A Language That Can Help You Understand Your Emotions- Somatics
I have just finished putting the kids to bed and grab my computer and head over to our bonus room. For now, I’ve found that the only time that works for my “practice” is as soon as the kids are in bed where I have just enough energy to focus before I get ready to chill out before my own bedtime. It’s typically around 8pm. As I head over to the bonus room, I open up my new subscription to Feldenkrais Treasury, to the “Destress and Calm” practices. A lady guides me to find a comfortable space, laying down on my back. She often says throughout the practice, “if it’s not comfortable for you, stop and try something else. This practice should not stress you out as that would not help your nervous system. This should be easeful.” I often find myself being able to notice things in my body I would have easily ignored, the pull in the back of my neck, the holding in my belly, the soreness in my calf. My body has been talking to me, yet I’ve ignored it’s calling. I listen, I hear the stress it’s holding for me, and in this way I give it some permission to move in a different way.
About 30 minutes later, I move into my own practice set by my yoga mentor. Its a “pranayama”/breathing energy practice, focusing on the exhale and suspending the hold after my exhale. It’s hard after a long day of holding my breath, but the early somatic practice helps the breath to move a little easier. Then I sit up and focus on the sensed feeling that is there, whatever is there. Until it drifts 2 times. My mentor has always said if your mind leaves the feeling, call it back once. It if leaves again, it is a sign your practice is done. Sometimes this is 10 minutes, sometimes it is 1 minute. I notice a greater sense of understanding after, like I had just given myself an opportunity to listen and let me body speak to me.
This is my somatic practice.
For so long I have heard the word “somatic” being used in the therapy and yoga world and had been so confused as to what it means. My hope is to spend some time here breaking it down so that it feels understandable and digestible to you. To hopefully help you if that word feels confusing or intangible.
Thomas Hannes defines somatics as the “study of self from the perspective of one’s lived experience, encompassing the dimensions of the body, the psyche, and the spirit. Somatics helps the individual to become more attuned to their bodily sensations and use this awareness to release emotional stress.”
According to Staci Hannes, author of “The Politics of Trauma” states that, “somatics comes from the Greek word “somatikos” that relates to the body-mind system experienced and regulated from within.” There are three kinds of somatics she separates, somatic awareness, somatic opening, and somatic practices (see image). Together they can lead towards embodied transformation. Somatic awareness is noticing sensations such as temperature (hot/cold), movement (fast/slow), texture (rough/smooth), etc. Somatic opening having a relationship with our body that recognizes there is a relationship between the body/mind that allow receptivity. Somatic practices are the practices that intentionally center us to hear this language, such as yoga, mindfulness, Feldenkrais, etc.
A quick example that integrates all 3 areas is:
Close your eyes and using your imagination, call into your mind a time you felt strong. Notice how that feels in your body.
See if you can sense where you feel it.
Notice what happens if anything to your arms or your shoulders.
Notice your posture, does it make you want to sit a certain way?
And what does feeling strong do to your back muscles? To your front body?
How about your face, for instance are your eyes soft or hard?
If I was in your body how would I know that feeling of being strong?
Let this go and just notice what's there.
So why does somatics matter?
Somatic techniques can facilitate the release of emotional tension and unresolved emotions. So often I hear clients say, “I don’t know what I feel” or “I can’t describe what I feel.” That's the beauty of somatic language, you don’t have to label or describe your feeling. By tuning in and recognizing the emotion for what it is, sensation and internal movement/energy, somatics helps to support regulation of the nervous system. So often this process helps to release personal burdens or deep rooted beliefs around certain emotions and narratives that one is carrying about what that means about them as a person. In that way there is a compassionate way of healing that then you no longer have to navigate life feeling stuck in that belief.
The support language I use with client’s is “How does this feel in me and how do I find words around it?”
If you would like more guidance in this area, please check out the below audio guided practice.
