs in the late 1960s when the term somatics surfaced.
Movement awareness was the stimulus that caused an array of somatic practices with over hundred contemporary body-mind practices to appear today. This includes the ancient practices like yoga, tai chi and chi gong. By investigating into personal bodily experiences, there were new meanings about being human and potentials for health and life were codified into educational programmes in many parts of the world.
References
Batson.G (2009). Somatic Studies and Dance. International Association for Dance Medicine and Science. Available at: www.iasms.org [Accessed 14 January 2015].
Caldwell, K and Adams, M (2013) Pilates, mindfulness and Somatic Education. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 5 (2) 141-153. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=20&hid=4204 [Accessed 20 March 2015].
Eddy, M. (2009) A brief history of somatic practices and dance: historical development of the field of somatic education and its relationship to dance. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, 1 (1) 5-27. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=23&hid=4204 [Accessed 16 January 2015]
Kearns, W. (2010) Somatics in Action How I “feel three-dimensional and real” improves dance education and training. Journal of Dance Education, 10 (2) 35-49. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=14&hid=4204 [Accessed 15 January 2015]
Lobel, E. and Brodie, J. (2006) Somatics in Dance- Dance in Somatics. Journal of Dance Education, 6 (3) 69-71. Available at:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=17&hid=4204 [Accessed 12 January 2015].
Wozny, N. (2012) The Somatic Infusion. Dance Magazine, 86 (5) 36-39. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=4&hid=4204 [Accessed 28 January 2015].
Wozny, N. (2010) Taking Somatics off the Mat. Dance Teacher, 32 (3) 38-42. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8abceabc-1a47-4e99-b3ba-9517cc750abf%40sessionmgr4003&vid=10&hid=4204 [Accessed 28 January 2015].